Thomas McKiver/The Mirror
Melanie Cannon ’12, works at the Center for Academic Excellence in the DiMenna-Nyselius Library as an office assistant. She landed the job through Fairfield’s work-study program, and uses the money she earns to pay for food and other school-related expenses. For Cannon and other students part of the work-study program, a part-time job helped ease the financial burden of living at Fairfield University.
“I think work study is a great option for college students because it is an on-campus job that caters to a college student’s schedule,” said Cannon. “There are great work-study jobs across campus in a wide variety of departments as well.”
But on March 30th, the Financial Aid Office emailed work-study students announcing a significant cut in federal work-study funding for the upcoming academic year.
The email stated that, “Fairfield recently received its estimated 2011-12 federal work-study allocation and… [it] has again been decreased.”
“I’m mad that they’re cutting the money I need to survive at Fairfield,” Cannon said. “Since freshman year … it is the money I use for expenses.”
The Economics
According to the U.S. Department Education, the Federal Work Study (FWS) program provides funds to students through part-time employment in order to help them with the cost of postsecondary education. The money is awarded in the form of a grant. Students who accept federal work-study have the option to select a part-time job from the list of offerings advertised on Fairfield University’s website.
In 2008, Fairfield’s FWS program consisted of 513 participating students, but thanks to a 25% addition to the FWS funding through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the program expanded to 640 student employees, according to Erin Chiaro, Director of Financial Aid.
The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a direct response to the economic crisis; one of its goals was to increase federal funding for education by over $200 billion, according to the recovery.gov website.
The problem, however, is that the same level of federal funding was not continued for the 2010-2011 year “which required Fairfield to cover the difference, about $285,000, using institutional financial aid funding,” according to Chiaro.
Changes and Effects
Fairfield’s temporary fix the FWS cuts is to reduce the amount of aid eligible students can earn. The email informing students about the changes states that the maximum earning range will be capped between $500 and $900, almost half of what the award was in previous years.
“The problem I have is that not many jobs pay more than eight dollars an hour, so it is not always possible to make your full award,” Cannon said.
“The overall percentage of students receiving any financial aid is 73%,” said Chiaro. “Approximately 19% of all full time undergraduate students were paid via the federal work study program in the 2010-2011 year.”
According to the Fairfield University Federal Work Study Student Handbook, the standard FWS award is roughly $1,500. Students are only allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours per week during a semester at state minimum wage. The recent cuts would greatly reduce students’ earning potential and working hours, which could have a negative effect on the University departments that hire students.
Future of the Program
Fairfield University will have the opportunity to request supplemental work-study funds during an appeals process that begins in August 2011, according to the email.
“We truly value all our work study students and are trying to make the best of a difficult situation,” said Chiaro. In the meantime, students have been encouraged to look for part-time summer jobs so as to handle the cost of living. Non work-study jobs on campus are also advertised on the Fairfield Eidos website.
“Many people, such as myself, who rely on the money that they get from work-study jobs will definitely feel some sort of financial stress due to the funding cuts,” said Cannon.
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