Brown students on financial aid can find employment that ranges from reading to a blind student to serving professors Grey Goose at the Faculty Club, but confusion over the work-study program itself may allow some students who need jobs to fall through the cracks.
Both on- and off-campus jobs are listed on the Student Employment Office's Web site as they become available. Listings for jobs that require specific skills or are more competitive link directly to applications that are then submitted online. However, any form of paid employment can qualify as a "work-study" commitment, whether or not it is listed on the Web site, according to Assistant Director of Financial Aid Tracy Watts.
Watts and her colleagues at the Office of Financial Aid ensure that listings make their way onto the Web site but cannot monitor or keep track of how many students are working in total.
"It's all decentralized in terms of hiring," Watts said. Still, Watts and her colleague Elizabeth Martinez in the SEO say they constantly try to keep students on financial aid informed about work-study and their employment options.
Although specific statistics were not available, Brown Dining Services is widely acknowledged as the largest employer of students. "There's no one thing on campus that would even have the capacity to employ this many students," Student Management Office employee Libby Day '06 said of BuDS.
Robb Hughes '08, who works as a projectionist for the Department of Modern Culture and Media, said some jobs are easier to obtain than others. "Jobs that aren't preparation for a career outside Brown, like dining services, are the ones you'll find are less competitive," he said.
Like other BuDS workers interviewed for this article, Day said flexible hours and the student-run nature of BuDS contributes to its popularity as a student job.
The BuDS workers' complaints about abusive customers, disrupted sleep patterns and feeling unsafe walking home received attention last year when Josiah's and The Gate extended their hours, but Day said the subsequent pay raise for those shifts has increased their popularity among students.
"Shifts are available anytime. ... You don't need any skills," Day said. "If you need a job, you can find one." BuDS workers are required to work eight hours a week and are not permitted to work more than 20.
Day said some workers may complain about the impact working has on their college experience, but for her that is part of the cost of attending Brown.
"People who work for BuDS out of necessity are not the ones to complain because they chose to come Brown, and it's a costly option, so they should feel responsible," she said.
Less hectic positions, such as working as a cashier or at food carts, enable students to do their homework while on the job and are more popular for that reason. Those jobs are designated according to a student's seniority or the length of their employment in the department.
Payroll records roughly indicate the number of students working for the University in a given pay period - 1,250 to 1,300, according to Watts - but do not provide the full picture, as there is no measurement of employment found off-campus or through individual relationships, such as research positions for professors. Among those students on record, the average earnings are between $1,400 and $1,500 per academic year.
Sara Naylor '08 discovered nearly one year into her job as a research assistant for the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department that her existing commitment counted as work-study. A biochemistry concentrator, Naylor works in the lab of Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Marc Tatar, researching a gene that controls eating behavior. Naylor does everything from dissecting fruit flies to reading relevant academic papers.
"It's definitely my first choice for a job," Naylor said. "Being able to do this research, fulfill work-study and get paid for it has worked out really well."
Rather than approaching the SEO or searching for options on the job Web site, Naylor was offered a research position by Tatar while a student in his class. Naylor said the job has given her learning opportunities she would otherwise not have had, but one year into the job she remains confused about the work component of her financial aid package.
"I have very little knowledge of what work-study means and how it helps me (in terms of financial aid)," Naylor said. "But I would want to have a job even if I wasn't on financial aid."
Several other students expressed confusion about the work-study program even though they currently have jobs that they are certain satisfy that component of their financial aid package.
Ben Mishkin '08 contacted the Office of Financial Aid as a first-year to clarify what work obligations he would have to satisfy as a sophomore. After familiarizing himself with materials on the program and talking to administrators, Mishkin said, "I still don't really know how it works."
But although Mishkin was not clear about the specifics of the program, he said he sees work-study as providing "a guaranteed on-campus job" to help cover the cost of attending Brown.
The Office of Financial Aid distributes brochures about work-study to students who qualify for it but does not ensure that students do in fact get a job once they become sophomores.
"It's not our business," said Director of Financial Aid Michael Bartini. "We could ask, but they're not required to tell us."
Most student workers may have been confused about work-study, but the University Work Scholarship, which exempts first-year students from the program, was widely praised. While some students ignore the option and begin work as a first-year anyway, those who took advantage of the scholarship were appreciative.
"I don't know how I would have gotten my work done (if I had a job)," Hughes said. "It was a hard transition (coming to Brown)."
"I can't imagine what (my first year) would have been like if I had been pulling 10 hours a week at the same time," Mishkin said.
Although work-study is no longer a part of his aid package, Mishkin began working at the Blue Room this fall. "It's no longer part of my financial aid, but I'm still using it for the same reasons - I pay for my own books," he said.
Mishkin continues to work without being required to do so, but he said some of his classmates who have work-study requirements are jobless simply because the program and process mystifies them.
Financial aid officials said that students rarely ask them for help getting positions, but that they advise those who do seek assistance. Watts said that the job search process is largely between students and their employers, and that this independent nature "really benefits students."
But some students said the Office of Financial Aid falls short when it comes to educating students about work-study.
"They don't tell you anything," Hughes said. "If I hadn't called and asked what work-study was I would never have known."
Although he is pleased with his 10-hour a week job, which he found through the job Web site, Hughes said he is "highly critical of financial aid."
Bartini said he is aware that students may not know much about what work-study is or how it works "as much as we try to communicate and explain."
His office distributes bro-chures to every Brown student at first-year orientation and mails postcards over the summer to rising sophomores who have a work-study component to their package.
Watts said the SEO is trying to improve their statistics and records of student workers' activities.
