Work-Study Students Denied Spring Funding

As a result of budget constraints and increased student participation, several students promised work-study support will be unable to receive the Federal funds this spring if they were not already employed last semester.

While the money available for work-study generally runs out late in the spring, when students are already completing their second-semester jobs, this year it is already gone, said Martha H. Homer, director of student employment.

Generally, employers make up the difference in the final months, Homer said. But many students have only just begun new spring semester jobs, and new employers are balking at the prospect of paying students' full salaries for the entire semester.

Work-study provides 70 percent of a student's wages, leaving only 30 percent for the employer to pay.

Students said they viewed the work-study support in their financial aid packages as guaranteed, and the withdrawal struck them as a betrayal.

"They tell you there's so much money allotted to you and when you find out there isn't, it's kind of disconcerting," said Kathryn R. Manning '95, who had secured a research job for the semester. "They're reneging on something they already said `yes' to."

Manning said she was fortunate in that her employer agreed to pay her full salary without work study support.

Some students who had already found jobs for the spring semester found the news a rude shock.

"I was livid and I didn't know how to react," said Kristina Ortez '95. "It never occurred to me that it would be taken away."

Ortez was unable to retain the job she had found in the Biological Laboratories, she said.

"You get a sheet to fill out for work study and I turned it in and they didn't say anything," Manning said. But two weeks into the semester, Manning's employer was told she had no more work-study support.

The work-study budget squeeze was caused by an unexpected number of students using their work-study support, Homer said.

"More students than usual are actually using their work study," she said. "We're in danger of going over budget by the end of the year."

According to Elizabeth M. Hicks, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid for federal and special programs, the total amount of money Harvard spends on work-study is determined by the Federal government.

"We ask for a lot more than we get," she said.

After the University receives its allotted sum, Harvard determines the amount each student will get based on expectations of how many will actually participate in work-study, she said.

Because that estimate was wrong this year, theStudent Employment Office (SEO) is advising thosestudents cut off by the lack of work-study fundsto seek non-work-study employment.

But Ortez said the SEO had not provided aworkable solution. "The SEO was incrediblyunsympathetic," she said.

Work-study jobs, which often consist ofresearching for professors, are better than thoseavailable without the Federal support, studentssaid.

"We appeal to researchers who need cheaplabor," Ortez said

Because that estimate was wrong this year, theStudent Employment Office (SEO) is advising thosestudents cut off by the lack of work-study fundsto seek non-work-study employment.

But Ortez said the SEO had not provided aworkable solution. "The SEO was incrediblyunsympathetic," she said.

Work-study jobs, which often consist ofresearching for professors, are better than thoseavailable without the Federal support, studentssaid.

"We appeal to researchers who need cheaplabor," Ortez said