Work-study funds may change
President’s proposal may require community service
By Sam Eaton
Staff Reporter

TCU may face a shortage of funding for on-campus job wages if proposed changes in the work-study requirements go as planned, Financial Aid Advisor Melet Leafgreen said.

President Bush is calling for an increase in the required percentage of work that work-study students must do in community service jobs, according to a recent article in Newsweek. Currently, the requirement is only 7 percent, and the proposed change would increase that figure to 50 percent.

Work-study is a program that makes it advantageous to hire students in financial need because the federal government pays 75 percent of the wages, Leafgreen said. The students receive the same pay, but it’s less expensive for the employer.

Many universities, including TCU, try to use work-study students for as many on-campus positions as possible. Leafgreen said there are currently 486 students who are in work-study positions at TCU.

According to the article, the purpose of the increase was to allow students to spend more time in community service jobs rather than menial university jobs.

Mike Scott, director of scholarships and financial aid, said TCU students spend about 25 percent of their time on community service. He said some employment holes would need filling if that number had to double.

“It’s certainly a worthwhile thing to say we want to do more community service,” Scott said. “But unless (the government) gives us more money, we would do it to the detriment of the university work-study students.”

Some work-study students, including junior history major Todd Rings, say the increase will have little effect on the value of the program to students, and more of an effect on the university.

“If you get paid, it doesn’t really matter, as long as (the job) is accessible for students,” said Rings, who works in the theatre department. He said the question for most work-study students is how to get transportation to the community service site.

Leafgreen said 69 students participated in community service jobs through work-study.

Leafgreen said increasing community service is a good idea, but says she feels the proposed change is too drastic and could hurt many universities.

“Not only would it mean a great deal more work from the human resources, financial aid, and payroll standpoint, our campus would lose a huge number of the student employees it counts on to operate efficiently,” Leafgreen said. “Community service positions must be off-campus, and that would mean a major, sudden shortage of work-study funds that our on-campus offices could use.”

Sam Eaton
s.m.eaton@student.tcu.edu

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