-AMHERST
Academic buildings
stretch high towards the sky on the campus of The University of Massachusetts
at Amherst. On a given day, thousands of students are bustling to classes,
using the public transportation and eating from the dining commons. The University of Massachusetts has the
amenities of every other large University in the United States. However, the
weak status of the economy has left students wondering how they are able to
support themselves and attend classes at the same time. The University of
Massachusetts has a work-study program with over 25 jobs listed for students.
In order to be considered for these jobs, students have to be enrolled in the
work-study program.
A student who
participates in the work-study program has a greater chance of getting hired and
finding a job on campus. The work-study program at UMass Amherst has proven
successful in getting students new jobs.
Charlie Tran is a
21-year-old Senior who majors in computer science is employed by the Du Bois
library. He thinks that students are not getting jobs because they aren’t
willing to look.
“I’ve had a job
since freshman year, and I applied in the summer and got an interview
immediately,” says Tran. “In a lot of positions work study is required or
preferred, and if they didn’t have work study they wouldn’t even bother trying
with looking for a job.”
The jobs
through the work-study opportunities range from bus drivers, to administrative
assistant and from data entry clerks to English as a Second Language teaching
assistants.
The student
employment office has an interactive web page in which employers can post new
jobs so students can look and apply. The website even has jobs for non-work
study students. The lack of student employment is due to the fact that some
students are simply not looking for jobs.
Tran isn’t the
only student who believes in the value of Umass’ work-study program.
Kelly St. Cyr is a
19-year-old freshman, a new member to the Umass’ campus.
“A lot of my
friends who have applied for jobs have gotten them, a lot of them got it
through community service, they volunteered before they got the jobs,” St.Cyr
says. “That’s the best way to get a job on campus.”
Even with the weak economy no longer in a recession, students are turning to programs like work-study and finding ways to get by. The unemployment
rate in Amherst, MA stands at 3.40 per cent compared to the national average of
9.10 per cent. At $59,448 the household income in Amherst is higher than the
nation average, while the national average is at $52,954.
Matt McCarron is a
23-year-old senior majoring in journalism who has managed to escape the job
hunt among students.
“I’ve been really
fortunate, I was able to save up enough money so I don’t have to work out
here,” says McCarron.
McCarron is
optimistic about students finding employment on and off campus.
“You’re bound to
find something, I do know that my girlfriend had trouble getting a job on
campus, they mostly involve work study and last year she didn’t get work study,
so essentially she couldn’t get a job.”
Students are also
dealing with the soul purpose of attending college, to get an education. The
challenge of course to students is finding a way to balance your schoolwork
with your actual job. Ryan Sifferlen is a 20-year-old junior who majors in
sports management.
“There are
pressures of being a young adult in college,” says Sifferlen.
“Its difficult to keep up with your
school work and working at an actual job. But it does prepare you for real life
I guess.”
While students
outside of the work-study program might panic, the job market is slowly
increasing for graduating students. According to The Bureau of Labor
Statistics, in January 2012 over 8.2 million Americans were in employed in a
part-time job, a slight increase from December 2011 in the last couple years.
The focus of students who are trying to balance work and schoolwork is to try
and find a job that accommodates specific students schedules. There are many
alternatives to work-study programs that help with students finding jobs with
flexible hours such as www.snagajob.com and www.collegehelpers.com The efforts to
increase student employment at Amherst without the work-study program seem to
be steadily increasing.
If students are
motivated to work on the campus of UMass then it is clear that they need to be
involved in the work-study program. Nationally, only 7 per cent of students
accept the work-study program option accumulating $2,400 in wages. The value of
working in the work-study program is a $2,000 discount on your tuition rate.
Moving forward, there are
new facilities being constructed on campus, which means more on campus job opportunities. New honors dormitories are being constructed on campus drive, which
means jobs for students as resident assistants, security, and potential new dining commons. There is no
shortage of effort being put forth by the university to provide jobs for students, the effort needs to be put
forth by the students to go out and get those jobs.
No comments:
Post a Comment