Student employment spending could be cut by up to $1 million

Finding a job in the current market is pretty tough, and it could be getting tougher for students on Eastern's campus this summer.University administrators are working on a proposal that could cut up to $1 million in university spending on student employment. If the current proposal is submitted and approved, it would encourage all areas on campus to rein in institutional work study spending, said James Conneely, vice president for Student Affairs.

Student employment comes in two forms at Eastern: institutional work study and federal work study. Institutional work study funds come directly from the university, while most of the federal work study funds come from the federal government. Eastern's federal work study budget would be unaffected by the proposal.

Conneely said the university has been overspending its budget for student workers, a trend that cannot continue because of the current economic climate.

This year, Eastern's budget for institutional work study was approximately $1.04 million, according to statistics from Karen Neubauer, Eastern's executive director of budgeting. With approximately two months left in the fiscal year, Eastern has already spent more than $1.92 million, according to statistics from Conneely.

Last year, Eastern budgeted $898,500 for institutional work study but spent more than $2.13 million.

The proposal would increase the institutional work study budget by $200,000 to approximately $1.24 million.

But that increase would come with an asterisk: no more overspending.

Conneely said if the proposal passes and the new budget numbers are accepted and approved, then Eastern would attempt to keep institutional work study spending at the actual budgeted level.

Based on this year's spending to date, Eastern could spend more than $2.3 million on institutional work study by the end of the fiscal year on July 1.

That means Eastern could be cutting the actual amount spent on institutional work study by more than $1 million next year.

Eastern has nearly 1,500 students employed through institutional work study, according to statistics from Student Financial Assistance. A cut of $1 million is approximately 46 percent of the actual amount spent on institutional work study. If Eastern cut the total number of institutional work study employees by 46 percent, approximately 690 student workers would lose their jobs.

Seventeen of Eastern's student workers are employed in the Technology Commons in downstairs Powell. Cutting the number of student workers in the Technology Commons would likely diminish the quality of services provided as well, said Charles Woolum, Technology Commons supervisor.

The Technology Commons provides a computer lab and study space, free rental of equipment like laptops and cameras and houses the Paper Jam, which provides professional printing services.

"Because of my student workers, I'm able to keep this place open to 11 at night through the week," he said.

Woolum said his student workers also help run the Paper Jam, help students who have technical problems, maintain and update the computers and equipment, and do a lot of "grunt work."

If the proposal moves forward, the new plan to limit spending would go in to effect with next year's budget on July 1.

Woolum said there wouldn't be an immediate impact at the Technology Commons because he employs a much smaller number of student workers over the summer. Instead, the impact would be felt in August when he begins to employ more student workers again, he said.

Conneely said the finance committee is still deciding on how to implement the new budget. Currently the plan is simply to ask departments and divisions at Eastern to make voluntary cuts by taking a critical look at what student workers they really need, he said.

Conneely said if the proposal goes forward and the individual areas of campus don't cut enough from their institutional work study spending, then he and other administrators would step in and begin to make cuts.

"That's why we're in our positions is to make those decisions," he said.

Eastern's Director of Student Financial Assistance Shelley Park said at one time there was a proposal on the table to prevent students from working over the summer unless they were enrolled in summer classes. That proposal has been withdrawn, she said, because it would have hurt too many students financially.

Park said while the university is currently cutting back on student employment spending, Eastern still offers more employment opportunities than most universities.

"A lot of institutions don't have institutional work period," she said. "We've been fortunate to have the university put in money."

Woolum said the effects of cutting student employment need to be considered.

"It's smart to look at all the different ways you can cut spending," he said. "But the important thing is you do not want to wield that ax blindly.