Elon University faces a supply and demand issue when it comes to providing on-campus jobs for students who qualify for the Federal Work-Study Program.
Put simply, the number of qualifying students outweighs the number of jobs available. But the issue is not the number of jobs. It’s that some students and their parents rely on that income, and there’s no guarantee for them it exists.
If a student who qualifies for work-sudy does not get hired, he or she is expected to make up the difference.
For example, if they qualify for $3,000 in financial aid via work-study and are not employed on campus, the remainder must be filled through private loans or another source. Some students are forced to pay out of pocket.
Still, the amount students are expected to earn through work-study is calculated into the total financial aid package before freshmen step on campus.
The website for the Office of Financial Planning acknowledges no guarantee of finding work on campus, even for students qualified for work-study. Roughly 1,388 Elon students — 24 percent of the student body — qualify for the program.
Ideally, Elon would be able to offer jobs to every student who needs one, but that’s not a realistic goal, especially considering the size of Elon’s campus.
The number of jobs available on campus varies slightly each semester, but there are around 1,100 student employment positions at Elon — enough for 20 percent of the student body.
Even if on-campus employers exclusively hired students with work-study, there still wouldn’t be jobs available for 289 of them. Though some employers hire only students with work-study, not all campus employers hire solely from that pool.
The resulting competition for on-campus jobs leaves some students or their parents cutting a check they thought financial aid would cover.
To qualify for work-study, students must receive financial aid that does not pay for their tuition in full.
Work-study isn’t the only chance for students to earn financial aid money. The Providing Aid through Campus Employment (PACE) program guarantees on-campus employment to students who require a lesser degree of financial assistance than those qualified for work-study. The PACE Program accepts a completely different pool of applicants, and provides student loans, but no other financial aid.
Students in the program are ensured a job on campus, while students with work-study — whose need was determined greater by the Office of Financial Planning — compete with the rest of the student body for employment.
Given the reality of how the work-study program works at Elon, the Office of Financial Aid needs to be more forthcoming about the percentage of students who qualify but can’t find a job.