Outback Farm garden coordinator Matia Jones has been putting in extra hours to make up for eight Outback jobs the AS could not afford. On top of being a full-time student, she said she works 30 hours per week at the Outback but only gets paid for 15 hours of work. Photo By Rhys Logan
Western’s Associated Students (AS) was unable to fill 19 work study positions this year due to a lack of funding.
An extensive review of the work study program by Western’s Student Employment Center revealed many positions were being paid for with state funds when they should have been paid for with federal funds. The state of Washington provides approximately twice the funds provided by federal funding for the work study program.
When the error was discovered, the AS was told it would not be able to afford new hires. Each applicant was sent a regret letter. Brian Conner, AS personnel director, said it was not easy to tell qualified applicants they would not be hired.
“When you’re at the soup kitchen and you get up to the counter and there’s no more soup, even though the front door is open and they’re open, what are you going to do?” he said.
The funding mix-up was caused by a misunderstanding of the difference between peer advisers and program assistants.
Students who work as AS coordinators for walk-in resource and outreach programs, such as the Women’s Center or the Drug Information Center, are considered peer advisers. Funding for peer advising jobs comes from the state.
Students who work as assistants to AS staff—for example, an assistant to a peer adviser—are considered program support staff. They receive federal funding, which is used up more quickly.
Before the review, all AS work study students were mistakenly filed as peer advisers, so they all received state funding. Now only AS work study positions that clearly provide peer advising services can receive state funding.
Caryn Regimbal, Student Employment Center manager, said demand for federal work study positions exceeds available funding every year.
The level of federal funding for work study has stayed the same since 2005, while the level of state funding has gradually risen since 2002. But neither has kept up with Washington’s rising minimum wage, so Western now offers 185 fewer work study awards than it did in 2002.
“It used to be that work study hiring was more casual, and by more casual I mean we didn’t have an extremely enforced and streamlined applications process,” Conner said. “It’s a big change that really stinks, but it’s an ethical change made for the better.”
Some of the jobs affected include Environmental Center office manager, AS Productions publicity assistant and eight positions at Fairhaven College’s Outback Farm.
“Now we’re more understaffed than we need to be, and I’m spread more thin than I should be,” said Matia Jones, garden coordinator at the Outback Farm.
Because the application process for work study has become more rigorous, students now need to be fully qualified and submit a complete resume to be considered for application, Conner said.
The Outback Farm was hit hardest by the lack of funding, but Jones said she has been able to sidestep some of the setbacks by getting support from Fairhaven College.
“The Outback is maybe one-third AS and two-thirds Fairhaven, so as much as possible I go through Fairhaven,” Jones said. “It’s way less litigious and way less bureaucratic. It’s way less [of] a waste of my time.”
Jones said funding shortfalls mean the Outback has to rely more on volunteer work.
Although students returning to work study are guaranteed to get their jobs back as long as they still have financial need, some of Jones’ returning workers had to go through a great deal of paperwork before they were hired again for this year, she said.
All of the students who were not hired for the 19 AS positions were new applicants to the Outback.
Caryn Regimbal, manager of the Student Employment Center, said the AS positions still could be filled eventually—either by shifting around funds within the AS or by getting more government funding.
Conner said he disagrees with the state’s decision to not fund certain jobs because they are supposedly not in the direct interest of the state.
“How do you tell someone that they can’t have a job because the state says that isn’t what they want to see people doing?” he said.
Only registered users can post comments.
Please login or register.
Be first to comment on this article
