Financial Gap

Calico was a bit disgruntled, when she left for school this morning. It is almost four weeks into the semester and she just received her work study assignment. Money earned through work-study is part of a student’s financial aid package. Getting all of those funds may not be important to every student, but for a single-mother on a limited budget, it is crucial.

On the surface, the assignment seems great. She’ll be providing reading tutoring to second graders at a local elementary school. She’s done this type of work on a volunteer basis and really enjoys it. The problem? Figuring out how to work those hours is something that is left up to her. 

With the exception of a physics lab and a once per week evening class, all her classes are scheduled during daytime hours. These are the same hours that elementary students are in school. Sure, she has some free blocks of time between classes. The school, however, is not within walking distance and the campus parking situation is tight. Our home is just three miles from campus, but she leaves an hour before classes start to allow time to find a commuter lot with vacancies and walk to her class. If she has a two hour break between classes, she could squeeze in an hour of work time. There’s no way she can squeeze ten of those spots into a work week and multiple trips consume gas and increase the cost of car insurance. This is financial aid?

Work-study is a great concept. It is work experience and that helps flesh out a new graduate’s resume. It shouldn’t, however, conflict with academic responsibilities. If a university can provide easily assessable work opportunities that don’t conflict with students’ class schedules, I’m all for it. If that’s not possible, then additional assistance from grants and scholarships is needed. Even an additional loan would be better than finding that promised assistance is not really available.