notes from the desk Reevaluate the Financial Aid

Author: Tamara Hilmes

The pay period passes, and I receive yet another e-mail reminding me to turn in my time sheet and, like always, I ignore it. Even if I were to painstakingly enter all of the hours that I rack up each week as a Peer Writing Tutor while attending training sessions and meeting with students, I still would not get paid a dime more than I would otherwise. Why? Because despite all its friendly pretenses, the Middlebury College Financial Aid Office has found a way to punish me for being a work study student who actually wants to work. Imagine that.

As a first-year last year, I happily accepted the $1,750 of Federal Work-Study aid that Middlebury so kindly offered me in the "Award Package" section of my BannerWeb account. Upon my arrival on campus, I immediately went on the hunt for a job, when much to my surprise, the perfect job ended up finding me. I became a Collections Assistant at the Henry Sheldon Museum in town, one of the various establishments with whom the College has established an off-campus work -study relationship. I was thrilled - not only would I be able to repay my allocated work study fund, but I would do so by performing tasks that I found meaningful and worthwhile. Rather than sitting in the entrance of the gym or handing out programs before a musical event, I was helping to put up fascinating exhibits and to handle century-old artifacts. I had the perfect employment setup - that is, until April rolled around.

In the spring of last year, the Financial Aid Office, as well as my boss at the museum informed me, that I could no longer work at the museum because I had reached my work-study quota. How could this have happened? I was extremely confused as my boss and I had adjusted my hours earlier in the year to prevent this very occurrence. In the end, I found out that, because I had held a second job on campus, that of Editor in Chief of the yearbook, the funds from both jobs had been drawing out of my work study fund and eventually draining it around the first week of April. I was devastated. I had lost my job at the museum because I had worked too hard. It seemed simply ridiculous.

When I returned this year as a sophomore, I was offered my old job at the museum, an opportunity that I jumped at. I was also asked by my former professor and advisor to become a Peer Writing Tutor, which I happily accepted, eager to help out first-year writers. About a week into the fall semester, I discovered that the same problem as last year was likely to occur if I continued to work both jobs. I went into the Financial Aid Office to explain my situation and receive, I had hoped, some sort of help. Fat chance. The person I spoke to merely explained that if I wanted to earn more than the allocated $1,750, then I would have to give up working at the Henry Sheldon and only work on campus. Of course, I rejected this plan. So as it stands now, I do not bother to fill out my Peer Writing Tutor time sheets, because I would rather keep my job at the museum than get paid to tutor.

My main beef with my situation is this - students who choose to work only on campus, regardless of whether or not they have work study, are allowed to do so on a relatively unlimited basis. They are allowed to earn as much as they want. I, however, a student receiving financial aid, am limited to my measly $1,750 for the entire year, which, in reality, is simply not enough. It makes absolutely no sense, and I think that if the College would rethink its policies regarding off-campus work study, that a lot more students would be able to perform more meaningful jobs in order to support themselves financially while receiving their education - instead of having to perform tasks that, let's get serious, monkeys could probably do.

Tamara Hilmes '10 is a Local News editor from Lawrence, Kan.