University of Georgia student Ashley Bene doesn't mind juggling school and work. Since both her parents lost their jobs, she does as much as she can to help out.
“It's tiring, but you get used to it,” she said. “I'm a little crazy, like the Energizer Bunny, I guess.”
Bene, a junior from Woodstock, said she does her best to stay positive.
“That's all you can do,” she said. “If you beat yourself up about it then you just go crazy.”
She begins her day at 7:30 a.m., then bounces between classes and work until walking home around 6:30 p.m.
Bene is a member of the University's Federal Work-Study Program, which has been increasingly
popular as unemployment rates have increased.
Sherryl Fern, federal work-study coordinator for the University, said work-study positions are all most likely filled.
Fern said students must apply to be eligible for work-study jobs. After applications are submitted, Fern's office determines which students receive admission to the program, then allows them to apply for jobs through a Web site similar to Monster.com.
Fern said this semester, all of the work-study program money was applied for by April 6.
“It ran out a little earlier this year than last year,” she said. “It could be a combination of more people applying and more people applying early.”
Bene has been in the program for several years working at the library on the Georgia Newspaper Project converting newspapers to microfilm.
While the job isn't the most exciting, Bene said she enjoys the people and is happy to be working.
“If that's what I need to do to go to UGA I'll make it work,” she said.
Lucille Davis, student assistant coordinator for the libraries, hires work-study students. Because the federal government pays 75 percent of work-study students’ wages, Davis said her department has been taking advantage of the money.
“This year we're hiring more student workers than we ever have,” she said. “We're right at about 31, 32 students. There are a couple more that we're waiting on.”
The library is just one of 65 departments taking advantage of the work-study program, Fern said. Although most students work as office assistants, Fern said a few lucky ones get more interesting jobs.
“We have a couple of jobs through poultry diagnostics, and there's one job where they feed the animals,” she said.
It is also possible for students to work as lab assistants, and this semester there was an opening at the University Health Center in the dental lab.
Most students in the program are paid the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and are eligible to earn up to $1,500 a semester. To earn the full amount, the average student would have to work nearly 14 hours weekly.
Holly Getchell, director of employer relations for the University Career Center, said her office has gotten mixed messages about student looking for jobs.
"We had a part-time job fair in August and that attendance was amazing," she said. "We've had other events, just things like our regular walk in hours, and the numbers from that have been basically the same or even less than what we would expect."
Although the Career Center has been getting mixed messages, Getchell said the career fair on Sept. 23 will clearly indicate how many students are worried about jobs.
Bene said she feels lucky to already have a job. She said she finds her school work schedule almost relaxing compared to the summer, when she worked two jobs for around 50 hours a week.
“I get one day off when I go home, so that's my summer,” she said. “It hasn't given me much room to breathe.”
Bene said she doesn't mind the work, especially when student debt is her only alternative. With a little brother starting college the year after she graduates, she said she does what she can to be frugal.
“It's not a good time to be in my family,” she said, “but we always work it out and figure it out and we're always fine.”
Edited by Ashley Strickland
