Posted on 23 October 2010.
Posted in VideosComments Off on Federal Work Study 101 (Video)
Posted on 15 October 2010.
Do you like people? Do you stay up all hours of the night? Is there a little part of you that likes to be in a position of control? Do you want a job on Campus? Do you communicate well?
If you answered yes to 3 or more of these questions, being a Resident Adviser may be just the ticket for you to help cover some of your college expenses.
The Role of a Resident Adviser
RAs have different responsibilities at different college campuses but the common expectation of someone fulfilling this role is that they serve as a role model for fellow students living in their residential communities. Yes, RAs are the enforcers of all the rules put into place by Residential Life, but more importantly, they serve as a resource for their peers and help new students acclimate to campus in a healthy fostering way.
The following represents a brief description of what one college expects of their RAs:
RAs are expected to initiate contact with students on the floor within the first two weeks of classes to begin building rapport. Names of residents should be known by the end of the second week. As the year continues, try to make it a point to see each student at least three times a week so as to learn and know more about them than their names. While contact time with residents may vary by section or floor, this is to be a guideline for use in establishing and gaining knowledge of residents, and to begin the development of community. RAs are expected to promote community within their sections by establishing guidelines, limits, and expectations for cooperative living among residents.
Depending upon which college you attend, the job duties may be different but the description above gives you an idea of what may be expected of you if you decide to become an RA.
The Benefits of Being a Resident Adviser
Colleges and Universities understand the importance of RAs on their campus, so they are usually very quick to treat them fairly when it comes to compensation and benefits.
The following highlights some of the more common benefits associated with being an RA:
The Downside of Being a Resident Adviser
I wish I could say that being a Resident Adviser is the easiest job on campus and that you will never be confronted with “issues”. The truth of the matter is that RA positions definitely come with their fair share of challenges and I personally think they could be one of the toughest work study jobs on campus.
The following are examples of why some people just don’t like being an RA:
In Summary
RAs are the champions on campuses across the nation. They are the unsung heroes that sometimes get overlooked or under appreciated. However, if you are looking for a great way to reduce the amount of money you have to spend on your college education and you want to have an awesome resume builder experience, you should definitely consider becoming an RA. It may make you tough as nails but that may benefit you in your future career more than you know! 😉
Posted in Paying For CollegeComments (1)
Posted on 29 July 2010.
Last academic year (2009-2010) the Department of Education funded federal work study jobs to the tune of $1,174,492,000 (yes, that is over a billion dollars). This coming academic year (2010-2011), DOE is funding work study with $974,492,000. I know these numbers are quite large but the important thing that you need to take a look at is the reduction from one year to the next. This coming academic year you can see that $200 million dollars have been removed from the federal work study program. This reduction is most likely a result of the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) dollars that are no longer available.
So what does all this mean to you? Well, I am glad you asked. If you are a student that is hoping to work on your campus next year through the federal work study program, you had probably better get a jump start on securing a job. Chances are, the $200 million dollar reduction in federal funding for this program is going to equate to less jobs being available on your campus. So, time is certainly of the essence when trying to find a job and anything you can do to better position yourself as a candidate is going to benefit you in the long-run. Whether you want to be the one to check id’s on the way into the fitness center or get the resume builder position in the Bursar’s office, the following tips should hopefully help you get that dream campus job.
Tips to Landing the Perfect Job On Campus
Working on campus during your college years is a fundamental “rite of passage” that everyone should get the opportunity to experience. Work study jobs help to prepare you for life after college, serve as great resume builders, and help you make connections with people that will provide solid references for you for many years to come. I hope the information provided above helps you get a leg up in landing that perfect college job and gaining all that it has to offer.. and help you make a couple bucks along the way as well. 😉
Posted in Financial AidComments Off on How To Land The Perfect Federal Work Study Job
Posted on 21 May 2010.
A bright young student entrepreneur was satisfying his work study hours by working part-time at Drew University in the archives. During the course of about five months William John Scott stole letters from the university archives and pilfered them on the internet for thousands of dollars (which was well below their actual worth).
Most of the letters were historical documents that were written by John and Charles Wesley in the 1700’s. The Wesley brothers are best known as being the “fathers of Methodism” and leading a small reform group that eventually grew to become the second largest Protestant denomination in America. Drew University housed 23 of these Wesley documents and the student had managed to steal 21 of them.
It was not until an antique dealer from England purchased ten of these documents and questioned the manner in which they were shipped to him (FedEx envelope with no sense of preservation for the letters) that the University was tipped off about the possible theft. The dealer, knowing that these letters had to be part of the Drew collection, contacted the University right away and they quickly confirmed ownership.
William John Scott is now being arraigned in court for theft and faces up to ten years in jail, if he is convicted.
Ok.. just to be clear.. I don’t recommend that anyone steal anything from their university and sell it on eBay just to cover your tuition expenses. As you can see from young Mr. Scott’s experience, the outcome can never be good. What you should take away from this article is that your college or university probably has a library archives and you should take an authorized tour to witness some cool pieces of history. Now… if you have old comic books, baseball cards, or other childhood collectibles that are gathering up dust in your parent’s basement, I would recommend listing those on Craigslist or eBay to help offset some of your educational expenses.
Posted in Paying For CollegeComments Off on New Way To Pay For College – Selling Archived Letters