Debate over legislation proposed by Senators John McCain and Evan Bayh to raise a requirement that seven percent of Federal Work Study positions must be community service-related to 25 percent has brought much attention to work-study recently. While many schools that are more “traditional” than UMass Boston worry that they will not be able to meet more stringent requirements for Federal Work Study because of suburban or rural locations and lack of off-campus transportation, UMB administrators working with this focus do not seem overly concerned.

Teresa Jardon, Assistant Director of Financial Aid Services, explained that after determining eligibility for federal financial aid via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, students who are awarded Federal Work Study choose to apply to on-campus jobs, such as working in the library, volunteer positions, or positions in the private sector. Currently, 42 agencies, including Jumpstart, the New England Aquarium, the Museum of Fine Arts, and New England Baptist Hospital offer community service positions. Jardon stated that her office’s role in students’ decisions about where to work is to “encourage students to seek a position in which they will find enjoyment but do not emphasize one position or type of job over another.” During the 1999-2000 academic year, 9.7 percent of UMB federal work-study funds went towards community service-related positions.

Factors that influence students to select one work-study job over another lie less in administrator pressure than in external circumstances. Work-study wages range from $6.50 to $12.50 per hour. According to Jardon, this “depends on the position, qualifications, responsibility, confidentiality, and knowledge,” but “pay rates for positions vary widely based upon local economic concerns.” Jardon added, “Students prefer positions that are convenient and applicable to their skills, abilities and interests. More students currently work in the on-campus Federal Work Study program than in off-campus work-study jobs, but Student Employment does not know if this is due to individual preference or other circumstances.”

The controversy over Federal Work Study centers on the goal of the program, “to encourage students receiving federal student financial aid to participate in community service activities that will benefit the nation and engender in the students a sense of social responsibility and commitment to the community.” To support this program, the federal government pays 75 percent of work-study wages, while the employer pays the remaining 25 percent. However, guidelines for the program did not strongly support this goal. Until last year, when the requirement was raised to seven percent, only five percent of work-study jobs had to be community service-based. If passed, in addition to raising the requirement to 25 percent, an “aggressive monitoring system” would be put in place to enforce guidelines.

Non-urban school administrators, such as Robert Cunningham, director of student employment at Princeton, stress that “McCain’s proposal would be devastating, frankly.” He cites lack of transportation and community service opportunities in non-urban areas and the fact that administrators cannot really do anything to influence students to choose these jobs as reasons that new regulations would be detrimental. These issues are not as problematic at urban commuter schools such as UMB, though. Jardon stated, “Because our students all live off-campus, this has not been an issue. Many students prefer off-campus jobs because it allows them to work close to their homes.”

Even if the McCain-Bayh proposed legislation is passed, it may not realistically have much impact on the community. Jardon said, “Because of the controversy over the acceptability of on-campus employment being considered community service, the Federal Department of Education issued the following information: ‘on-campus jobs must involve a program, project, or service that is provided to the general public in the local community. On-campus jobs that serve only the campus community do not qualify as community service employment,'” and concluded, stating that if the McCain-Bayh legislation is passed, “UMass Boston will be forced to take a hard look at how student employee positions on campus are classified. First we’ll need to seriously consider classifying many on-campus positions as community service. The second step may be to limit work-study students from working in positions that are not community service.”