Students working on campus enjoy a boost in their paychecks as Dallas College increases wages and adjusted work hour limits in its updated Work-Study program.
The College Work-Study Program is a need-based financial aid program that provides part-time jobs for eligible students to earn money to pay for tuition costs and other educational expenses.
Darren Breedlove, career and transfer skills development specialist, has advised work-study students for three years. He said there are several requirements to participate in the program.
“The criteria for work-study are, one, a student must obtain two or more courses, or take two more courses, which is six hours. The second criterion is that they have to be on financial aid. With that said, when they’re hired, there are certain tasks that they must fulfill, and it gives them working knowledge of a working environment,” said Breedlove.
Danielle Askew, a financial aid literacy coach with eight years of program experience, has seen the annual pay raise occur almost every year.
“The work-study students who are currently working and new students currently received a pay increase,” said Askew. “It normally happens every year.”
Askew regularly receives feedback from students about these updates. “Of course, it helps them out in the long run because it’s more money they get paid, but it has to reduce the hours that they work to make sure the amount that’s allocated is enough for them to work during the semester,” she said.
Students who are in the work-study program see the program as beneficial.
Moise Steeven Sahozabzi, a student worker, said the program has helped him develop skills needed in his future career.
“I learned a lot of things about accessibility because we have a training every year that helps us with Title IX and those kinds of things. I learned about Excel and PowerPoint, which I wasn’t good at using before,” said Sahozabzi.
As an international student, he said it is necessary to cover multiple expenses.
“It’s my only source of income that I have the right to get because international students cannot work outside of Canada. I needed that.”
Another student worker, Paola Ortiz, said the program is helping her build marketable skills.
“I was very shy and didn’t have any customer service skills at all. This job has helped me build those customer service skills and engage in conversations,” said Ortiz.
However, there are also struggles students face when applying for the program.
“To apply, you go to the college website, go to job opportunities, and then look for work study or non-work study. However, you rarely get an answer,” said Sahozabzi.
Askew said that because work study is a government-funded program, the budget is constrained. “Right now, we have many applications out there, but not enough funding to hire a lot of students.”
Looking ahead, she said that the program is unlikely to have any significant changes, apart from the annual pay increases and adjustments to student work hours.
