Jenna Rappel works as a main desk assistant in the DellPlain residence hall at Syracuse University, answering phone calls, organizing mail and handling other administrative jobs at the dorm.

Rappel, a freshman retail management major, said she might not be attending SU if it wasn’t for this work-study job.

“College is so expensive these days,” Rappel said. “Barely anyone can afford it, and even if they can, a little money here and there is important.”

But jobs like these are in jeopardy. The Trump administration on March 16 released its 2018 budget proposal, which called for the federal work-study program’s funding to be cut “significantly.” The budget didn’t give any specific figures on how much funding would be cut.

Rappel is one of many students at SU who earn money for tuition and other expenses through federal work-study jobs. According to Department of Education figures from the 2015-16 school year, 2,980 SU students held federal work-study jobs, or nearly one out of every seven.

In that same year, SU received almost $2.5 million from the federal government to fund students’ work-study wages, according to the department.

Due to the vague wording in the budget proposal, no expert could exactly say how much funding might be cut from work-study programs. It is also unclear how any cuts would affect SU specifically.

“I think it’s a little too early for us to jump to any really good conclusions, because there (are) not enough details,” said Janna McDonald, president of the National Student Employment Association. She added, though, that students “have a right to be concerned.”

But some experts and advocates agreed that these proposed cuts are misguided and even antithetical to the president’s own campaign message.

“The platform on which President Trump ran was work-based,” McDonald said. “This program is not one … to cut because it promotes the opportunity for students to gain work experience while helping to pay for their education.”

Stephen Payne, assistant director of federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said he is also concerned about Trump’s proposal.

Students have various reasons for needing work-study. Morgan DeChalus, a senior broadcast and digital journalism major who works at the main desk in Ernie Davis Hall, said without work-study, she would have to work off campus, which would be much more time-consuming and harder to balance with her school schedule.

She said the extra money she earns through the work-study program helps her pay for everyday expenses — like gas, clothes and groceries — that don’t show up in tuition bills.

The federal government gives out money for work-study programs at colleges using a formula that considers the number of students who need aid at a given school, the cost of tuition and how long the school has been part of the nationwide work-study program.

This formula tends to benefit older institutions – including many private four-year schools like SU – over public universities and community colleges where enrollment has increased recently, Payne said.

“Because of the … way the program is designed, it’s not fair to say that if there’s a 50 percent (cut) to work-study funding, that there would be a 50 percent cut on every campus,” Payne said.

In addition to the overall funding cuts, Trump’s budget proposes to change the federal work-study funding formula ­— what the budget calls a “poorly-targeted allocation.” What that change might be is not specified in the budget.

“I think that a significant cut to the federal work-study program will be devastating to students who rely on those funds to not only pursue a college education, but also … to have the opportunity to gain valuable work experience,” Payne said.

Published on April 2, 2017 at 9:43 pm

Contact Madeleine: mdavison@syr.edu