Students looking to extend their work study funds beyond what they were initially awarded this semester are out of luck.
Kathleen O'Keefe, director of student financial aid, said all of the work study money has been awarded for the semester. Undergraduate students can receive up to $4,000 a year in work study money. Graduate students can be awarded up to $5,000.
If students use it up, it's first come, first served, said Latoya Anderson, a UNM payroll assistant.
"We just keep awarding as long as we have the money," O'Keefe said.
The work study program - a need-based program - covers 70 percent of a student's paycheck, with the employing department picking up the rest of the tab. Students can apply for campus jobs with any rate of pay. But when they use up their awarded work study money, the student might be out of a job.
"We always tell everyone they need to make their award last throughout the year," O'Keefe said. "Whether we can award more is dependent on if we have any funding left, and if they're eligible."
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There is no policy at UNM requiring departments to continue employing a student through the end of a semester once their work study award is used up, she said.
"It's up to the department," she said. "If the department has enough money, they continue paying their employees. We don't get involved at all."
UNM and its branch campuses receive about $2.3 million from the federal government, a steady rate for the past few years, O'Keefe said. The state kicked in an additional $1.2 million for the 2004-05 school year, which is less money than it had given UNM in previous years, she said. Still, she said, the program is generally well-funded.
"Politicians like work study," she said. "People like the idea of people working for what they get."
UNM tries to spend all of its work study money every year, which is a good thing, O'Keefe said. She added that enrollment and tuition numbers are up, and subsequently the amount of students applying for work study has also increased. She anticipate not being able to meet most requests for work study, she said.
"I don't want to speculate, but we have not been giving people less or turning people down," she said.
O'Keefe said the work study program allows departments to hire more employees than they would be able to otherwise. Joann Buehler, a UNM staff member and sociology major, used to work for a department that relied on the work study program.
She said the department looked at applicants who were work study qualified before hiring anyone else.
"That makes sense, but it's not necessarily fair," freshman Gerry Sandoval said. "Just because you signed up for work study shouldn't mean that you get priority over other students."
Sandoval said he wasn't sure if he checked the box to apply for work study on his Free Application for Federal Student Aid - he didn't understand what work study was when he first filled it out. Sandoval said students should be better educated about the work study program since it affects their ability to get jobs on campus. He said he plans to apply for work study in the fall.
