With the high cost of college tuition and daily living, many students cannot afford to just be a student. Once we get settled into the school year, many of us will start searching for part-time jobs. Luckily, there are many opportunities for MSU students to work part-time in East Lansing, and right on campus. When I realized I needed part-time work, I went for the on-campus job route, and am going on my fourth year as a student employee. Hopefully, my ruminations will help you decide if an on-campus job is right for you. As a disclaimer: these are all my opinions and are pulled from my experiences. Someone else may have a different perspective on this. You should ask them, too! Right now, I’m here to answer the question: Is an on-campus job worth it?
Yes!
Depending on where you work, being a student employee on campus has the advantage of your employer acknowledging the fact that you are a student. You are not allowed to schedule shifts over class times, and if you work between classes, part-time shifts can be very short. Because many campus services are not operational during holiday or seasonal breaks, you have the option to take time off while school is off. For example, during winter break or spring break at my place of employment, student shifts were optional to ensure working students could have the same time off opportunities as their peers. This also allowed the ability to go home without worrying about having enough banked days off.
Working on campus also means that the vast majority of your coworkers are also students. It’s a great place to make connections and friendships that make the long shifts fly by. When it comes to exams, finals week, and other common stressors for students, your coworkers are more empathetic and more likely to understand what you’re going through. On top of the flexible hours and time off, there are many student supervisor positions that you can get promoted to, which include raises and responsibilities that may help you post-grad.
No!
While working on campus has benefits, there are also some cons. Sure, your adult, full time coworkers and supervisors may know that you’re a student, but when they’re short staffed or in a busy period, it is not always their top priority. I ended up working way more hours than was good for me just because there was no one else working there.
Why were we so short staffed? Yes, student employees at MSU are paid above Michigan’s minimum wage, but we are not paid competitively in comparison to other employers in the area. A small hourly wage cannot stand up to the pricey off-campus rent or the crippling student loans that thousands of students face.
In addition, student employees are only able to work up to 29 hours a week, so we can only be considered part-time. This may become problematic for a couple of reasons. For one, if 29 hours isn’t enough to pay your expenses, you’ll have to get another job. For another, when they’re only offering short shifts, sometimes as short as two hours, getting to the lowered threshold of 29 hours a week may feel impossible.
This isn’t an exhaustive review, nor is it an objective one. All of this is painted by my own experience and how my job tied into my student life. This isn’t as simple as a “yes” or “no,” but it is always important to be informed when making these decisions. I hope this review helps steer you in the right direction if you’re looking for part-time work this school year!