The effects of the economic recession are once again finding their way into the lives of Boston University students, and this time the casualties are the bonuses awarded to student employees of BU Dining Services.
The word ‘bonus’ has become a dirty word in these difficult economic times, as many Americans were outraged over the bonuses received by AIG executives.’ But those employed by Dining Services aren’t multi-millionaires. Students aren’t just working so they can have extra money to spend; some are working to put themselves through college.
For students employed with Catering on the Charles, it can be difficult to secure enough shifts to make a decent amount of money. The bonus they receive for referring a friend, working during finals week or coming back to work next semester may mean a lot more to catering employees, who essentially freelance, than student employees with regularly scheduled hours.
Of these students, if those who are paying their own way through college are seeing their earnings reduced, then they are going to need make ends meet somehow. Their only option may be to apply for more financial aid from BU, and BU is already inundated with more and more financial aid applications each year as tuition goes up and the economy tanks.’
For now, it seems that only bonuses are being cut, but student employee wages and hours are especially vulnerable during the recession. The burden caused by the economic recession cannot be placed upon students alone, and if anything, students should be the ones who are asked to sacrifice the least.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
