When it came time to pay tuition this August, many students were counting on significant financial aid packages to help foot the more than $50,000 yearly bill. But some may have been disappointed to see a work-study offer somewhat lower than they would have expected.
The federal government's work-study grant to Boston University this year was the lowest that it has been in a decade, with the average student award falling consistently over the last ten years. The average award for the 2010-11 school year was $2,239, a $95 decrease from last year.
The amount of students hired this year is greater than the decade's average, but has not increased from last year, with a majority of these students seeing a decrease in their award.
Considering the nation is in the midst of an economic recession, the decrease in funding is hardly surprising. It's a bad time for jobs in general, and there's no reason to think that full-time students would be able to get jobs more easily than working adults. However, this isn't necessarily how it should be.
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama called for a $50 billion addition to the stimulus package to put toward public works projects such as the construction and repair of roads, railways and airport runways nationwide, spurring the creation of many temporary jobs.
Instead of a short-term fix for the country's economic problems, the Obama administration should focus on putting government money toward something that will give us a long term return on our investment.
By allocating more money toward federal grants for college students, like the work-study program, the government would put more money in students' pockets. This would not only encourage them to attend college and graduate ready to contribute to the job market, but also would provide them with more spending money, which in turn stimulates the economy. Obama has spent lots of time talking about student loans and Pell grants, but the time has come to focus on providing students with aid that they won't have to pay back in four years.
The stimulus package's first priority was to create jobs, and this is undoubtedly a necessary measure toward combating recession. But by creating more jobs for students, we would be taking steps toward a long-term solution, rather than a mere quick fix.
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