Work Study problems due to more students, less federal money

By: Nicole Castro/Staff Writer

Outrage turned to relief at the end of last week when students under the Federal Work Study program were informed they were getting their money in full.

In an interview with Student Media, Francisco Valines, director of financial aid, clarified it was not a miscalculation by the department, like many students had assumed, but rather the combination of a less-than-expected amount of money from the federal government and the more than usual students in work study.

In any given year there are about 400 students on work study at the University, Valines said, but there are 600 students on the program this year.

The money to pay these students was almost half the expected amount – $135,000 when the University usually gets between $300,000 and $750,000.

These two factors led to the University’s decision to cap the half the amount of awards work study students would receive. This also meant the number of hours students would work was reduced.

When they reached their number of hours work study students would not be able to continue working.

The week started with a wave of outrage disseminating across the University when work study students received an email stating their awards was reduced to half the amount they agreed to under their FWS contracts.

On Tuesday afternoon, a Facebook group titled “FIU has reduced my federal work study grant” was created to discuss individual concerns and devise a plan that would help the student body reach out to administrators.

“This situation is related to federal funds and FIU Financial Aid’s Office management of these funds, and how they realized and communicated the shortcoming in funds. For once it does not appear that the state was the one to directly cause this,” said senior William-Jose Velez, biomedical engineering major, on the Facebook group’s page.

Anais Melo, a freshmen nursing major, was one of the many students who on Wednesday morning, despite acknowledging the flexibility the work study program offers, began to envision herself applying for another job.

Melo explained how she “just [didn’t] see how they can have [students] accept a certain amount, and then just cut it half way through the semester without warning….”

“I work in the Green Library and I’m going from 17 hours a week to seven, possibly even less. And in less than a month I’ll be stuck without a job, and plenty of bills to pay,” Melo said before Financial Aid came up with a new plan.

By Friday morning, the old plan had been quickly overturned and students were notified via email that “all Federal Work Study awards [had been] restored to the maximum amount…”

“We got feedback from students and departments and heard this was not a good idea,” Valines said.

According to the department’s new plan, all work study students are receiving their awards in full – about $1.5 million for the Fall and Spring semesters.

Financial Aid is providing 36 percent of that and the departments are required to provide 18 percent.

Normally, when the federal government gives money for work study, universities’ hiring departments are required to match 25 percent of what the students are paid.

“So if you make $1,000 from [FWS] the hiring department has to give $250,” Valines said.

But FIU is a Title 2 and Title 5 institution, meaning it is a developing and Hispanic-serving institution, respectively.

Therfore it’s eligible for a waiver which it has used for the last five years. So its departments haven’t had to put up the 25 percent match. The 18 percent is meant to somewhat meet that requirement.

“We’re asking the departments to match some of the work study amount, not quite the 25 percent match, but close to it,” Valines said.

Many questioned why the department would disburse more money than they have, but Valines explained that universities usually respond in this manner.

“You have to do that,” said Valines, “otherwise you have to give money back, and you don’t want to do that.”

Others like Victor Rodriguez, freshmen international relations major, sent a letter to University President Mark Rosenberg explaining how he was told: “‘figure out how you are going to pay and pay it… If not enroll at a time where you can afford the charges.’”

The solution Financial Aid implemented is only for the Fall and Spring of this academic year.

“We haven’t yet decided on what to do for next year,” said Valines.

Additional reporting by Philippe Buteau.