Starting this fall, Southern New Hampshire University has altered policies around student workers. Many students and staff are already experiencing the effects of these changes. The new policies focus more on students eligible for work-study and returning student workers, leaving many questions from staff and students.
As SNHU moves forward with enforcing new regulations around department budgets, open positions, and the hiring process, the most asked question is “what does this mean for me?”
Upon further investigation into this issue, many students have already been impacted by these changes without realizing why. Before the start of this fall term, the university altered their budget allowances and expectations from departments which hire student workers throughout the campus.
The most central purpose of these adjustments was to reduce the amount of university paid workers and offer more opportunities to those students who were offered federal work study in their financial aid plans.
Work-study is given to students based on the income reported from their families. This means that students are only eligible for this form of financial aid if their family reports an income under a set amount.
While working through the best plan of action to properly adjust SNHU’s budget, without excluding student workers who held university paid jobs previously, a decision was made to consider returning workers and ensure that they were able to be re-hired. This is the simplified version of Southern New Hampshire University’s new student employment model. While departments proposed budgets differ, many are altering their number of positions and who they can hire.
Many students have expressed confusion around being rejected from jobs they have applied to on campus and were unaware of why it may be more difficult to find employment on campus this year.
Jorge Brunetti (’26), explained that, “a few classmates told me that they were unable to get a job last year, and wanted to try again this year and kept getting rejected,”
While there is no doubt that the university aimed to better serve students and staff when forming this new budget model, there have been many unexpected issues as a result.
It is not uncommon for students to be just above the set income amount that allows them to receive work study. These new policies make it difficult for those students to find employment on campus under the federal assumption that they do not need it, but that is not always true. Many students do not see much financial support from their parents and require sustainable income to support their cost of living while existing independently on campus.
There is also a heavy consideration to be made about the effect of this on international students here at SNHU. Due to the nature of visas needed to study in the United States, these students are unable to find jobs off campus.
Upon enrollment, international students must sign a waiver saying they can afford to attend this university, however, it should be noted that these students are paying completely out of pocket for their tuition and travel expenses as well. While this waiver is signed for each international student, it is not completely realistic and can be problematic to expect that every international student can afford basic cost of living necessities for things like hygiene, travel, events, etc.
“Employment is the way most of us are able to sustain the life we want to live.” says faculty member, Kayla Page, the Director of Diversity Programs on campus. International students and non-work-study students make up a sizable percentage of our student body, and many are feeling alienated from valuable work experiences and sometimes necessary income.
Another concern that is being raised about this issue is experience and resume building opportunities for students being restricted by income. It is true that there are many experiences and opportunities around campus which do not require employment to offer career building and skill development to students in a way which is beneficial, however it can cause students to feel ill prepared and at a disadvantage to be rejected from the employment opportunities.
While it is clear that these new policies were made to help model student employment to assist those who may “need it more,” students financial situations are circumstantial, and call for careful consideration to ensure student success. These policies aim to involve the needs of all stakeholders, and SNHU students and staff notice that they don’t feel accounted for in these decisions.
