Going to lecture after lecture all morning, skipping lunch to drive about a half hour to work, working a full shift, drive a half hour back to campus then doing homework the rest of the night. This is what several students do in order to get a few extra dollars. However some students get the pleasure of work study. With work study they just walk across campus, work a few hours while doing homework and then who knows what afterwards.Sophomore Emma Jennings works in the financial aid office through work study. She works about four and half hours a week.

“It’s an enjoyable and convenient way to make money while kind of giving back,” said Jennings with a large grin knowing that not everyone gets this luxury here and those students are required to get a job elsewhere.

However junior Ryan “Rabbit” Sweeney does have both a job off campus and work study. For about three hours a week Sweeney works in the student life office assisting those who need his help like Victoria Angis. He claims to like this job since it is easy and he doesn’t have to drive there. But Sweeney likes his job as a customer service representative at Shaws in Fair Haven more.

“I do very simple work for VA which is nice but I’ve worked at Shaws for three years now and I am friends with most of the other employees and I make more money there too. I work as much as I can with my schedule
which usually gives me about 30 hours a week,” Said Sweeney.

Sophomore Megan Davis is slightly less enthused about her job. Davis works at FYE in the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland which gives her about a 20 minute drive to get to work and back. She doesn’t mind drive and she likes her job, but there are just some things about it she would like to change.

“Even when it is slow I can’t do my homework. I just have to stand at the register and twiddle my thumbs. And if I had work study I could be able to work more in between my classes rather than after them all, but I did not get granted work study,” said Davis with her nose in her textbook after getting back from another night at FYE.

But landing a work study job can be difficult. Just to be granted work study you have to go through a long process starting with applying for financial
aid when first applying to Castleton explained Kathleen O’Meara the director of Financial Aid. She said that it is not that as easy as it sounds. Students do need to go out and look and apply for their own job it is not just handed to them. O’Meara also explains that there are more jobs on campus than work study you just have to look for them and there is a list of them on the school website.

Victoria Angis of student life, who employs some students, thinks that work study is more than just a way to make money on campus.

“Working on campus makes the students more a part of the community and studies show that those students are more likely to stay and graduate here,” said Angis.

Angis looked up a survey the new students who came in this year took and it showed 262 of the 680 said they were planning on getting a job off campus. This may not be because they did not get work study but some of those students probably are going off campus because it can be daunting seeking a job on campus.

“It is a shame that not all students can work on campus,”said Angis.