Deficit problems hurt non-workstudy students

By Dave Lapham
Critic Staff

Deficit issues are causing large problems for many departments throughout Lyndon State College.
Many departments have had to cut back on their expenses in order to stay within their budgets. The Department of Student Services is one department that has seen the effects of budget cutting. As a result they have made some changes to meet the demands of a lower budget Allowance.
"Work-Study money allotted to the student services department has increased, but direct hire has significantly decreased," said Deb Bailin director of student services.
Direct hire (Non-Work-Study) is a program funded by Lyndon State College for the purpose of hiring students that do not qualify for or are not hired within the pretenses of Work-Study. Non Work-study funds last year totaled just over $300,000 and this year non work study has decreased to $178,000.
The difference between Work-Study and Direct Hire is that direct hire funds come from Lyndon State College money. Work-Study money on the other hand comes from Government funds and that bucket of money is allotted to the college. The college then disperses the money to each department. Each department can hire as many Work-Study positions as their funds allow.
“Lyndon State College has given us more money for Work-Study because they have taken an interest in this department’s Work-Study program,” Bailin said. “One reason they are interested in our department’s Work-Study program is that the student retention rate has been going down for the last few years. This year is the first year in a while that we have seen the retention rate go up. The greater number of students retained the more tuition dollars the college receives.”
The loss of direct hire funds means that each department has to rely only on the funds given to them through Work- Study, which are limited.
“We have trained 21 students for the circulation desk and only 5 were returning students, Donna Edwards, circulation supervisor, said. “Training takes a lot of time. When we lose upper classmen as workers because they lose their work-study money, it compromises our ability to stay open until 11 p.m.
“The library would not be able to remain open the amount of time that we do, evenings and weekends, without our students,” Edwards said. “They are a valuable part of our team.”
Student Services has also had to make cuts to tutorial programs. Tutorials unlike direct hire are funded by the Student Services department. The purpose of tutorials is to assist students with particular problem classes. In the past Student Services would have continued holding tutorial sessions throughout an entire semester, regardless if there was a low student interest.