One of the best things about growing up is becoming financially independent. But when you don’t receive money from your parents, you need to make your own.
Making her own money is the reason Ileana Sanchez, sophomore psychology major, is the media manager for the Office of Student Activities and works at the office’s front desk.
“I was looking for a job on campus because I am a part of Phi Sigma Sigma, and I wanted a way to pay my dues without having to ask my mom and dad,” Sanchez said.
Besides asking offices on campus if they have jobs available, students can look for a job through Student Employment. Stacey Levy, coordinator of job location and development and special events in Enrollment and Student Services, said that students must be enrolled in class and fully accepted into their programs to qualify for student employment.
They then have to register for a Student Employment workshop at www.nova.edu/financialaid/studentemployment . The workshop is on WebCT which students have to log on to. After viewing a presentation and completing a quiz, the student prints out a certificate of completion.
“Once they have that certificate of completion, they would submit that student employment application to our office along with the certificate, and that’s how they would apply for a job,” Levy said.
The application can be printed from the Student Employment Web site and submitted to the Office of Student Employment in the Horvitz Administration Building. Applications are also available in the office.
Part-time on-campus jobs are available through NSU Student Employment. Off-campus jobs are available through Job Location and Development, which is a referral service. These can be part time or full time. For these jobs, students work for an outside an employer, not NSU.
Although students must apply for it on Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be eligible for Federal Work Study, NSU Student Employment jobs are available for all students despite financial need.
Another employment program is the America Reads America Counts Program, a tutoring program in which NSU places tutors in 35 Broward County elementary schools.
“They’re paid and trained through NSU,” Levy said. “The school board does background checks, and then we place them in the schools. That’s one of our most popular jobs because the pay rate is $13 an hour.”
Levy said student employment jobs do not have benefits. The average salary is from $8.50 to $9 an hour. For NSU Employment Program (NSE) jobs, hours do not exceed 20 per week. Federal Work Study jobs do not exceed 25 hours per week. Students are not permitted to start working until their first day of class. However, students may have the option of working full time during breaks like spring break and the summer as long as they are resuming classes the next semester.
However, the Office of Student Employment does not place students in jobs. On the application, students note which jobs they want to apply for, which are posted on a board in the office or the Student Employment Web site. Levy suggested that students start applying three to four weeks before they want to start working. However, jobs are available all year.
“After submitting the student employment application, they would receive an email from me letting them know who to contact for those jobs, and then it’s up to the student to contact the hiring supervisor and set up an interview,” Levy said. “If those jobs don’t work out, we keep going until the student finds something.”
Sanchez suggests students look for on-campus jobs because of the opportunities they give.
“You’re on campus and you get to meet people: deans, directors, and assistant directors and, in turn, that helps you along the way,” Sanchez said.
Graduate students can apply for any job on campus. There are hourly graduate assistant positions available through Student Employment. However, graduate students can also apply for graduate assistantships, which carry more responsibility than other Student Employment jobs, through the Division of Student Affairs.
Allison Walker, first-year college student affairs master’s student, said being a graduate assistant for Student Affairs at the student educational centers has given her experience in her field while allowing her to have fun.
“Find what you love because the key thing is to find that job that you can have fun with but also that you can learn a lot through,” Walker said. “It’s a chance to get that additional hands-on experience, outside of what you learned in the classroom, before you graduate.”
Some other examples of jobs around campus are student administrative positions, computer lab assistants and library workers. Application deadlines and more information for the fall semester will be available on the Student Employment Web site during the first week in June. Sign up for the workshop will begin in July. The office will hold a Student Employment Job Fair on Thursday, Aug. 25 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Don Taft University Center.
