I Got Paid For Doing My Homework (...and You Can Too!)

Scholarships and grants are given, loans must be repaid, but work study is a whole different animal. Sometimes it's not worth it, but sometimes you can get paid to do your homework.

So technically, you could just work somewhere outside school and earn money for school, whereas "work study" designates that you can get a job on campus, or sometimes off campus if there's a specific agreement, to work and earn money.

At first blush, it does not seem like it's much different than working anywhere else, especially because it's usually minimum wage! (...but wait until you hear the rest of the story...)

I received approval for $3000 work study that first year at EMU.

Fall semester, I arranged a carpool with a good friend, so that we could be on the same parking pass (2 vehicles are allowed on one pass).

I also had an interview with the College of Business (COB) advising office for work study. However, the shifts the manager was looking at are on Fridays, which it’s not really gonna be advantageous for me to drive up to Ypsi just for that, and early early Thursday mornings at 8am, which I don’t really want to do to my carpool buddy.

ANYWAYS, Apparently working in the advising office, compared to the Dean’s or a specific department (like marketing), is quite ROBUST, according to my interviewer.

Yeah, exact word she used. I can still do homework if there’s a lull, but I might be given a project to do.

"God," I prayed, "I do not want to actually do work!!"

Ha! (I laugh, but it's soooooo true.)

The blessing of work study is that the school knows that school and homework is your priority, and thus when in a position where there is not a lot to do everyday, the student is usually allowed to just do their homework.

Dude. I wanted to do my homework and be paid minimum wage. That would be TOTALLY fine.

I appreciated the tour of the advising office my interviewer gave, but I also applied to the Dean's Office and Marketing Department Office (not the marketing dept. of the whole university, but the dept. related to the major of marketing in the COB).

The dean’s office may be less busy than advising, but I would need to be more “polished” to work there, ya know, in case the president of the university calls.

I could be polished! Although I didn't really want to be(:

I ended up being offered several positions, and I took the one in the marketing department for several reasons. Marketing was my major, it provided a good work schedule between my classes, AND MAINLY, there was little work to do and a whole lotta time to get paid to do my homework.

I also socialized with the graduate assistants (GAs) working in the room next to me. They also did not have a ton to do, and were getting their master's degree paid for by being a graduate assistant and simply sitting there, available for whenever a professor might need their assistance.

GA's in other departments, like science or psychology, often had to setup labs, or organize experiments, or do a lot more hands-on, full-time work.

Now, all this is not to say the Marketing GAs and I were lazy. We asked if there was anything we could do, and sometimes assisted in small projects.

I also encourage students to get jobs where they can learn new skills and develop projects to put on their resume.

But if you get offered work study, you might as well ask some questions to see which positions give you more homework time.

Why not get paid to do your homework, and then go work at another job where you can gain more experience and be paid more?

I was all set... until my future boss emailed me and said that my work study allowance was no longer on my online Financial Aid account. Oh maaaaaaan! I was in for another battle to figure out what happened.