Samantha Edmondson
Daily Egyptian
Undergraduate students can earn up to $800 per month under the finalized criteria for the undergraduate assistantship program approved by the chancellor's office Friday.
The Financial Aid Advisory Committee's final policy for undergraduate assistantships includes position payment, program procedures and eligibility departments and students interested in the program.
After receiving and reviewing the program's guidelines today, deans, directors and department heads have until Aug. 9 to complete two online forms for each position - undergraduate assistantship application to request position and undergraduate assistantship position description.
Ann Acton, associate director of the Financial Aid Department, said a committee will approve the submitted positions from each department before fall semester begins.
Acton said once the positions are approved, they will be posted on the Financial Aid Web site for students to review.
"We hope to have the positions up for students to look at and start applying within the first couple weeks of school," Acton said.
Acton said the colleges will request a position for one of three types of assistantships: a 10-hour position paying $400 per month, a 15-hour position paying $600 per month and a 20-hour position paying $800 per month. She said they can complete a form for only one of the three types of assistantships.
For example, Acton said if a department wants to request two 20-hour positions and one 10-hour position, it can apply for all three but has to fill out one form for each type of assistantship.
Chancellor Walter Wendler has allocated $750,000 from the $8.5 million generated from the tuition increase for the new program. He said there will be about 100 undergraduate assistantships granted for the next year.
But Acton said the number can vary depending on payment and hour allotment of the assistantship.
"If everybody wanted 10-hour positions, there may be more," she said.
The Financial Aid Advisory Committee outlined specific eligibility and procedural policies for students and departments.
For a department to be eligible for an undergraduate assistantship, the department must promote a "paraprofessional employment opportunity" for the student, according to the policy.
Acton said the distinction must be made clear that the position is to promote research and understanding within the student's area of study.
"The intent is very much to help the students get the experience within their major rather than help the department in clerical work," Acton said.
But the policy also notes the undergraduate assistantship must be different from graduate assistantships within the department. Thus, undergraduates may not participate in teaching a course.
Students applying for positions after they are finalized must have a 2.25 grade point average or higher, and preference will be given to juniors and seniors. They also must have and maintain full-time enrollment (12 hours), with exception given to students who need less than 12 hours to graduate in their final semester.
All assistantships will be held for no longer than two years, and students must reapply each year for a position.
Acton said like other student-work positions, those applying for assistantships are entitled to an appeals process if they do not meet the eligibility criteria. She said, for example, students who do not meet the GPA requirement can try to prove that they will keep and maintain the necessary 2.25 during the appeal.
"Those little things where someone might almost meet the criteria, someone under those circumstances should consider if they can be eligible for the job," Acton said.
The policy states undergraduate assistantships do not provide tuition waivers and are not eligible for those with Federal Work-Study funding. But Acton said this does not discourage students who have a different job on campus under Federal Work-Study.
In fact, assistantships are available to all academic and non-academic departments. The policy noted that every effort should be made by the position approval committee to distribute these positions across campus as broadly as possible.
George Swisher, dean of the College of Engineering, said he applauds the chancellor for the assistantship program and hopes to involve his departments into the innovative idea.
He said he hopes to have an undergraduate in charge of one the computer laboratories as well as positions in the student machine shops, which have previously employed undergraduate workers.
"Also, we are working at making a position for supplemental instruction," Swisher said. "The student will work with freshman undergraduates, working with them on mathematics courses."
Mark Scally, assistant athletic director for business, said the Athletic Department has talked briefly about the positions and is unsure if other directors are planning on athletic positions for undergraduates. But he said he could use some help and a variety of students for different positions.
"Some of the things we have talked about were within our marketing operation we could have marketing students in our business office, some students from accounting and in our media services having students from journalism," he said. "It is a good fit both with what we need and what students majors are."
Acton said the Financial Aid Office is forming a committee to review and approve all the positions proposed by each department. The committee consists of a Financial Aid Office staff member, one dean, two faculty members, someone from the Graduate School, a member of the Graduate Student Council and a member from the Undergraduate Student Council.
Once the committee is formed, members will approve the positions and they will be posted for student applications, so students will be able to start their assistantships as early as September.
Acton said the primary difference between all student-work positions on campus and the undergraduate assistantship is the level at which the students can work.
"With the regular student work, we try to match the students' interests and academic career with the job, but sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't," Acton said. "With this program, it is a requirement, the interests and major have to be matched - and for the student that should be a real benefit."
Reporter Samantha Edmondson can be reached at sedmondson@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
