Historically, the beginning of the Case Western Reserve University school year starts off with a delay in student employee payments. However, this year’s delay is anticipated to be much greater than in previous years. An email sent out on Sept. 17 outlines the exacerbation of the problem, which stems from the delay in this year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The email also highlights a glaring lack of staff available to take care of the student employment situation, with a focus instead on “student financial aid and responding to/resolving FAFSA-related issues.”
Under normal circumstances, additional financial aid staff would be appointed to the manual process of entering student employment data into PeopleSoft HCM, the student employment portal, but due to the FAFSA delay, this is not feasible. The office would also “hire two additional temporary staff members to work in August and September.” However, this year they “have been unable to identify a second temporary worker.” Currently, the office only has two full-time employees, claiming that “[p]ost pandemic hiring continues to be a challenge.” Additionally, one full-time employee in the office retired recently, leaving a vacancy that the office is currently looking to fill.
On the same day the original email was sent out, returning workers were sent an email confirming rehire status. The Student Employment office stated its intention to “shift more resources to clear [the] backlog” by the end of next week.
So what repercussions does this delay have on us as students? Well, if you’re a new student, you will not be able to begin work until the office has processed your student employment forms. At the time of writing, the office has entered 634 of approximately 2,100 forms into HCM, completing about a third of the forms they need to process. Many students rely on student employment payments to afford their living expenses and wants. With an estimated first-year undergraduate cost of about $88,686, many students receive need-based aid, using payments from student employment to help pay off tuition and loans.
“I know student employment is super understaffed, but this has been a problem for a while,” one student tour guide said. “When I was hired last spring it took months for me to get my first check. I was hired mid-January and finally gained access to HCM in mid-April. And the problem continuing into this fall is concerning.”
Another student asked, “Can you imagine how the university would react if you were weeks late in paying your tuition? Yet a bunch of us students, including those of us on work-study, have gone weeks without pay. And with most university jobs paying like $12 an hour (including physically demanding ones such as tour guiding), it’s no wonder that many students choose to work off campus instead.”
These student concerns about employment payments come amidst many regarding financial aid. Quite a few students still have not received their final aid totals for the semester, not knowing how much they’ll owe the school. Additionally, new students who cannot work until their eligibility is approved continually lose opportunities to earn the price of their tuition and associated costs. It is unfortunate that work-study is often factored into student aid cost estimations, yet these new, not-yet-approved workers cannot use this time to earn the office-estimated amount of money to pay off their tuition. Moreover, some students may be unable to cover necessities such as groceries or rent without an income source.
This announcement has also affected some on-campus employers as they decide not to onboard student workers due to the questionable state of student employment. Employers want to make sure that their new employees will be able to get paid on time. As a result, some students are currently unable to get the work-study jobs that they would like.
Although the office is clearly trying to be transparent with students, it seems like hiring new employees should be a top priority at the moment—despite the post-pandemic struggle. This is far from the only year that the student employment office has been backed up with forms. And with the office operating with a mere two full-time employees, this setup not only puts unnecessary stress on the current staff members but also makes the entire office less efficient, hurting both students and employers. The office should continue its search for a temporary employee to facilitate faster document processing, alleviating the burden of the current employees. After that, a new full-time employee should definitely be considered. At the current rate the documents are being processed—with just under one-third completed since the first day of classes—and the low number of hands on deck, it’s looking like the stack of employment documents will not be complete for many more weeks. In fact, it’s possible the delay could extend to a couple of months.
On a more positive note, the Student Employment office is looking into new ways to streamline the manual payroll process.
“Partnering with UTech, we’ve implemented the university’s document imaging system, which has significantly improved efficiency and reduced processing errors,” Rick Bischoff, vice president for enrollment management, said. The office is “excited to announce that an electronic hiring form [went live this past Monday]. This new system will eliminate the need for additional paperwork and further enhance the hiring process.”
As students, we hope these changes will be enough to mediate the severe delay in employment form processing going forward. After all, we have bills to pay.