Tapping into a steady supply of money is difficult for most college students.
While some can parsimoniously budget their summer earnings for an entire academic year, many find on-Grounds jobs a convenient way to pay for everything from bar nights to groceries.
But given the recent hiring freeze and faltering economy, options for student employment may be waning.
"It's too early to tell really," said Lacinda Childs-White, University Director of Staffing for Human Resources
"We could be dealing with a number of situations."
Human Resources offers jobs to students based on the demands of departments within the University, so making projections for the school year can be difficult until late August or early September, when most departments begin posting positions and students begin applying.
While "there are less dollars, there is no hiring freeze on student jobs," said Greg Helmuth, Special Assistant to the Chief Human Resources Officer.
University Human Resources currently has 1,590 students on its payroll, and is the largest on-Grounds student employer. It offers primarily clerical and library work, as well as lab and research assistant positions.
But the most popular work among students is in the libraries.
The rate of pay ranges from $5.15 to $13.76 per hour. Students whose work primarily focuses on information technology get paid within the $12.27 to $21.96 per hour range.
Because full-time students cannot work more than 20 hours per week and on-Grounds employers must fashion their schedules around students' courses, determining exactly how economic hardships will impact the job market is extremely difficult.
The University Bookstore also employs around 30 students during the academic year. Its economic well-being "is always dependent on the volume of sales," Bookstore director Jon Kates said.
While the Bookstore suffered in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, "the present downturn has not affected us because we get a nice influx of customers from summer orientation," Kates said.
In a worst case scenario, Kates said he envisions Bookstore sales plateauing. However, "if my projections are wrong, we will have to take action," and student employment opportunities would suffer, Kates added.
ARAmark, the catering service the University hired to run all dining facilities, is probably the safest bet for University students seeking part-time employment.
"We have not cut back ... a lot of our work isn't dependent on the state budget," Director of Dining Services Edward Gutauskas said.
ARAmark offers positions in the Greenberry's coffee houses on Grounds, catering, waiting and bartending, Gutauskas said.
Yet ARAmark's catering sector is taking a hit because University departments have significantly less spending money to invest in catering events, Gutauskas said.
The major change in ARAmark's job offerings lies in temporary work.
"There are more people in Charlottesville looking for jobs now than one and a half years ago," Gutauskas said.
Because they rarely hire temporary work now, the temp agency that once staffed ARAmark facilities - Spherion - went out of business, Gutauskas said.
University students seeking on-Grounds employment may have difficulty finding certain positions, although the way in which the economy will impact the job search is not yet certain.
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