For young adults, college is their first experience into the “real-world.” Many students are living away from home for the first time and have to learn to take care of themselves. That means they also have to deal with some expenses, whether it’s buying more toilet paper or paying for car repairs.

Students in need of a steady income at Central Michigan University don’t always have to look far, since CMU is almost always hiring for student employees. Students can work in multiple fields, such as customer service, the food industry, groundskeeping, reception jobs and more.

These students get paid by the university departments that hire them, and funds come out of each department’s budget — meaning some tuition dollars, taxpayer funds or supplemental income find their way back into student’s pockets.

Akshaya Baitinti works as a cashier and stocker at the Woldt market. As an international student, she is restricted to on-campus jobs.

“Getting an on-campus job is so competitive,” Baitinti said. “When you find a job, you just get in there.”

Baitinti said that though she wants a job that is closer to her field of study, computer science, she likes her position.

“I love engaging with people,” she said. “(I love) the customers, the students, interacting with everyone.”

How does student employment work?

On an administrative level, student employment and pay is clear-cut. Amy Thering is the manager of Student Employment Services, which ensures student employees are adhering to federal regulations and labor laws and handles any issues employers or employees are having.

Thering said that as of January, the university had around 2,400 student employees. Of those, she said 75% of the students were from the United States and 25% were international. Additionally, she said most student employees work through Dining Services, Facilities Management, the libraries and University Recreation, but other departments hire students, too.

“If you can think of a department on campus, we have a student job there,” she said.

Thering explained that Student Employment Services is not a job placement service, they just post positions that are available on their website. She said the students have to apply for the job through whatever department is hiring.

“We are ... the link between the student and the departments, so we won’t just place someone somewhere,” she said. “We point them in the right direction, answer some questions, but it’s really the departments (that) are in charge of their own hiring process, so they’re in charge of recruiting and the interviewing and hiring and pay. Then once they’re hired, the student comes back to us and we get all that new-hire paperwork filled out.”

She said some jobs are available off-campus for students too, and that her department helps connect the university to the community at large. These job postings can be found on the SES current vacancies page.

“(Local businesses) use us as another resource to get their advertisement out,” Thering said. “We get a wide range there. Anything from babysitting to yard work to … painting. Some local residents just need some assistance, elderly especially, in their homes or outside in their yards. We’ll get them from Riverwood golf course every spring, (since) they’re getting ready to hire for summer.”

During the academic year, Thering said student employees working on-campus can only work up to 20 hours per week or 40 hours per pay period. Over the summer, she said this goes up to 40 hours a week or 80 hours per pay period.

She said the hour limitations are due to federal regulations: Students aren’t eligible for healthcare benefits, so to not be counted under the Affordable Care Act their hours are capped, and the visas of international CMU students require them to not work for more than 20 hours a week.

She said students are responsible for logging their hours, usually through CMU’s Timeclock Plus, and those working multiple on-campus jobs have to balance their schedules more carefully.

Thering said working on campus gives students many benefits, such as proximity to classes, scheduling around classes and money for groceries, tuition or extra spending. Additionally, she said the jobs can also help students advance their careers.

“Beyond the monetary side of it, there are just so many other positives about having a job on campus that just makes it very easy to gain experience and network that’s just harder to get on the outside (and) off campus,” she said.

Without student employees, Thering said, university operations would be harder than they are.

“I really don’t think CMU couldn’t run as effectively as it does without student employees, especially in areas like dining, OIT (Office of Information and Technology) and landscape operations,” she said. “They rely so heavily on their student help to get the things done that need to happen, and they just help to maintain effective operations here overall. It would be hard without student employees, for sure.”

Every cent counts

Harshana Gillala is an international student from India who works as a team member at the Dine and Connect Dining Hall in Woldt. She works with produce and in the bakery, and has recently been promoted to a greeter position.

Gillala said she chose this job because it was the one that responded to her application. She looked for positions that fit more with her computer science major, but the dining hall was the one that replied.

“I applied to many vacancies, but this was the one that responded to my application,” Gillala said. “The thing I’m doing is not at all related to my major.”

While Gillala likes working on campus, there are some difficulties. In her job, she said she likes having more opportunities to interact with other international students, but sometimes she feels this hinders her exposure to other cultures.

“Here I get to work with people from India,” Gillala said. “I don’t get to communicate much with students who are Americans, who are of my age.”

With being restricted to on-campus employment, Gillala said working a job that pays minimum wage with a limit of 20 hours a week can be difficult. On Feb. 21, Michigan raised its minimum wage to $12.48 an hour.

“At times it feels difficult because we need money,” Gillala said. “I’m used to it, though.”

Thering said that the Student Wage Scale has been updated to reflect the state’s change, and the first distribution of increased wages were paid out on March 13. Currently, students can make a maximum of $13 per hour, but Thering said this amount can be higher depending on the complexity of positions and each department’s budgets.