Despite an increase in applicants, summer jobs on campus will not see a related increase in the number of positions available in most departments.
Linfield employed 181 students in 2008 and 225 students in 2009 as summer workers on campus.
This summer, the same number of students will be working on campus as last year, despite the state of the economy.
The Human Resources Office will confirm the number in June, Administrative Support Specialist Melissa Malloy said in an e-mail.
“We noticed the dramatic increase in the past three years,” Brad Sinn, director of facilities and auxiliary services, said. “The economy might make it harder for students to find jobs at home.”
Facilities Services has hired 20 students for conferences as the majority of summer job opportunities on campus, but the office received more than 40 applications.
As for rumors that Linfield decided to give more positions to students instead of non-student workers in town, Sinn said he didn’t think this was true because the funding comes from two separate budgets.
“Based on total number of students, we are careful that we are not creating what we are not looking for,” Sinn said. “We didn’t expect that students [would apply] faster than last year.”
Increasing summer job applications for on-campus work without a growing number of positions is hard for international students.
International students, under an F-1 visa, cannot legally work off campus except for Curricular Practical Training, internships pre-approved by a faculty adviser and at the International Programs Office.
“They can’t work in fast food places like American students,” Marie Schmidt, international programs assistant, said. “We have encouraged departments to give preference to international students because of the visa issue.”
Sinn said the office doesn’t give preference to international students, but approximately 20 percent of students working this summer are international students, which is much more than the percentage of total students on campus.
For freshman Jonathan Bosc, a four-year international student from the Netherlands, it’s a complicated conflict between a short break for going home and income of a summer job.
“I failed to get a job on campus because I need a two-week break to go home, which is reasonable because I haven’t seen my family for the whole year,” Bosc said. “I feel bad that my parents paid expensive tuition for me, so I want to give back by working in the summer.”
He also said he was accepted by Starbucks to work during summer, but he was told he cannot work off campus. He tried for as many positions as he could on campus. However, he is not allowed to have a break during the summer if he wants a full-time job on campus.
“It’s not fair for international students,” Bosc said. “We make the school better [with more] diversity, but what can we do if we either don’t get a job or go home?”
He said he it feels like nobody helps him, and he plans to approach IPO about the issue.
“It’s not just for me, but for all international students,” he said.
Yin Xiao
Culture editor Yin Xiao can be reached at [email protected]