In early March, the Student Senate passed a proposal changing their executive compensation from a 12-credit hour scholarship to a $2,500 semester stipend to be applied directly to their student accounts.

With a change like this, the questions “Was a cut really being made?” and “How did this organization’s finances compare to other groups?” arose.

With the new stipend in place, the executives will make about $139 dollars per week. Prior to the change, the amount of money earned per semester depended on the year they entered school at Eastern to determine their tuition lock-in.

For a student executive who entered school in the 2010-2011 academic year, their tuition waiver would be about $3,050 per semester or $170 per week.

This amount was allotted the five executive officers and the Student Senate Speaker. Next semester, it will apply to four officers as one of the positions was eliminated.

The University Board’s chair and vice chair receive 12-credit hour scholarships similar to the way student government waivers used to function.

However, a major difference is that each of their 11 coordinators receive a $125-a-month stipend, about $31 a week, $560 per semester.

Danny Turano, a senior education major, is the vice chair of the University Board and receives a 12-credit hour scholarship.

“We are a different organization and run things a different way than they do,” Turano said. “We do things our way.”

Student governing bodies are not the only types of jobs on campus and are, in fact, the minority.

Nancy E. Dole, veteran certifying official and financial aid adviser in charge of student employment, said there are more than 1,425 regular student employees and 213 Federal Work-Study employees currently employed on Eastern’s campus.

“Almost every department on campus has student employment positions, so there

are a wide variety of jobs,” Dole said.

A few examples of student employment are clerical, food service, janitorial, monitoring labs, tutoring, referees for intramurals, technical assistance with computers, managerial and research assistants, Dole added.

Within each department, some student employees may be on stipend pay while others are on an hourly minimum wage of $8.25.

The average non-stipend student worker works about six to eight hours each week and cannot exceed 40 hours in the two-week pay period.

This adds up to a range of $50 to $165 a week (if the student works 6-20 hours) or $891 to $2,970 per semester.

An example of a department that pays differently is the Housing and Dining Services, and the main student employees include Resident Assistants and Desk Assistants.

The compensation package for an RA is compensation of full room and board, 15-plus meal plan, voice mail and a stipend of $140 per month, according to the Fall 2011 job description.

This is about $35 a week, not including the meal plan and cost of room and board.

A RA has more than 35 duties assigned to them while a DA has much fewer and makes minimum wage.

Dole said compensation depends on the type of work the students do and is based on their job descriptions and the tasks assigned to them.

Students can go to the Office of Student Employment if they are interested in getting a job.

“Students should select some campus departments that they have interest in and

contact them in person,” Dole said. “Students need to treat their job search on campus

the same as any job search.”

Amy Wywialowski can be reached 581-2812 or [email protected].