Michigan State University’s students not only contribute to the institution academically, but also as employees who assist in its vital functions.

Student jobs can include “department aides, computer assistants, food-service workers, laboratory attendants, research aides, tutors, and computer assistants to name just a few,” according to MSU’s Human Resources Web site.

As of Oct. 10, there were approximately 9,814 students employed on-campus, said Wendy Coduti. Coduti is the Experiential Learning & On-Campus Coordinator at Career Services, located in the Student Services building.

Coduti said that the likelihood of students losing their job due to financial cuts would depend on the department they work for.  The number of student employees has fallen this year by one percent.

There is currently no information available about the average amount of time it takes for a student to find a job on campus, Coduti said.

Coduti cited Residential & Hospitality Services, formerly known as Housing & Food Services, as employing the biggest percentage of student employees on campus.

According to the Residential & Hospitality Services Web site, the department employs approximately 3,300 students per year.

Many cafeterias on campus are run with the help of student employees. (photo by Emily Lawler)

Peter Weiss, a chemical engineering junior, said he recently experienced the loss of a campus job due to lack of funding.

According to Weiss, he was employed on-campus by a genetics lab, which was located in the Biomedical Physical Sciences building.  His duties included assisting the professor in charge with experimental research.

“Recently, the grant which supplied funding for the particular project I was on was not able to be renewed, resulting in the imminent termination of my work there,” Weiss said.

Weiss said that although he did not depend heavily on his income from that job, only about five percent reliance, it had provided helpful spending cash.

Weiss said that he believes student employment on campus is very important and should be valued.

“Regarding the importance of student jobs on campus, I think they are essential to the overall student body’s investment in MSU,” Weiss said.

“Students working directly with university programs and research feel that they are a part of advancing MSU as a whole, which probably helps MSU in the future when the university looks for donations,” Weiss said.

While some students may experience job loss, work-study students will see an increase in available jobs due to stimulus funds, according to an MSU news release.

Due to research awards and a federal grant of $350,000, over 300 students will acquire work-study jobs this year, the release said.

According to the release, work-study jobs differ from other student jobs on-campus because employers are partially reimbursed the amount paid to students.

Students acquire these jobs by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and demonstrating financial need, it said.

Student employees may earn up to $3,000 per year from their on-campus jobs, the Office of Financial Aid’s Web site said.  Students are paid a minimum of $6.95 per hour.

According to the Web site, holding a job on campus can help a student reduce the reliance on loans, and pay for other educational expenses.  Other benefits include time management, discipline and references to use for future careers.

John Beck, Associate Director of Labor Education in the College of Social Science, said that he believes that student employment on-campus is very important and that students are good workers.

Beck said that he was a student at MSU in the early 1970s, and he worked in a cafeteria dish room and as a resident assistant (which is the equivalent of a resident mentor).  Skills such as teamwork and human relations gained from those jobs helped him later in his career, he said.

An on-campus job is preferable, as a student would have more of an opportunity to work in a job that is related to their major and therefore future career, Beck said.

Beck cited a job as an opportunity for a student to prove to a prospective employer that they are able to balance multiple demands on their time.  He said that a college job would not only provide a break for a student from academic “brain work”, but also instill valuable work habits such as punctuality.

Through student employment, MSU students help the university run smoothly while picking up some valuable skills for their resumes and a little extra cash. Cafeteria workers, laboratory assistants and resident mentors are all important roles the university can employ students in, even with the economic downturn.

If you thought that being a senior in high school was stressful, wait for your senior year of college.  Thanks to demanding midterms, job applications, internship requirements, full-time jobs and pressing student loans, senior stress levels are being pushed to the max.

The pressure is much greater for seniors graduating now than in the past when jobs were easier to come by. This leaves seniors to wonder how they will ever get hired and if they will have to relocate to land a job.  The national unemployment rate has reached 9.8 percent, according to the United States Department of Labor, the highest rate in over 20 years. Michigan is far beyond that with a rate of 15.3 percent.

Not only the unemployment rate but rising standards for entry-level jobs make it difficult to get started. Many career fields are requiring that seniors have at least one internship before graduation. For some that internship has become almost impossible to find.

“I thought I had forever to get an internship, but now I’m thinking that it might be too late. I really hope to get a full-time job after graduation, but I’m coming to the realization that I might have to do an unpaid internship first,” said advertising senior Lauren Santucci.

An increasing number of seniors may have to work for free after graduation because the job market has become so competitive that employers only select the applicants with the most experience. Others have to complete an internship as part of their graduation requirements; without an internship there’s no diploma.

“Because the internship was required it was very stressful to interview and find a position. The application process itself was stressful because it had to be completed ahead of time, and it’s unpaid so I’m wondering how I’m even going to live. Now that it’s over I definitely feel a lot better though,” said Hanna Kleiner, a family community services senior.

With so much to worry about, seniors are really feeling the physical effects of stress.

“I’ve had stomach pains before because I’ve been so worried, and I know many of my friends have too,” Stantucci said.

Stress does not have a quick fix or a miracle pill like one would hope.

“College students will be stressed. It’s unavoidable, but to feel less stress you must cope in pro-social positive ways,” said MSU psychology professor Gary Stollak. As a clinical psychologist Stollak advises people on how to cope with stress.

Stollak said daily meditation or prayer is very helpful. It may seem difficult at first, but he said meditation is a skill that improves with practice. Listening to soothing music or tapes also has the same effect. He says it’s all about calming down and being alone with your thoughts, which is actually harder than it sounds.

Having meaningful relationships with intimacy can also help reduce stress. Regardless if it’s a best friend, boyfriend or family member, having a support system helps. When a relationship is intimate it is easy to talk about insecurities and become vulnerable with the other person.

“I definitely feel better after talking things out with my best friends. When I keep things to myself, I only end up worrying about them more and feel worse. We’re all in the same boat, looking for jobs and trying to do well in classes, and it’s exhausting,” said retailing senior Molly Schaffner.

Communicating with those who know you best is a sure way to feel less stressed out.

Stollak also suggested finding an activity that is challenging and requires practice, something that is not a role demanded of you.

“The activity becomes the other side of stress, an energizer. Look forward to something and improve at it,” he said.

Learning and practicing an instrument or a foreign language can become very rewarding over time. Even practicing 15 minutes three times a week is helpful. Learning something new is also a fun opportunity to strengthen a friendship if the activity involves a friend.

A lot of students use drugs to cope with stress. And not just obvious drugs like Adderall and marijuana, but caffeine too.  It’s easy to forget that caffeine is a drug, but the jittery side effects can actually make a person less productive. As a rule of thumb, using any substance to reduce stress isn’t a solution, only a short term distraction.

Watching movies or TV shows are other common distractions from stress. They only provide a short escape from problems, however.

“It’s really about balance,” Stollak said. “The negative side has to be balanced with the positive side. What are you doing from waking up until going to bed?”

The real way to experience less stress is to have small joys or moments of happiness throughout the day. To combat the negative feelings of stress, other parts of the day should be filled with happiness.

“Pay attention to the balance. What is meaningful to you? What’s exciting?” Stollak said.

People say do what you love and you’ll be a happier person, but is worth all the stress?

“I started out double-majoring in fisheries and wildlife and advertising, but I had to drop my fisheries major. It was always my passion but I dropped it because I knew graduating in four years would be too difficult,” Santucci said.

Seniors are changing their plans to survive in the competitive job market. The thought of doing what makes you happy is nice, but it is not always decision seniors make. This fact in itself is reason enough to have seniors stressing about their futures as they find themselves having to drop what they love in order to keep open a realistic career pathway which can lead to a job.

“Advertising was just more practical,” Santucci said. “You can’t exactly follow your dreams when they don’t lead to a job.”