A recent collaboration between
Mount St. Joseph University (MSJU) and
Education At Work created more than 100 jobs for college students.
The jobs, which entail providing customer service support for
Macy's and
Bloomingdale's websites, are available to full, part-time and online students.
"[Students] are learning problem solving and communication, and we hope that we can give them that transferable skill set that can go into whatever career they go into," says Education At Work program coordinator Whitney Barkley. "But also what we want to do is help students come out of school with little to no debt."
After students have been employed in one of these positions for four months, they are eligible to receive up to $6,000 per year in tuition assistance, in addition to a $9 per hour base wage. The amount of tuition assistance depends on the student's GPA. In addition, students must maintain at least a 2.5 GPA to receive tuition assistance. Students can be working toward a bachelor's or master's degree.
"Any caliber students, we're looking for," Barkley says. "If you are a student who's not in school, and can give a plan—a timeline of what you want to do, how you plan to get back into school—or if you don't have that 2.5 GPA but have a plan to bring it up, we accept those students as well. And that's on a conditional basis."
Work sites vary; some are on campus, at MSJU, and others are off campus, at Education At Work's Norwood office. Students usually work 15-30 hours per week, Barkley says.
"It's all based on their class schedule. We're big on flexibility and making sure students have enough time to get to class and have enough time to study. Because sometimes students don't really have the option, between going to school and going to work."
Mount St. Joseph University held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the on-campus center Thursday. In addition, Education at Work is currently accepting applications for the student jobs.
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