In honor of National Student Employment Week, the Ball State University Career Center is encouraging campus employers to recognize deserving student employees by nominating them online, said Janet Puckett, student employment representative.
All students nominated will be eligible to win prizes, such as sweatshirts and food coupons, Puckett said, and one employee will win free books for a semester.
Ball State employs approximately 2,200 students in any given month and about 4,400 in the course of a year, she said.
Freshman Caleb Mercer works for Dining at Out of Bounds in LaFollette Complex, which he enjoys because he lives in the building as well. Mercer works a little more than 10 hours every week, but he does not have problems balancing work and school, he said.
At Out of Bounds, Mercer said his responsibilities include running the grills and the fryers, making pizza, taking customers' orders, stocking the coolers and cleaning the dining room.
The best part of working a campus job, especially for Dining, is the visibility, he said.
"[While I'm working,] I will see a ton of people that I know, and they can all stop and say 'hey,'" he said.
Sophomore Mark Vanden Akker is a resident assistant for the eighth floor of Palmer/Davidson Hall in Studebaker West Complex.
Being an RA is more like a paid lifestyle than a campus job, Vanden Akker said.
"You never really clock in and out of your job as an RA," he said. "I really don't ever escape my job unless I'm out of Muncie entirely."
Because of this, he said his job puts a lot of strain on some of his relationships.
"I constantly feel like I've missed things going on in their lives," Vanden Akker said.
In the end, however, he said the sacrifice is worth the experience he has gained. Being an RA teaches valuable leadership skills, Vanden Akker said.
Puckett said student employees must be continuing, degree-seeking students enrolled in at least six credit hours to work on campus.
On-campus jobs help students find work while they are in school, but the jobs also provide the university with a valuable workforce, Puckett said.
"Students fill a real need that departments have on campus; they're good workers," she said.
Puckett encourages students to seek jobs on-campus, she said. Because students are part-time employees, they are not given sick or vacation days; however, they benefit in other ways. Ball State's minimum wage is $5.50, which is 35 cents higher than the federal minimum wage, Puckett said. In addition, no Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax, or Social Security tax, is withheld from student employees' paychecks, she said.
"Campus jobs are convenient and help the student make a connection to the university," she said. "They make a connection to the people they work for and with."
Minimum wage lawThe Indiana Senate is expected to vote on a bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour over two years. The bill, however, only goes into effect if Congress passes a federal wage increase.
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