We Know What You Did Last Summer: The Business Office Reduces Student Work Hours

Tracy Wamarema ’28
Staff Writer

This fall, Lake Forest College reduced maximum working hours for student employees from 20 to 14. The news spread through the campus, earning the Business Office an unflattering spotlight in this summer’s rumor cycle. The decision was made behind closed doors with neither the involvement nor approval of the student body. Furthermore, students were not formally informed.

“Everyone heard it from a person who heard it from a person who heard it from their boss. But no one heard it from the school,” said junior Njabuliso Matfonsi. It started as rumors until, finally, there was confirmation through social media: “I saw a post on Instagram,” junior Esther Mbandeka said. “Someone received an email from their boss and shared a screenshot.”

Departments were tasked with breaking the bad news to their student workers—though not every department got the memo. “My lab boss was hearing this for the first time from me,” said Matfonsi, who works as a residential assistant and a lab assistant.

The unexpected change affected many student employees, especially those who used their wages to pay tuition and college-related bills such as scholarship taxes. “It has decreased my paycheck, and I’ve had less money to spare, so I’m just paying the school at this point. They pay me first, then I pay them back,” junior Lucas Freires said. He was forced to reduce his hours at the library and the Center for Chicago Programs.

“The intent is not to save money,” Associate Vice President for Business AJ Rodino said. “Our goal was specifically to create more opportunities for students who were not able to get on-campus jobs.” In discussions with student affairs, financial aid and admissions, it was agreed that limiting student hours was the best way to achieve that. “This provides equity so that more people can work,” Associate Director of Financial Aid, Mark Anderson said.

Additionally, the total number of approved student work hours per department rose by 5% from last year and the hourly wage increased from $13 to $13.50, with plans to reach $15. “Fourteen hours a week will still exceed the $2,500 per year mentioned in the award letter,” said Anderson. He added that creating more jobs rather than reducing hours would have required a larger budget; the College may not be cutting costs, but it isn’t increasing them either.

“I’m aware that it is probably because of that policy that I got this job,” junior Enzo Aravena said, who picked up new roles as a teaching assistant and library worker. “But I’m not sure if I agree because there’s students that have to pay a lot of things, especially international students.” A classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul: some students like Freires lost hours while others like Aravena gained them. “Working 20 hours is a lot, so the people who are working that probably really need it,” said Aravena.

According to federal law, international (F-1) students are restricted to on-campus jobs, meaning that this policy hits them hardest. Consequently, the International Students Association was first on the frontlines, emailing the Business Office on July 29 to protest. This launched the ongoing appeal to restore the 20-hour limit. However, that effort faces a major obstacle: the 14-hour policy—though new to current Foresters—is not new to Lake Forest College. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the College had enforced the same policy for over two decades, only increasing it during the pandemic to fill open positions. “I think what has caused a bit of confusion was that nothing was ever formally communicated that we were putting aside the 14-hour policy,” Rodino said.

The solution, then, may lie in exemptions for certain students. “Last year, there were jobs in the SRC just for athletes,” said Aravena. “So maybe we should do that for other minorities.”

This approach is not unheard of: at neighboring Augustana College, international students can work up to 19 hours, while domestic students are limited to 10. Although LFC is not adopting this system, Rodino says he has been liberal with student exemptions on a case-by-case basis, working closely with financial aid. However, information on these exemptions has been just as scarce as the information about the hour change. “If it wasn’t for my boss being persistent, we wouldn’t have known about the exemption,” said Matfonsi, whose job as a lab assistant requires special training and is therefore difficult to replace.

For many students, this lack of communication has proven to be a bigger issue than the policy itself. “They have a habit of doing this,” Mbandeka said. “Even last year, when they banned scooters, they told us to refer to the handbook. They drop things when it’s too late to protest against it, but they claim to want open communication.” Rodino acknowledged this shortcoming, saying he is working with Student Affairs to communicate this change clearly for the upcoming year.

“It is extremely important that the College values shared governance and listens to students in cases that involve them,” said junior and Student Government President, Liam Thumser.

The College’s decision may be reasonable enough in theory, but could a democracy have provided better alternatives?