Earn more, learn more

Before Erin Iams landed her campus job, she had to survive a professional interview and beat out 24 other applicants. Now, instead of clocking hours at a library checkout desk or a cafeteria steam table, the college junior is helping professors study the role of business classes in a liberal arts setting. She'll put in about 10 hours a week until she graduates and make $10 an hour - nearly double what most students earn at Southwestern University, a small campus in Georgetown, Texas.

"My best friend works in one of those jobs where she sits at a table for hours at a time, and she gets to do schoolwork," says Ms. Iams, who hopes to own a business someday. "For me, this job is great. It gives me the opportunity to be engaged ... and to feel like I'm accomplishing something."

The Student Associate Program started with 12 employees this semester at Southwestern, and it's expected to grow with support from a Mellon Foundation grant. It's the first replication of an idea born at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., where 40 students now earn top dollar for jobs that come with extra demands as well as extra benefits - including mentoring and training linked to their career aspirations.

With so much consternation about the high price of college, the redesign of campus jobs helps both sides of the equation - by saving schools the cost of hiring more full-time staff and by enabling students to earn more while they learn. Many young people have high-level skills to offer, especially in the field of technology. And increasingly, students want more from their work than a simple paycheck, experts say.

"Most campuses are moving in that direction," says Heather Dunn, assistant director of student employment at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. "It requires a change in culture ... but most are focusing on making sure that the educational experience is further validated by employment experience."

At Ms. Dunn's campus, more student jobs require interviews than in years past. Job titles include "senior level computer consultant" and "sustainability intern" (a student charged with improving recycling and energy conservation).

The admissions department used to hire student workers as tour guides, but now that's a volunteer position. Instead, students are paid to take on marketing and publicity research. Dunn estimates that at least half of campus jobs go above and beyond the old-school image of a student filing papers, answering phones, or running errands.

One hope is that as more students earn higher wages, they can better balance school and work. Students who work 10 hours per week or less tend to have slightly higher grades, while students who work full time have lower grades and drop out at a higher rate, according to a 2001 study by UPromise, a company in Needham, Mass., that helps families save and pay for college.

Rhodes President William Troutt was looking for ways to live up to the cost- cutting advice he doled out as chairman of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education in the late 1990s. The college had already started saving energy and outsourcing certain tasks, but personnel costs were high.

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