Each fall a slew of freshmen drag themselves to their work study meeting, anxiously waiting to find out whether they will be slaving away at the dining hall or spending their hours playing solitaire as the computer lab consultant. Whatever the task, it brings in a paycheck from the hours worked at minimum wage.

Where the money goes from there is a mystery to those who provide it. It may go directly to a college account or it may go straight into the cash drawer at Regal Liquor. It fills every work study student’s monetary needs in some way or another.

With this year’s increase in enrollment and a larger than average freshman class, work study jobs are in high demand. For students, a relatively easy job that pays, is on campus and has flexible hours around school and activity schedules is a hot commodity. The two combined have resulted in a shortage of work study positions for those who qualify.

But are those students who put the paycheck toward tuition being tossed onto a waiting list behind those are working strictly for beer money? A sort of work study triage system is in dire need. Those who need the money to pay tuition should receive priority over those who need a little extra cash in their wallets.

While the pay is meager, work study still helps pay the bills.

Setting up a triage for work study students is impossible for Simpson to handle. Perhaps the burden lies in the work study students who are not using their meager monthly paychecks for extra spending money. If students can afford to, giving up a work study job for someone in dire need of it could be the responsible thing to do.