It comes as no surprise that college can be extremely expensive. Oftentimes, the cost of college tuition and fees is the sole deciding factor of whether or not a student may attend the school. However, for those torn between schools over the cost, a work-study program is an advantageous approach to enrollment.

Genna Karp ’18, a pre-medicine student, is a participant in the work-study program and recalls having a distinctive experience when she first began her jobs. Karp works part time as a lifeguard and in a Brandeis biology lab, two polar opposite fields of interest.

She is extremely fascinated by how treatments work and how the health care system can be better-suited to help people. However, sometimes it can be difficult to find a job that corresponds efficiently with school, and Karp found it arduous to obtain one when she first started at Brandeis.

Her first experience, evidently, was a bumpy road. “I was very frustrated and hated my work-study. I was not making anywhere near the money that I had been awarded and I had so much trouble finding a job in the first place,” says Karp. Gradually, her experience evened out and she gained more flexibility, yet the program as an entity remained wholly “unsupportive.”

In terms of giving advice to those who are interested in a work-study, “doing work-study through the financial aid office is helpful in any way in terms of getting a job,” she says. Nevertheless, Karp commends the experience with which the program has provided her, because it allows students to make a little extra cash while doing the things on campus that truly inspire them.