Infographic: How are you making money? Students ditch their meal plans to save money THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950
ubspectrum.com
wednesday, September 17, 2014
The scholarship grind Student awarded more than $20,000 in scholarship money
SUSHMITA GELDA
ASST. FEATURES EDITOR
In less than one semester, Samah Asfour applied for 10 scholarships and was awarded $21,250. She needed to get to France. Within the same week of her mother’s death, she received four congratulatory emails. “Here I was at one of the lowest points in my life, and yet, I was receiving all these emails every day – ‘Congratulations you won,’” said Asfour, a senior double major in political science and global Gender Studies. “It was a great blessing at that time. It solidified my desire to study abroad and I felt like I had to go.” At the national level, Asfour won $5,000 for the Benjamin A. Gilman Study Abroad Scholarship. Locally, she received scholarships ranging from $750 from Wegmans to $8,000 from UB’s College of Arts and Sciences. As student loan debt climbs across the United States – now reaching about $1.1 trillion – students may be feeling the push now more than ever to get scholarships. UB awarded more than $4 million in merit-based scholarship money to this year’s incoming freshman, according to the school’s website. For students like Asfour looking to study abroad without getting buried in debt, UB’s Office of International Education offers nine scholarships and links to 17 other external or departmental scholarship choices on its website. Asfour’s scholarships funded her semester-long study abroad program at the Institute of American University (IAU) in France and her travels to seven other European countries. She said the most rewarding part of the application process was not receiving an award but being able to self-reflect. “Every student has a story, and these scholarships really help you piece your story together,” she said. So how do you snag some extra money to fund your education? Elizabeth Colucci, UB’s coordinator of fellowships and scholarships, encourages student applicants to focus on their own interests and to take something they’re passionate about “to the next level.” “I want to help students enhance their undergraduate experience and take advantage of things that make them happy and interest them,” Co-
Spotify playlist: Songs that will make you feel rich
lucci said. “It’s their life. I don’t ever want to tell a student what to do.” As a junior, Asfour walked into Colucci’s office to review her application for the Honors College International Study Scholarship – one of the eight scholarships she won. After Colucci read Asfour’s application, she reached into a filing cabinet and pulled out an application for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship – an award that funds up to $30,000 in graduate studies for students dedicated to public service. “Take a look at this,” she told Asfour. “I think you have to apply.” Asfour said that without Colucci’s insight, she would not have seen herself as a competitive candidate for the scholarship. She said Colucci helped her “connect the dots” and see experiences such as leading UB’s Girl Effect club and volunteering as an English as a second language teacher at Journey’s End Refugee Services in Buffalo gave her the potential to win the Truman scholarship. UB nominated Asfour for the second round of applications, but she did not become a finalist. “Even though I didn’t necessarily win that one, I still feel like I was a winner in a way,” Asfour said. “That one helped me more than the others figure out my future career and really map it out.” Colucci said the application process requires students to strategically think about their future. “You not only need to be passionate about your work but then you need to be able to justify it, and de-
fend it and really explain what you’ve done and why you want to go to a certain graduate school,” she said. Nigel Michki, a junior computational physics major, said applying for the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship – a national scholarship that designates money to students researching in science, math or engineering – during his sophomore year helped him solidify his goal to work in medical physics. Michki learned he was a finalist a month and a half before he received an official email from the program. He was home for the weekend and “felt this urge” to go check the program’s website. When Michki checked his phone, he couldn’t believe his name was on the list of finalists. “I ran over to the real computer because I thought my phone was lying,” he said. Michki is also a UB Presidential Scholar, which means UB fully funded his undergraduate education. As a Presidential Scholar, he said he feels he has a responsibility to contribute to the university and the community. “I like the idea of being able to give back not on my personal time but as a career,” Michki said. “I really consider it more of an employment thing. They’re paying me to do good and ideally help other people to do good as well.” Michki questions if scholarship’s nomination and selection process are entirely merit based and said they could be based on luck and what discipline the panelists are in.
SEE SCHOLARSHIP, PAGE 5
Page
4
Listen Online
‘Now, get this work’ Spectrum survey shows most students have jobs in addition to class load FEATURES & SENIOR FEATURES EDITORS
COURTESY OF SAMAH ASFOUR
5
Volume 64 No. 10
SHARON KAHN AND EMMA JANICKI
After receiving eight scholarships to study abroad, Samah Asfour only had to pay a little over $500 to travel across eight European countries.
Page
Diana Rudz hit her limit two weeks ago. The ex-Mighty Taco employee used to work 10 to 15 hours a week, balancing her 19-credit school schedule with 10 weekly hours of research and the need to pay her bills. After three and a half years of assembling nacho buffitos, she forced herself to quit so she could focus on her schoolwork. The senior biomedical engineering major later got a job related to her field, but that also proved to be too much to balance. So, early into this semester, she quit working again to focus on school. Up until recently, Rudz was one of the approximately 63 percent of employed UB students who are carving time out of their schedules to earn money for tuition and expenses, according to a survey conducted by The Spectrum. Because Rudz ultimately wants to work in orthopedics and help develop innovations in prosthetic technology for amputees, her second attempt at part-time work was at MedAssembly. She helped assemble various medical products such as suction ablators, which are used in surgical procedures. “Having a job on or off campus helps make [students] more marketable,” said Edward Brodka, a career counselor at UB Career Services. He advises students to only work 10 to 12 hours a week “if they can afford it.” “Being a student is their fulltime job,” he said. When Rudz was at Mighty Taco, she was working 10 to 15 hours per week. The Spectrum found the majority of students who are employed work 11 to 15 hours per week. For Rudz, working over the summer at MedAssembly was fine, but once her senior year of biomedical engineering class-
es and research on possible alternative materials for shoulder replacements started again, her schedule didn’t allow for enough study time. “I needed so much more time than I had expected to do all of my homework,” she said. “I ended up not having enough time to do research, but I wasn’t going to give that up, or give up my homework. So I stopped working.” Rudz is currently applying to graduate school and knows how important a high GPA and research experience are when it comes to getting accepted into a good program. She said she saved enough money over the summer to mostly get by this semester. Luckily, she said, combined with the multiple scholarships she gets from UB, she’s comfortable stopping work for now. “But now I have no money to spend during the semester and it’s a pain,” she said. Forty-six percent of students at UB are responsible for at least half of their expenses, and onethird of UB students are working and earning $8 to $8.50 and hour (the New York State minimum wage is $8), according to The Spectrum’s survey. Rudz isn’t the only student whose work life has affected her academics. Respondents to the survey mentioned some conflicts their employment had with their fulltime 12 to 18-credit course load. “My on campus job wouldn’t let me take off for a few of my exams,” said one student. While another responder said he or she got “called into work on days I wanted to take off so I can study.” Another student said his or her job “cut down the time I had to focus and work on schoolwork.” Rudz doesn’t miss rolling tacos, and this winter she plans on working at MedAssembly again to save money. For now, she’s a student first. SEE WORK, PAGE 5