Ernest Gomez | Unemployment lines outside the research lab

They take away your jobs. They work for so cheap that employers have to hire them to stay competitive. They don't pay into the system as much as you do, but they get many of the benefits from living in it.

Social progressives have made moral arguments for their special treatment: They're "disadvantaged." They need "uplifting." They deserve a shot at the "American dream."

They walk among you, and you've probably employed their services without realizing it. Many scorn them because they keep talented, hard-working Americans out of work. How do I know this? I know because I'm one of them.

Before you pick up the phone and ask the government to deport me, wait a second. The preceding monologue doesn't come from the perspective of an illegal immigrant (I swear I was born in Jersey). These are the words of a guilty work-study student at Penn.

Comprising about 45 percent of the undergraduate population, work-study students can be considered the "cheap labor" of the University. Every year we apply for a federal grant; this grant then pays for a predetermined percentage of our wage for jobs that meet certain criteria. According to Student Financial Services, 90 percent of work-study students receive other forms of financial aid from Penn.

With Uncle Sam paying for the majority of our paychecks, we're a dream come true for on-campus employers. From personal experience I can say I have never had trouble finding a job at Penn. However, my good fortune comes at a cost.

Non-work-study students are excluded from jobs because they are relatively expensive to hire. When two students of equal qualifications apply for a position and one is work study, the choice is obvious.

The problem can be downplayed by the nature of the jobs in question. Many work-study positions involve less time commitments, relatively easy duties and a fair amount of paper-pushing. However, many students seek positions in academic departments to gain valuable research experience.

In this sense, low-cost work-study employees are taking career-development opportunities from their non-work-study peers. Engineering sophomore Ramy Khalil, for instance, has missed out on many job opportunities because he is non-work-study.

Khalil is a premed student who has searched for positions as a research assistant. "After months of searching and sending out resumes, I at last was considered by a clinical-research group," he said. "Even then I was only offered a volunteering position - i.e., I was required to work a year of unpaid volunteer work before I would even be considered for hire."

If academic departments are filtering non-work-study students out of paid research opportunities, the University should take interest. Work-study students may be financially disadvantaged, but non-work-study students are still bright, hard-working individuals who deserve an opportunity to exercise their intellectual curiosity and get paid in the process.

Affording tuition does not necessarily translate into financial security. That non-work-study students seek work suggests that they are not spoiled children who receive a fat monthly allowance from Daddy Dearest.

When the work-study program prevents these students from being hired, it is hurting families who saved money for tuition but can't necessarily cover all the costs associated with learning and living at Penn.

The University also loses out by failing to tap the potential of non-work-study students. In a perfect world, students would be willing to work solely for their personal development. At Penn, students need to get paid in order to forego leisure time.

Employers should not be blamed for making rational economic decisions. The onus falls on the government and University to eliminate such disparities.

For example, universities can develop a matching system that requires certain university employers to hire a certain proportion of work-study students (these requirements should not apply to community-service organizations). Such a system would eliminate incentives to hire solely work-study students.

Work-study grants can be extended by the government to students who do not receive financial aid from the University. If a student demonstrates interest in working for an academic department, the government should provide a small grant that gives their prospective employer incentive to hire them.

The financial-aid system's purpose is to assist students who cannot afford a full Penn tuition - not to harm students from families who can.

Ernest Gomez is an Engineering and Wharton junior from Beverly Hill, Calif. His e-mail address is gomez@dailypennsylvanian.com. Please, Call Me Ted appears on alternate Tuesdays.

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