Utah is one of the states that puts the most funding towards its public universities to help keep higher education affordable, but college can still be expensive. The best way to fund your education that I’ve found is to take part in on-campus organizations that pay you for part-time work. Here are some resources I’ve learned about.

ASUU

Working for student government has lots of benefits, and one of those is that many positions are paid. For some of those positions, students must run for office and be elected by their fellow students, but some positions are appointed positions that don’t require running in an election. ASUU, or the Associated Students of the University of Utah, is constructed just like our federal government. There’s the Presidency, Assembly, Senate, and Supreme Court. Students run for office to be President, Vice President, Assembly Representatives and Senators. Students apply to be in the Executive Cabinet of the Presidency and to be in the Supreme Court. To get started now, you might want to apply for an unpaid job (they’re not super time-intensive) to get experience and make new friends, and in your second, third, and fourth years (and in graduate school), you can apply for positions that pay you. ASUU positions that are paid are paid via a semester stipend, and some positions come with a tuition benefit (meaning your tuition is cheaper). This year, ASUU is led by our Student Body President, Ephraim Kum, who is dedicated to making education accessible and affordable to students. Click Here to learn more about ASUU.

Ambassadorship

Lots of programs around campus have Student Ambassadors. Housing & Residential Education is one of those! We have Housing Ambassadors and Outreach Housing Ambassadors. Other programs that have ambassadors are the Hinckley Institute of Politics and the University Welcome Center. Lots of different colleges also have ambassadors, like the Business College, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Honors College, and more! Students who are hired as ambassadors are typically paid an hourly wage, and the offices are great at working with student schedules. These positions are typically much more flexible than off-campus jobs.

Board Membership

Students can be a part of tons of different boards around campus. Two of those work closely with Housing & Residential Education: the Residence Hall Association (RHA) and the Social Justice Advocates (SJAs)! Students can apply to have positions in the Residence Hall Association, which basically works as a student government for students who live on campus. Students who apply to be SJAs can work in the Equity Lounge and the new Equity Living Room, which is in Kahlert Village! Outside of those boards, students can participate on boards through the Bennion Center and the Office of Engagement. For example, one board under the Office of Engagement is the Council on Student Access (COSA). COSA is made up of nine students who try to increase student access to resources around campus, and they also try to make higher education at the U accessible to underrepresented communities. Students on that board are paid a stipend for fall and spring semester.

These positions might not seem like they pay a ton on their own, but believe me, everything helps. If you’re a member of a board in ASUU, you might get paid $600 per semester. When you work as an ambassador for just, say, 15 hours a week, you’ll get paid maybe $2,000 total throughout the semester. Then, if you work on an outside board like COSA, you’ll make another $600 per semester. Add that all together and you’ve got $3,200 every semester. That covers almost all of your tuition for the semester! It’s important not to overwork yourself, but if you’re able to develop time management skills, participating in programs like these can make college way cheaper. I’ve learned that the more things I’m involved with, the more people I know and the more programs I learn about. Once you break the ice with your involvement, you’ll find more and more of these programs throughout your journey at the U.