Students with University jobs have faced reduced hours, consolidation of positions, staff cuts and other uncertainty during the beginning of the semester amid budget cuts across departments.
While some hiring will continue throughout the fall semester, students have experienced disruptions in their workplaces due to budget cuts that have also affected faculty hiring, departmental spending, and Wintersession.
Madalyn Mejia ’26, a Frist welcome desk staffer, said she has assumed the responsibilities of another job within her current position.
“They closed the ticketing office so the welcome desk is now also responsible for ticketing,” said Mejia. “We’ve taken in all the members that worked for the ticketing desk.”
Emma de Jong ’28, who works for the Campus Rec Sports Club department, said her workplace is experiencing similar changes. “For some shifts where previously there were two people, now there’s only one,” she said.
Students working at branch libraries — all libraries on campus except Firestone — have had their hours slashed due to ongoing financial pressure. Branch libraries have been directed by the University to reduce student staffing hours by 50 percent, according to an email from a library supervisor to student employees at the Architecture Library.
Employment uncertainties also affected Reunions earlier this year, according to Whitman Campus Dining Student Coordinator Liam Wang ’26. Wang told the ‘Prince’ that Campus Dining hired fewer student workers than previous years to staff Reunions.
“Reunions — that got hit quite a bit,” he said. “They imposed a lower hiring quota … We did not have enough people to staff the events.”
Wang took his concerns to his manager, expressing that the number of hired staffers were unable to handle the workload. According to Wang, he was assured that staffers would be able to make it work.
Campus Dining told the ‘Prince’ in a statement that it hired fewer student workers due to running fewer events.
University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill cautioned that student hiring changes were currently difficult to assess, although budget constraints may affect hours and positions.
“Some changes to available hours or positions may occur as units review their programming and services amid budget constraints,” she wrote. “Because student hiring is ongoing and continues through the start of the fall semester, it’s not possible to have an overall picture of student employment trends at this time.”
Morrill added that individual departments and units made their own decisions about student employment.
Some campus jobs have continued to solicit applications. Princeton Athletics, for instance, currently has open positions for field hockey and football event staff, as well as the campus mascot.
“We’re still in our temporary phase right now,” said Mejia of the Frist front desk. “We get new hires starting in two weeks, so I think things will come out around then if there are changes.”
Information for students seeking employment can be found on the Student Employment Office website.
Kian Petlin is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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