VCU Libraries’ student full-time equivalents and budget are lower than its peer institutions in the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, resulting in a significant lack of funding for student workers. The initial project goals were 1) to identify which steps the VCU Libraries could take to resolve this problem and 2) to investigate if this problem were university-wide in scope. Shortly following this determination, the president’s office VCU Update #10 proposed a “substantial increase in funding for student financial aid” and a university-wide survey on work-study was initiated by the VCU Career Center and distributed by the provost to university employers. The team goals were adjusted to 1) investigate the student’s perspective in obtaining work and the employment experience at VCU and 2) query both students and employers on how to improve the hiring process. Using a questionnaire to survey work-study employers along with experienced and prospective work-study students, the team collected both quantitative and qualitative data to be used by the university
