“The services they [students coming because of fee college] need are in new categories that we have not dealt with previously. ”
I have never made more than $25,000 a year and receive no benefits, aside from accumulating sick leave hours.
I have had to rely on my partner’s health insurance throughout.
I have paid into a mandatory deferred compensation plan, which will not come near to funding retirement. Community college employees do not pay into Social Security, so that will not be an option for me.
If I did not do this work, students would lose services. I celebrate MassEducate and Free College. With the influx of students because of these programs, there is more demand for services. The services they need are in new categories that we have not dealt with previously. Older students sometimes have no experience with computers – none! Due to limited staffing, most of their orientation is online. What a disconnect! Many of these students did not originally continue their education because of undiagnosed disabilities. We need staffing to address these issues. There are not enough hours in a day to fill these gaps for students with the demands we have on our time. Believe me; we WANT to fill those gaps.