Sitting at a desk at the University of South
Carolina Beaufort, Ellza Hines is at her daily juggling routine. It may not look like any magic show but she
balances enough to leaves you wondering: How does she do that?
"I actually have four
jobs so I work a ton," Hines said.
Three of the four jobs are
at USCB, one of which is part of the federally funded work-study program that's
set to take a hit from sequestration. Students
qualify based on a certain income level and 17 of the positions are currently
held at USCB.
"They get to do a
lot," Career Director Rachel Hoover said.
"They are involved in a lot. They
do much more than they would were they to work down the road at a fast food
establishment."
If sequestration goes as
planned, 270 of these jobs would be eliminated in South Carolina.
That leaves Ellza nervous.
"I would have to make
up for it a lot," Hines said. "I'm only
making minimum wage but it still helps me."
And her efforts on the
work-study job help others, and that brings fears it's more than the worker who
may feel the punch.
"We depend on those
funds," Hoover said. "We are a very low-funded
school and those funds help all of us to have students that can aid in our
mission to help students."
From sequestration around 830 fewer
low-income students in South Carolina would receive aid to help them with
college, which would likely contribute to a growing number of those in
student-loan debt.
