Over the past year, Lakeland College has made many changes regarding student employment.

More and more positions have disappeared or hours have been cut for new and returning students, which has drawn a lot of attention to the Lakeland Community according to Career Connect.

Rose Provencher, manager of student employment, said she understands where the students are coming from with the situation, and feels empathetic, but also understands, that as a college, we are trying to be “fiscally responsible.”

The decision to cut hours or reduce positions was made by the Lakeland College leadership executive team. This team consists of the president and the vice presidents of the college.

“We are trying to decrease overall expenses, and many of our local employers are in desperate need of people to work for them, which can have an extremely positive impact on the students,” said Carole Robertson, the chief financial officer.

Lakeland told managers to cut 10 to 25 percent of overall student hours, and it was up to the managers to cut employees hours and keep the same number of employees, or cut employees and keep the same amount of hours.

Even though these changes have happened to the student employees, tuition has been going up by the year.

According to Robertson, the reason behind the high tuition raise is the needs for improvement that the college is facing.

For example, the computers in the computer labs have a new look to them. The roofs on Verhulst and the suites have also been improved.

Other projects are in the works for improvement as well. To repair Old Main it costs up to $1.4 million. The windows also need to be replaced in WAK, which costs around $145,000, and another $110,000 for the softball field.

“I feel that the changes the college has made are not beneficial to the students of Lakeland College,” said Becky Schmidt, senior business management major.

“It’s unfair to cut employment without giving them other job opportunities, especially for those with the work study program,” said Stephanie Burgardt, junior English major.

If students have any questions regarding employment, Provencher is always available in her office located in the basement of WAK from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.