Today at the usual hour we sort through the college jobs of well-known Americans such as Herbert Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Barack Obama and James Wright, the president of Dartmouth College who worked as a janitor, night watchman, bartender, factory worker and miner—with links to electrical apprenticeships contributing to the artificial intelligence data-center zeitgeist.
Snow College | Sanpete County Utah
University of Minnesota: Norman Borlaug
| American | College | College-Era Work |
|---|---|---|
| Herbert Hoover | Stanford University | Delivered newspapers and started a student laundry service to help meet living expenses. |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | Southwest Texas State Teachers College | Picked up trash, cut weeds, raked rocks, mopped buildings and later worked in the college president’s office. |
| Ronald Reagan | Eureka College | Washed dishes in a dormitory and also worked as a lifeguard and athletic coach. |
| Gerald Ford | University of Michigan | Waited tables at University Hospital, receiving meals as part of the arrangement during the Depression. |
| Richard Nixon | Whittier College / Duke Law School | Worked in the family grocery business and later held library work while attending law school. |
| Pat Nixon | University of Southern California | Worked in banking and hospital jobs while saving for and attending college. |
| Barack Obama | Occidental College / Columbia University | Held summer and college-era jobs including construction work in New York and retail work in Hawaii. |
| Patricia Tallman | Carnegie Mellon University | Worked professionally in Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera productions while earning her degree. |
| James Wright | University of Wisconsin–Platteville | Worked as a janitor, night watchman, bartender, factory worker and miner before later becoming president of Dartmouth College. |
Iowa State University
Electrifying America & Building the Workforce Behind It
Leveling the Playing Field: Pre-Apprenticeships Open Doors to the Middle Class
Funding and Administration
U.S. Department of Education — Federal Student Aid — administers and funds the Federal Work-Study Program. Participating institutions receive federal allocations for eligible students.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid — FAFSA — establishes student eligibility for Federal Work-Study and other federal student-aid programs.
- Participating Colleges and Universities —
receive Federal Work-Study allocations, determine individual student awards and ordinarily provide a nonfederal share of student wages through campus financial-aid and student-employment offices. - Off-Campus Public Agencies and Nonprofit Organizations —
may employ Federal Work-Study students through agreements with participating colleges and universities, particularly for community-service employment.
U.S. Department of Labor — Wage and Hour Division — does not fund Federal Work-Study but regulates applicable wage, hour and employment requirements.
MI Student Aid — provides Michigan students and families with state-level financial-aid guidance and information concerning federal work-study and other college-aid programs.
