I am a senior in college. For the past 3 years I have worked as a student employee at two departments at my school - the Office of Disability Services & The Office of Financial Aid.

Because of COVID I was temporarily laid off from both jobs until further notice. My job at the Disability Services office recently emailed me telling me I could come back to work on August 24th, but I still haven’t heard anything from the Financial Aid office, but I do know they want me to come back when it’s possible.

Here is my issue. The old position I used to have at Disability Services has been eliminated and replaced with a new one. This new job will have more responsibility - I will have to work the front desk at the student life office, help every other office within the student life office (not just disability services), serve as student ambassador and give tours of the campus, etc. I used to have my own large room to myself and was allowed time to study for my classes, but this will be no more. I also won’t be seeing my old boss, because she is going to continue working from home and I will have a new supervisor instead. They are hiring 5 more people for this position but my boss told me they decided to offer it to me first because of my years with them.

Also, this semester I have no reason to be on campus, which is a 25 minute drive from home, except to go to work, because all of my classes are online. I have no idea if my last semester (spring 2020) will be online as well.

If I decide not to continue working at my campus jobs, there are many financial benefits. First, I only make $9/hour, so if I found another job that made $12/13 an hour I could work less hours for the same money and have more time to study. Secondly, if I decline my work study offer, it will make my loan offers better and I won’t have to take out unsubsidized loans (which are loans that accrue interest even while you’re still in school) and instead can take out subsidized ones, which don’t accrue interest until after you graduate.

I just don’t know what to do. I only have one more year until I graduate and then I’m going to grad school for school psychology. If I do accept the new position, I will be working with the school counselors in the student life office, so I could potentially make a good impression on them and get good references. I already have good references with my old boss and financial aid boss though, so I don’t know if it would even make much of a difference.

What would you do - keep working the two jobs you already have, or find a new one?