Pink Slips (For Some): Campus Employment, Social Class, and COVID-19

While undergraduates from all class backgrounds work while attending college, less is known about how students approach finding work and the benefits they reap from different on-campus roles. Drawing on 125 interviews with undergraduates at Harvard University, we show that in the absence of clear institutional expectations surrounding on-campus work opportunities, students draw on class-based strategies to determine which jobs are “right for them.” Upper-income students pursued “Life of the Mind” jobs which permitted them access to institutional resources and networks. Alternatively, lower-income students pursued more transactional “Work-for-Pay” positions which yielded fewer institutional benefits and connections. The consequences of these differential strategies were amplified during COVID-19 campus closures as most “Work-for-Pay” positions were eliminated while “Life of the Mind” continued remotely. Through documenting heterogeneity in work experiences, we reveal a class segregated labor market on campus and extend previous analyses of how university practices exacerbate class differences and reproduce inequality.