By Jennifer K. Morita

October 02, 2023

Sacramento State Geography major Gail Dulay knew she needed to polish her people skills to be successful in urban planning. So, she jumped at the chance to work on a public outreach project with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) for the experience – and the money.

“It’s so in line with what I’m studying, it doesn’t feel like work,” she said. “I really enjoy how hands-on it is. It’s not just doing office work.”

Dulay’s work is part of a new, state-funded, work-study program that offers underrepresented students the chance to earn money while gaining job experience related to their field of study or career goals.

The Learning Aligned Employment Program (LAEP), which the California Student Aid Commission launched last year, sets aside $500 million for California public universities and colleges, including $11 million for Sac State.

LAEP funds 100% of students’ wages for jobs where a majority of the work includes research related to their career goals or education. The state will cover 90% of students’ earnings for work at non-profit organizations or public institutions such as schools, and 50% at for-profit organizations.

“The state wants to offer funds to assist students with getting jobs that are going to help them in their careers and guide them toward careers while they’re in school,” said Tina Lent, Sac State’s Financial Aid and Scholarships director. “If a student works while in college in an area they want to pursue, it may be a foot in the door for a job once they graduate.”

Most students have to work to pay their way through college, but that work is often unrelated to their field of study or career aspirations. In 2020, 40% of full-time undergraduate students worked while enrolled, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That figure rose to 74% among part-time students.

Approximately 4,400 student employees are working on campus this semester, in both academic and non-academic roles. Work-study programs, however, typically only offer jobs in food service or campus bookstores.

“Students have to pick between paid jobs or internships within their field of study that don’t pay,” said Eric Banh, a Sac State workforce development program analyst. “If they do pick the internship, they have to take a second job to pay the bills.”

Internships have their benefits: More than 50% of students with internship experience have job offers right after graduation, Banh said. The LAEP program is designed to be the best of both worlds, providing a paycheck to help underrepresented students defray the rising cost of a college education while gaining valuable job experience at the same time.

Students are eligible for the program if they are among one of the following groups:

• first-generation college student
• low-income
• current or former foster youth
• at risk of being homeless
• disabled
• displaced worker
• students with dependent children
• formerly incarcerated
• undocumented students, including those who meet the 2001-2002 Assembly Bill 540 criteria
• veterans

At Sac State, the Career Center and Financial Aid and Scholarship Office are working with faculty and staff to find research assistant positions eligible for LAEP, and eventually want to branch out to local public schools and nonprofit organizations.

The campus’s partnership with SACOG, the organization for which Geography major Dulay is working, demonstrates the value of the program.

Jasmine Arpagian, an assistant professor of Geography who teaches courses in urban and regional planning, helped pilot a LAEP “soft start” last spring. Three of her students were research assistants and worked with SACOG, a public agency representing the six-county Sacramento metropolitan area that advocates for equitable and sustainable growth.

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The organization deals with transportation infrastructure, affordable housing, and protecting agricultural and natural habitats. Arpagian’s students helped disseminate a survey to gather community input for its 2025 Blueprint, a 20-year regional plan.

“This work is related to community engagement and input in the planning process,” she said. “For students who are interested in pursuing planning as a career, it gives them an opportunity to work for an entity that hires planners and works on projects about planning.

“It can serve students in building their professional networks, meeting people and giv(ing) them some practical experience that’s related to their field.”

Rosie Ramos, SACOG’s external relations group manager, has been impressed with the results.

“I’m excited to see what we can do with it,” Ramos said. “From the time I did spend with Gail (Dulay), from the research questions she developed, it was really great. I’m excited to see where it keeps going.”

Dulay, who is interested in applying geographic information science to urban planning, said she wanted more experience with public outreach.

She worked with Ramos to develop recommendations to get more young people involved with regional planning, which included participating in the organization’s Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) for high school students.

“We’re interested in working with Sacramento State students who can do the research and then help us take the next steps needed to make the program more authentic to the young perspective,” Ramos said. “We’re at over 200 students who have participated in YLA, and that’s a lot of powerful, young voices we can tap to engage with us and influence the work we do.”

SACOG officials also have an interest in creating more opportunities for historically disadvantaged groups, Ramos said.

“We want to support our low-income communities and people of color in gaining entry into these institutions that traditionally have not always been welcoming,” Ramos said.

Dulay will continue her work with SACOG this semester.

“Jasmine and I worked together to figure out ways to collect qualitative data from the participants,” she said. “We were thinking of ways to reach out and get feedback. I got some feedback just by meeting and talking to the students and I drafted and published surveys.”

Dulay, who is currently working on analyzing the results of the surveys, called the experience “invaluable.”

“Everyone should experience something like this while they’re in school,” she said, adding the hourly wage paid her bills. “It’s helped tremendously.”

For more information about LAEP at Sacramento State, click here.