Want fries with that?
Not many Penn State athletes getting jobs despite new rule

By GEOFF DODD
Collegian Staff Writer

Chances are, the next time Joe Student walks into Taco Bell, he won't see Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington asking if he'd rather have the steak gordita or the Mexican pizza.

But that doesn't mean he won't see another athlete asking him if he'd like mild, hot, fire or green sauce to go with it.

Eleven months ago, the NCAA reneged on a long-standing rule forbidding athletes from holding paying jobs during the school year. The new rule, known as Proposal 62, allows student-athletes to earn up to $2000 over the value of a full scholarship during a school year. Furthermore, because this $2000 does not count as financial aid unless the student works in the athletics department, the NCAA considers it spendable income.

Since the rule went into effect, several Nittany and Lady Lions have taken advantage of the opportunity, securing jobs ranging from flipping burgers to tutoring. But the Penn State athletic community as a whole, while open to the possibility of employment, maintains its lack of involvement in the local work force.

"If you have to have a job really bad because you need money," senior women's tennis player Carrie Krause said, "you're not going to be able to work enough hours to make enough money anyway. All you're going to make is pocket change, if anything."

Krause, who worked at a local Subway from May to December, said she quit because of time constraints. With a course load of 17 credits to go along with tennis, she found it impossible to balance the three, even though dual meets didn't start until January.

The NCAA Board of Directors actually passed Prop 62, as they call it for short, at its 1997 convention. Because of opposition and conflicts concerning policy and procedure, however, the board chose to delay implementation of Prop 62 for a year, from Aug. 1, 1997 to Aug. 1, 1998.

"Sometimes we make the mistake that it just has to be athletics and academics," men's swimming and diving coach Peter Brown said. "You have to look at everything case by case.

"You've got some people who are very responsible, organized and self-disciplined, he said. "It just means you have to cut out some of the stuff the other students are doing. It's just about time management, because time management is a skill. It's an acquired skill, not something you're born with."

Some teams, such as football and men's basketball, stand by their traditional policies of prohibiting employment. Besides, the football team gives 85 scholarships and the men's basketball team gives 13, so most of those athletes wouldn't need a job for anything other than spending money. With the enormous time constraints on those two sports, holding a job would be nearly impossible.

Other sports, like men's volleyball, are not as fortunate in terms of scholarship allotments.

"Men's volleyball is a little different (than basketball or football)," men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik said. "The NCAA only permits 4.5 scholarships. Most of the guys need to go home during the summer to make money to go to school. I can't dictate to them that they can't get a job, when in fact that's what they need to stay in school, when the NCAA puts (scholarship) limitations on them."

Often times, a team cannot field an entire starting lineup with scholarship athletes, so student-athletes might need to seek alternate sources of income to meet their everyday needs. Still, the issue of time commitment remains a concern.

"If I found a job that was flexible enough to fit my schedule, I'd definitely get one," said Jeannine Verdrager, a sophomore midfielder on the women's soccer team. "It's not realistic for everyone, though."

For some student-athletes, however, it is. A small percentage of the population took the plunge into the workforce since the NCAA passed Prop 62. They are the students who constantly seek variety in a life filled with regimen after regimen of classes, practice, dinner, homework and sleep.

Some, like women's volleyball outside hitter Carrie Schonveld, loathe boredom and even look for a variety of jobs when one just isn't enough. Schonveld currently works at Adam's Apple, a division of the Tavern Restaurant, 220 E. College Ave., a job she has held since February. Before that, she coached an intramural volleyball camp two times a week for 10 weeks. She thinks any athlete who manages his or her time well could handle her workload.

"I haven't found it stressful at all, actually," Schonveld said. "The hours I work don't interfere with practice. The people I work for are very flexible, and the job isn't high stress. It adds something into my schedule so I'm not doing the same thing every day."

Besides, as Schonveld points out, sometimes all play and no work makes Jack a dull boy, not the other way around.