I believe I have mentioned that we are having serious budget problems at work. In response, we've had to scale down our services dramatically. Hours had to be cut. My own hours were cut by more than half. We had no warning that anything like this might happen before the semester began; my first week at reduced hours was last week.

On Friday of last week, I got an email from my supervisor at my other campus job. There are serious budget problems there, too. I am the only member of the senior editorial staff who is not being paid through work study. This means that 100% of my pay comes through the journal's budget, while only 25% of the pay for work study students comes through the journal's budget. The long and short of it is that there isn't enough money left in the budget to pay me until the beginning of the new fiscal year, which begins in July.

I kept my jobs at school because they've been great jobs. I've gained wonderful experience, and I've enjoyed my coworkers. I'm good at my jobs, and the personal investment I have in each of them is large. These perks were worth the nasty-ass commute from Orange County to the Inland Valley Empire. However, while things like enjoying work are nice, they really aren't absolutely necessary. What is necessary is that I make money, and I am now finding myself making approximately $500 a month less than I had budgeted for this semester because my employers did not realize they wouldn't be able to afford my services.

So.

Today, I told the boss at the first job that I would finish up the semester and not return after that. I am about to email the other boss to tell her that I will not in fact return at the beginning of the next fiscal year, because if I can't count on the job, I need to find another one. If I'm going to find another one, it might as well be close to my house.

It makes me sad, really. I've been at each of these organizations for several years. I believe in what we do there. But I also believe in paying my mortgage.