Thoughts: Working as a Student

Hello, my name is Jane Doe and I am a third year student at UC Santa Cruz. As one of the poorer students at UC Santa Cruz, I fund my education entirely through Grants, Scholarships, Student Loans, and Work Study.
Work study is awarded to the poorest students on campus as a way for them to make enough money to attend college. The work-study jobs on campus are reserved for work-study students and may not be given to anyone else by Federal law. I should also mention that if you are offered work-study as part of your Financial Aid package, but do not take a work study position, it is counted against you in future financial aid assessments.
My particular work study position is at the UCSC McHenry Library, where I make $7.50/hr, also known as minimum wage. During the school year I am given an average of 7-10 hours a week and not permitted to take anymore because my department hires so many students. I suspect the administration hires so many students deliberately and with ill intent, due to the fact that state law says that anyone who works a certain number of hours in entitled to certain rights (such as sick leave, raises, and breaks). By keeping so many students in the department during the school year, the administration is assured that they will never have to give any of their workers benefits. The fact that all of these workers are financially challenged work-study awardees makes this practice all the more questionable. Furthermore the Library does not hire students for Staff positions, I assume because that would also mean the administration would have to start treating these workers like human beings with rights.
Is it proper to use the campus' poorest members as minimum-wage slave labor? I have spoken with work-study participants in many different jobs on campus and their stories are all very similar: Hard work, minimum wage, no benefits. These are the students who are already taking out loans in order to fund their education and need money, arguably, more than those who are provided for by their families. I think it is despicable and deplorable that the University chooses to exploit their Financial Aid Students in such a fashion. This injustice should be exposed and the Regents should answer for their policies.