You don’t need a college degree to kiss bait and change.

Students at SUNY’s Stony Brook University apply for jobs that they think are paid by the state Department of Health as coronavirus contact tracers – Only to be notified after the fact that the show was not compensated.

“The New York State Department of Health recruits paid, remote job roles,” read an emailed post to the science department at school earlier this month. “All the opportunities listed are created to help in the fight against COVID-19.”

Among the positions listed are contact tracers, crack detectives who are now recruited by the state to flock to track cases of the previously unknown corona virus by tracing known steps of the patient.

In fact, Governor Andrew Cuomo placed so much stock in contact tracing that an adequate number of trackers was one of the seven criteria for an area of ​​the country to be approved for reopening.

In general, the state pays contact tracers $ 27 per hour, DOH has previously said.

But tiring hard work turned out not to be so valuable that it was worth paying college kids, because some of the Stony Brook students who registered received an automatic email reply indicating that the position was actually not paid.

“You applied through Handshake for the NYS Contract Tracer program,” read an email from Marianna Savoca, assistant vice president of Stony Brook for Career Development and Educational Experience. “The governor’s office is now asking ASAP volunteers to help the country reopen.”

Flip-flops leave students who are short of money – some of them trying to help their families in the midst of economic turmoil – feeling betrayed.

“Both of my parents have lost their jobs and have not been able to return to work for several months,” said one of the biology majors who applied, refusing to be named. “I applied to be a contact tracker to not only help the city during this pandemic but also help my family get out in our current financial situation.

“I don’t think it’s fair to move from a paid position to a voluntary position because many people rely on this job to help pay bills and basic food items.”

Another applicant added, “I feel really shortened by this change. I got the impression that they wanted to give this opportunity to SUNY children.

“Now, they make it look like they never want to pay us to start, which is just wrong,” continued the student, who also declined to be named. “Under any other circumstances, it would be ridiculous to call people for job interviews just to ask them to work for free.”

Official Stony Brook responded to requests for comment with statements that did not directly address the difference.

“Stony Brook University has worked closely with our state and local partners to manage the impact of COVID-19 in our region,” the statement said. “We responded once again last week when our government partners asked us to help increase the number of trackers in an effort to allow the region to reopen Phase 1.

“In response, we give calls to students whose internships or capstone projects have been affected by a pandemic and students who have applied for tracker positions through our career services office.”

SUNY officials did not immediately respond to the question whether the difference was limited to Stony Brook, or if students throughout the system were asked to work for free.

DOH countries also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.