As college students struggled to afford schooling during the Great Depression, the government attempted to help with a series of work programs. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) started helping students during the spring 1934 semester in which 73 students at Eau Claire were provided a total of $2,403 based on financial need and character. The following school year the program expanded to providing $9,359 to 150 students at the university with about 25% of the student body working FERA jobs according to a fall 1934 survey.

The National Youth Administration (NYA) was launched by an executive order from President Roosevelt on June 26, 1935, and acted as a successor to the FERA program. As part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), this New Deal program started helping students at Eau Claire right away in the summer of 1935. Students worked in a variety of places as part of the program and made around $0.30 an hour. They worked on campus in the cafeteria, helping faculty, or doing janitorial work as well as off campus at places like the Y.M.C.A. and the public library. By the end of the 1930s, the NYA program at Eau Claire was assisting around 200 students each school year. College President Harvey Schofield, along with the assistance of Accounting Clerk Mabel Chipman, managed most of the program’s operation and handled the payroll. Instructors Monroe Milliren and Laura Sutherland were appointed to be program administrators for the male and female students respectively. The N.Y.A program continued at the university until 1943 and was ended nationally that same year.