By Kaylee Johnson
Campus News
Twenty years ago teenagers and college kids dominated retail, fast food, and lifeguard jobs. They were saving money to buy a cheap car, or pay student loans, and even though most of them were overwhelmed throwing chicken nuggets into deep fryers, or screaming at kids for the umpteenth time to stop splashing each other in the overfilled community pool, they were in the same boat as their friends and classmates.
Fast-forward to 2018, a time where the term “work” is subjective and is not as uniform as it used to be. Millennials and Generation Z are more secure in their creative ideas, and in many instances, they are making money off of them. As a full-time college student, I am completely devoted to coursework and attending classes. Since being a journalist for Campus News is not a traditional student job, I am able to write stories at my leisure and spend the majority of my time making my studies the focal point of my life. I am lucky to have that kind of flexibility, but many students have to work jobs that require a lot of laborious hours for little pay. College is not cheap, and students who are financially cut off from their parents do what they have to do to stay afloat. Yet, too often, I have seen students stumble into classes forty minutes late because their boss was not understanding of the significance of maintaining upstanding attendance, or students holding their eyelids open during morning classes, because their bosses switched their hours at the last second the night before. Minimum wage employers have seldom respected college kids, because they are seen as temporary and inexperienced. Bosses with this mindset contribute to the dip in working college students’ grade point averages. Many of these employers are not knowingly hiring students, while blatantly ignoring their academic schedules. This leads to a decline in grades, free time, and even sanity.
Over the years, many studies have claimed that working full-time is unhealthy for college students. But as previously stated, not all students can choose if they want to work or not. If you do have the option, I would not suggest writing work off entirely. There are many part-time creative opportunities available like tutoring children, freelance journalism, coaching a sport or dance team, babysitting, working on campus, or creating your own business! This summer I created a five-week ballet program for children at my local park. If your hobby is useful, utilize it to make money. Community and youth centers are always looking for responsible people to teach art, music, dance, and sports lessons. It gives me an activity to plan, while putting some extra money in my pocket. If you do have to work full-time, I suggest finding an employer who understands the importance of education and will work around your class times. And make sure you put a few hours aside everyday for homework and studying. For people who work full-time and are enrolled in courses full-time, college seems like a strenuous time full of anxiety, and it is because they feel overworked by professors and employers. The only way to succeed in all aspects of one’s life during the college years is by downsizing. Work enough hours to afford basic needs and pay bills, but learn how to become thrifty in order to regain a sense of order in your life. You will savor those extra few hours a day, where you can actually focus on assignments, get coffee with friends, or call your parents.
Many community college students are adults, who have been working at a single place of employment for a significant amount of time, and cannot risk changing employers because they have a family at home depending on the paychecks. For those students, I would recommend speaking to your boss about your circumstances, and try to adjust your hours to make college more manageable, or take night classes part-time.
Whatever you are doing to make money, remember the reason you are enrolled in college, and that the payout of having a degree will be greater than the long hours you have spent behind a customer relations desk at a store in the mall. Everybody has an allotment of zest and effort, so be picky when distributing it. Put most of it into your studies and relationships, being that those are the two parts of college that will stick with you all your life, not the low-paying jobs you did to pay the bills. In some ways, it may be better to work a couple of hourly jobs before jumping into the professional workforce, since they can build social relations and practical skills. Listen to your instincts when courses begin; if you feel overworked and stressed change things around. Likewise, don’t feel reluctant to stand up to a boss who is treating you unfairly; as a matter of fact you would probably be speaking on behalf of many of your co-workers, who also feel that the boss overlooks their academics.
Kaylee Johnson is a junior majoring in Education with an English concentration at College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. She previously attended Adirondack Community College.
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