Week 13 Readings
Working during college was always a no brainer for me. Many of my friends chose not to work during freshman year so they could get adjusted to college life but I didn’t want to get comfortable not working because I knew I’d eventually have to take up a part time job. I had work study, and I’ve used it for almost every semester since my freshman year but it is never enough. Especially since I moved away from home, and later chose to live in an apartment rather than student dorms, I had to buy my own groceries and pay my own transportation. For about three semesters now I have had a work study job and a part time job, while being a full time student. Would it be easier to not have to work? Absolutely. My parents would definitely help out with needs (food, transportation, etc) but asking someone who is already paying $20,000 a year for college, for you for one more expense just didn’t feel good to me.
The book explains that working during college is kind of an American ideal, it’s a part of a tradition. It’s not as easy as it once was, however. Nowadays, many students (even those receiving grants and Pell Grants) need to work to make ends meat. According to the book, on average 75% of undergraduate students work. “Working through college not only threatens degree completion but also crowrds out school activities.” I have defintely been guilty of this, I have never had the opportunity to actually devote my time or energy to a club or organization. Although that might be bad for me personally or look less than favorable on a law school application, it’s just what I felt I had to do. Working during college makes being a college student even harder than it already is. Work study jobs have tried to bridge this gap in order to provide opportunities on campus, or with a job that’s understanding of the student experience. I think work study jobs definitely make it easier, because like many students in the book mentioned, they oftentimes allow you to do homework or catch up on studying while you are clocked in. In my experience, however, work study funding has never been enough to cover needed expenses.
I just finished my FAFSA for the upcoming school year and my EFC (estimated family contribution) is upwards of $25,000. I don’t know who they think I am or my family is but we, like many other families, can not pay that out of pocket. I know I am not alone in this as the students in Paying the Price experienced the same difficulties. It seems that the financial aid system assumes that parents just have tens of thousands of dollars sitting in the bank with no need to spend that money elsewhere (maybe they do but that is not the case for my family). Side note: I always found it unreasonable that FAFSA asks how much money parents and families have currently in savings, checking accounts, cash, etc but don’t also have a little field where one can put how much debt they have at the same time. FAFSA doesn’t take into account parents (or students) credit card debt, past student debt, or anything else. Why do they assume that college is the only expense that families have?
