By Wylliam Smith
College is expensive. That is as clear as the sky is blue. But in the wise words of my mother, “Education isn’t free, so get a job.”
On the University of Iowa campus, many students face the problem of high tuition rates. This issue hits lower-class students the hardest, forching them
converted-space”> to take out loans and work several jobs just to support themselves.
As one of these lower-class students, I can say that going to college was a hard decision for me because I knew that while my mom would try to help me out, I would mostly be paying for it on my own.
Having a job can be extremely useful for students because it gains them work experience and time-management skills, and teaches them how to manage their money.
Where the problem lies is when students work so much that they find themselves falling behind in school. Normally when this happens, students will take time off or abandon the job entirely in order to catch up.
I have seen this many times. Recently a friend of mine quit her job because she said she was “too tired to do homework.”
Sometimes I envy that ability because when work gets too hard for lower-class students, things aren’t that simple. For this group of students a job is not just something to put down on a résumé, it is the very thing that is getting them through college.
On average, tuition at the University of Iowa is $21,625 if you are attending in-state and $41,713 if you come from out of the state. Of course, that it is the combined amount including books, housing, and other expenses, but that is still more money than I can even fathom.
This is why most college students make a plan with their parents to split the cost, or in some cases the parents will pay for the full amount, allowing the student to focus of classes.
But again, high tuition rates are not affecting this group of students as much as it is affecting the lower-income students. These students don’t have that support from their families and must work to get themselves through college.
This changes having a job from a way of getting extra cash to a necessity. I for one cannot quit my job working student security because I got tired and need some sleep. Because if I do that, when my bill comes around, I’ll be in quite the pickle.
There are some who say that students paying for their own tuition is better because it teaches discipline. Some parents won’t pay for college specifically for that reason. But for lower-class students it becomes a problem because the money they receive for their job is the only money they get.
So when an emergency or bills come along, students must pay out of their pockets for it. In my case, that means working three jobs to make ends meet.
This is a huge strain on students and can cause a decline in grades. As I said, some students will just quit a stressful job if it becomes too hard to balance work and school, but lower-class students don’t have that luxury.
That is where the problem lies. Students go to college to educate themselves, work numerous jobs to pay for it, and then end up failing their classes because they’re overworked.
It becomes an anomaly when students work so hard for their degree and the only payoff for that is decade or two of debt.