The Effects of Working and College

College tends to have a habit of not paying for itself, making working an unavoidable part of college life for many students. What are the effects of such a cramped schedule on the average student: is the stress crushing, or is the sense of responsibility ultimately liberating? Students at the joint Bryn Mawr and Haverford College newspaper have written an interesting human interest piece detailing how students cope with having to fit so many different activities into a day.

In a recent survey, 87 of the 100 students who responded reported working. Of the 95.4 percent of those working on campus, 57 percent have work-study as part of their financial aid package. Throughout Bryn Mawr, 587 students have been awarded federal work-studies for 2008-09. While these statistics attest to the experiences of only a slight margin of the 1,300 undergraduate students here, the fact that even 8 of those students report working more than 20 hours a week, 38.5 percent report having two jobs, and 3 students state having four or more indicates that working is an integral and unavoidable part of many college experiences.

Federal work-study is a form of financial aid that more and more students are facing, as costs for college grow beyond what scholarships and payment out-of-pocket can cover. Unfortunately it also seems to create a rift among students, a hierarchy of sorts between students who work and those who have the leisure of off-campus work and study alone.

Eighty-three percent of the students who answered the online survey identified themselves along a middle-class gradient. However, Irele attests to the socioeconomic stigma that she perceives between race, class, and work namely as a Dining Services employee. "I think that most people assume, when they see a person of color working in any capacity, that the person is on scholarship and needs to work out of necessity. I believe that this automatic assumption informs the way that people interact with the student staff in the dining halls and the cafes," she asserts.

"For some reason, students on campus equate working in the dining hall with financial need and therefore with inferiority. And whether they know it or not, this assumption shows in the way they interact with those students working in the dining halls and the cafes."

The compulsion to make false judgments can go both ways. Lauren Smith, a self-financed freshman employee at Haffner Dining Hall, admits to her own misperceptions, "Even I make judgments on people who don't work. They must be upper class or not need it??Some people work there [at Haffner] by choice, but the vast majority of people work there because they have to."

That said, students who do have to work to make ends meet encounter a real mix of emotions. For some students, the stress does build up mountainously ("I have to work to be here," says one, "but I'm also sacrificing a lot of my experience at the college, academically and socially...I'm exhausted all the time."); for others, it's an exciting fast-paced way of life (""I really do enjoy being busy," admits another, "and I probably couldn't have it any other way."). What most students who work do agree on is a newfound appreciation of the hard work they put in -- and most only wish others would recognize it the same way.

Despite the number of students who work multiple jobs because they are struggling to make ends meet, one student reminds that college is everyone's first priority. "Since I have to work in order to go to college, I see no point in complaining about it. Yes, being poor sucks and it's unfair that some people are poor and have to work and go to school at the same time while others don't. But that's not Bryn Mawr's fault."

Even though most-if not all-students agree that work is beneficial and vital, some do perceive more insidious stigmas associated with working as a college student. In sharing her thoughts about what unemployed students might think of her, Gordon says, "I would hope they wouldn't think, ??Oh, that poor girl has to work'-poor can be a pun if you want it to be. Ideally they'd say, ??She knows the value of a dollar and hard work.'"

Is there a solution in sight? Not to the problem of college costs that make work-study necessary -- colleges need to get paid just as students need to get college degrees to help achieve their goals. What can be agreed on, however, is the respect that is needed for students who have to work hard to reach their goals. Whether the time in between is exhausting or revitalizing, the pay-off at the end will be more than worth the effort.