Working for an Education

by Amber Lee

Because of the recession, it might be expected that more students are working while attending school full time. While this is true, it may come to a surprise to you that the students are very little of the money earned on tuition.

According to a new study more students are spending their money on food, beer, and recreation than their education. At two year institutions, this is due to parents only being able to cover tuition whereas before they could cover tuition and contribute to a student other expenses. At four year institutions the increase in tuition did not seem to faze those planning to attend because the cost of college before the recession was not that small to begin. The students, or more likely the parents, already expected to pay a lot for college and planned on using scholarships and loans to cover much of the cost anyway. Though I’m not shocked by this I am surprised that students would risk getting lower grades because of working for “fun money.” But apparently, this is also a myth.

Students who have many recreational activities do not necessarily do worse in school because of being over worked. Being engaged in other activities as actually very beneficial to the student, especially if they are working at a job related to their field of study.