At many colleges and universities students must take a minimum of nine to 12 credit hours to be considered a full-time student, and in addition most of those same students work full or part-time jobs. This can be a stressful task when on a mission to receive a college degree. Kara Johnson a 20-year-old junior health care management student from Tallahassee is an example of a student who has been able to juggle school and work.
“I work for the state so you can only imagine what it is like to have all that on your plate. I have been able to maintain above a 3.0 grade point average, and work more than 30 hours a week,” said Johnson.
Being a college student is not easy when dealing with papers, exams and the occasional hardnosed professors. Yet it can be easy to juggle the college life when you do not have to leave campus at all to do both.
Jordan Derr a 20-year-old junior from Pleasantville, N.J. said that working does not affect him at all.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect me too much because of the proximity of my job to where I live, and the hours that I work,” said Derr, a graphic design student. Derr works on campus and believes that working on campus is easier.
“I think that your work schedule is a little bit more flexible if you work on-campus than with an off-campus job. Here on campus you are being employed by people who know your situations as a college student,” Derr said.
Some students are faced with the reality that they will never receive that full-blown college experience like others. Some students are forced to work because of their home background.
“I work and I am able to occasionally go to the club,” said Johnson.
Though some students feel that working and going to school may hinder the complete college experience of partying and hanging with friends, that college is the time to enjoy your life.
But, what is a “real” college experience? For some, clubbing four or five times a week, missing class and partying is the answer. Others are happy going out once in a while.
Working a full-time or part-time job and going to school may be hard, but as the proverb says, what does not kill you, makes you stronger.
Contact Ashley Gibson at famuanlifestyles@hotmail.com