Analysis of the Problem Working Students

Alene Semuels is a writer for The Atlantic, and formerly wrote for The Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The author's purpose for writing this article was to inform college students and the public about opportunities to work while in college. Also it shows college students that working a full time job might not be the wisest thing to do while attending college full time. When this article was written, there was a new trend beginning to arise. In 2015, Georgetown University did a study of students who worked while in college. They found that 70 percent of students were employed while in college and 25 percent of those students are working full time while simultaneously going to college full time. Both the Chicago Tribune and CNBC wrote articles about the findings in the Georgetown study. Putting these things together, Semuels felt persuaded to talk about the topic from two

Thesis Statement: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “the 2012 graduation rate for…full-time undergraduate students who began their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree at a 4-year…institution…was 59 percent.” Also stated was that it took 6 years for those first-time college students to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Every year the number of graduating college students is drastically decreasing. We believe that there

In today’s society, a college degree has become a requirement in order to obtain a well occupied profession. Prior to the recession, which the study defines as the period between December 2007 and June 2009, bachelor's graduates were already more likely to be employed than were associate degree holders, who were more likely to be employed than those without any postsecondary degree. After the recession, employment of college graduates dropped 7 percent, while associate degree holders experienced an 11 percent drop, and employment of high school graduates fell 16 percent. The percent of people excluded from the workforce, meaning they were seeking work but couldn’t find it, rose 31 percent for college graduates, 37 percent for high school graduates, and 50 percent for associate degree graduates, though associate degree holders were still excluded at a lower rate than high school graduates (Tilsley, 2013).

Neill provides data on the increase of amount of students working full-time and part-time jobs during their education. She shows how this has been increasing since the 1970’s and more students are having to work while attending college to pay for expenses. This source also helps demonstrate how a shrinking middle class is affecting college students because low-income students need to work during college. It also provides more evidence on how increasing tuition is affecting students in general.

Most college students have a part-time job not a full-time job which means more full-time help will be needed.

Over the past twenty-five years, college costs have accumulatively risen four-hundred percent. The percent of parents who contribute to their child’s student debt has dropped from thirty-seven percent to twenty-seven percent, compared to three years ago. Due to the lack of aid, most students have to try to balance a job and school at the same time resulting in eighty-five percent of college students working at least twenty hours a week. It has also been noted that students who work twenty hours or more a week while attending classes at the same time are less likely to graduate due to the high stress environment. Sixty-two percent of college students who drop out were responsible for their own college education. Even when students drop out, thirty percent are still faced with college debt, creating a loophole impossible to recover

Percentage of first generation [ * ] students aged 16-24 born within the U.S. who were not enrolled in school and did not complete high school.

The U.S. is home to some of the greatest colleges and universities in the world. But with an overwhelming 1.3 million students graduating with an average student loan debt of $29,000 each and with youth unemployment elevated, the question of whether or not college tuition is worth the money arises (The Institute for College Access & Success, 2013). Higher education faces intimidating challenges: continually rising costs, access and completion problems, constant changing of technology, and responsibility pressures from state and federal officials. But no challenge is more intimidating than the fundamental question that many Americans face to ask themselves, "Is college worth the cost?" As a result of the economic turn down, many students who graduate are not finding well-paying jobs, either within their field of study or not.

At a time when, employers say that almost every new job in the U.S. will require workers to have more than a high-school education, the chance that students at the bottom of the economic ladder can afford to finish college has taken a turn for the worse. The number of students from all income levels and racial and ethnic backgrounds pursuing post- secondary education continues to grow. But to stay in school, low-income students are taking loans, using high- interest credit cards to pay tuition, working more hours, and opting for two-year schools. Low-income students are choosing two-year colleges for financial reasons even though studies show more of them are academically qualified for four-year schools due to efforts by school districts to push them into tougher, college-prep course. This tuition increase makes part- time students “… face costs they cannot afford while confronting a federal system of financial aid that both is “confusing” and “spends too little on those who need help the most” (Zemsky 3). For full time students this raise also puts a damper in their college fund but it could no amount to the cost of a part- time student who cannot afford their education as a result of their uncontrollable financial situations.

According to Lundberg (2003), “adult students are one of the most rapidly growing segments of today’s college student population, making up approximately 40% of all college students” (665).

In the competitive world today, having a college degree might not benefit a student as much as before, thus opening up numerous questions concerning its necessity. Not only is the number of students desperately trying to enroll in college increasing, but the tuition shoots up as well. However, will college enrollment necessarily be enough to increase your chances of attaining job security? The answer is hotly debated amongst adults and students alike, which opens up the second option for students, that is, joining the work force. Although this option is generally shunned by the new generation, the tough economy and slow restoration makes it quite a desirable choice at the moment. Joining the work force is a hard decision to make as it

Not only do the states’ low revenues cause affordability problems, but high unemployment rates contribute as well. As of December 2009, the nation’s unemployment rate was at ten percent (Boskin 22-27). The unemployment rate for people ages twenty to twenty-four is fifteen percent (Dickler). These numbers are still significantly high. This makes finding jobs extremely difficult for college students. Since the nation’s overall unemployment rate is high, students find themselves competing with everyone for jobs. This becomes very difficult for them. Without jobs,

• Students are increasingly likely to work while in college. Since 1984, the fraction of

Here I am in my second year, not as far along as I had hoped. But I have discovered that many of my classmates also work full-time, and we see many advantages to being a working student. We are more mature and self-disciplined because we carry our work habits over to our studies. We concentrate harder than some of the younger, non-working students. Teachers seem to show us more respect. By taking longer to earn degrees, we have time to assimilate what we learn and develop our awareness from one semester to the next. While it’s true that we don’t have much time for socializing or extracurricular activities, we do learn to make friends quickly in classroom situations and make the most of our social opportunities between classes.

The first cause of students dropping out of college is due to the fact that they are unable to balance their work and school together. A questionnaire was completed by 42 first- and second-year students from a single degree program at the end of Semester 2. Findings - Within this group, 83 per cent of students worked at some point during term-time of their degree program. In total 58 per cent of those students who worked did so to either cover or contribute to basic costs of living. While the majority of students felt they could balance work and study, half of all students questioned felt that working could have a negative impact on their degree classification (Working to live). Even full-time