Working while in college

This is a story I wrote for one of my final assignments. I alluded to it in my last post.
It's kind of a downer, to be honest. I found student mental health to be an extremely easy thing to write about since I'm crazy stressed out right now with all my finals due.

Students stress about debt

Sarah Lebow's typical day starts around 6 am. She gets up, does her morning routine, then heads off to class. Class ends for the environmental technology student at 3 in the afternoon. Her day is not yet finished, for then she goes to her job serving students in the cafe on residence. Eight hours later she comes home and falls into bed, all to get up in the morning and do it again.

Lebow works eight hours two days a week at her on-campus job, but she also has a job on weekends at a gas station. Overall, Lebow works 36 hours a week on top of her studies.

Working during school is becoming vital in order to pay increasingly expensive tuition fees. The average tuition fees paid by students has risen by almost $1000 since 2008 according to Statistics Canada and there is no sign it is going to stop. This pushes students harder to make ends meet while studying in hopes of getting a higher paying job.

Many Canadian students face this hardship. The problem with this is it negatively impacts grades, and, more importantly, health.

The cost is high for Lebow.

“Because I work so much to make ends meet I don't get to study enough so my grades aren't nearly as good as they could be” says Lebow.

A vicious cycle emerges of studying to get a better job, working too much to pay for studies, grades start slipping because of stress, grades are not good enough to get the job or even graduate college.

College is usually the first time a student is on their own. They take on all of the responsibilities of adulthood but are still students. The average age group attending post-secondary institutions is 18 – 25. This age also happens to be when mental illnesses are most likely to show themselves according to a study on student mental health by Queen's University. Mental illnesses have many triggers including genetics but stress is particularly effective.

Many factors drive students to work while in school. Some want to avoid student loans that carry heavy interest rates. Others aren't able to get enough money from loans to afford to live. Either way, students are daunted by the debt they will carry out of school.

Lebow can identify with those students. She has to pay for rent, her phone bill, car insurance, gas, and food.

“I'm broke and in debt. The thoughts keep me up at night so I just focus on school and work.

And at the rate I work, when I'm done school I'll have two full years salary in debt” says Lebow.

It takes an average of 14 years for Canadian graduates to pay off their student debts. The average student leaves campus with around $30,000 in debt. It may not seem like a lot if a salary is $35-$40,000 a year, but after after taking away living expenses and taxes only a tiny fraction of that is left to pay off those troublesome loans. Also, the longer you take to pay them off the more they grow.

Lebow feels like there's nothing she can do to change her situation. Many students can agree they feel quite hopeless

Love,

Katie