College students often struggle with heavy amounts of school work and many students also have the added burden of holding down jobs.
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau survey, 71 percent of college undergraduates work part time. The survey found that of these 19.7 million students, 20 percent worked more than 35 hours a week and more than half worked over 20 hours a week.
However, a survey conducted on campus yielded different results. Of the 100 students who were polled, 25 percent worked over 20 hours a week and only four percent worked more than 35 hours each week.
Tes Asfaw, director of the office of career development and internships, said that working too many hours can be bad for students’ academic careers.
“Anybody who works more than 20 hours a week and takes a full course load is going to have a tough time with time management,” Asfaw said. “It would be a tremendous burden to try and manage work and school. Work experience is valuable but you don’t have to over stress yourself to get that kind of experience.”
Nearly half of the students polled said they did not hold down jobs at all. Most attributed this to the demands of being full-time students.
“I’m a full time student at Queens College, I do not work because of the heavy load I have in school,” junior, Sandra Nelcy Mejia said. “In order to graduate within four years, I’ve had to take at least five classes per semester. I fear that if I do not dedicate all of my efforts into school I will not get into a good graduate school program.”
Of the students polled, 30 percent said they held down jobs, but worked less than 20 hours a week. The general amount of hours these students worked ranged from five to 10 hours each week.
Asfaw believes students who work these amounts of hours are better suited for being full-time students.
“Students need time to research and study because you don’t want your grades to suffer. But it’s not always possible to do that because sometimes it’s predicated by a student’s needs,” Asfaw said.
Most of these students accomplished this by holding down two jobs and working a few hours a week at each job. In some cases, the students worked on an as-needed basis and would work only when called in.
Tutoring is a common job among QC students, who spend four to five hours a week tutoring children and receive $20 to $40 an hour.
These types of jobs appeal to students because they allow them to enroll full time while earning an income.
