Paying the Price for Tuition Increases
It’s a mistake to assume that college students who hold jobs are working to pay tuition — or, for that matter, any college-related expenses.
One full-time student at Wright State complained of working 50 hours a week, but then admitted using much of the money to pay for flying lessons. Others acknowledged spending a substantial chunk of their money on electronic gadgets, or drinks at the bars along nearby Colonel Glenn Highway.
But the share of students, nationally, who report needing to work to pay college expenses has spiked in recent years… —Peter Schmidt —Paying the Price for Tuition Increases (Chronicle)
It would be hard to measure which students are taking multiple part-time jobs in order to pay for their portable phones and entertainment, rather than their tuition.
I watched a few episodes of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” this week. I enjoy the concept — a “deserving family” is whisked away on a vacation while a team of designers leads an army of workers to re-design their home, though I rolled my eyes at the efforts to emphasize tension between members of the design team (gruff and aloof designer A borrows a chisel from gruff and aloof designer B without asking; fur flies).
Even watching “free” television brings with it commercials that create new “wants” that can only be satisfied with new purchases. Ultimately, however, I came away from the show realizing that its premise is that families that suffer “deserve” a fancy home, which will magically lessen that family’s suffering. It’s a very materialistic concept, and it’s the same one that undergirds The Sims.
My six-year-old has been trying to teach our two-year-old the difference between “wants” and “needs.” She “needs” love, but she “wants” a cookie. She “needs” a new diaper, but she “wants” this particular toy.
There are two ways you can have all that you “want”: you can try to get enough money to pay for all your wants, or you can discipline yourself to “want” less.
Of course, anybody’s family life would be a little less stressful if there were a little more money to pay the bills. Truth be told, if we did have a little more money, we would have bought a slightly bigger house, and we’d still be watching our pennies — and I’d still get in trouble with my wife for occasionally buying a book that I could have gotten via inter-library loan.
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Thanks for the book suggestion... got a copy I can borrow? ;)
I think your entry makes a good point: Many students -are- working full-time, maybe working two jobs (I know I am), but we are also so conditioned to want so many things that we do not need.
"Even watching "free" television brings with it commercials that create new "wants" that can only be satisfied with new purchases."
That's pretty much the whole point of our culture, isn't it? We are industrialist, we create goods and then sell them. If no one "wants" the good, no one will buy them and our economy as it stands may collapse. Buy Stuff, And You Will Be Happy is kind of the mantra of our culture. And look how many people are simply miserable!
"There are two ways you can have all that you "want": you can try to get enough money to pay for all your wants, or you can discipline yourself to "want" less."
And it does take discipline! I've been experimenting with the "want less" concept for about a year now. Instead of going out and getting a full-time job where I would be miserable, I found two part-time jobs which leave me feeling fulfilled. I'm not making a lot of money, but I pay my minimalist bills and I have enough money left every now and again for a splurge (like ordering a pizza instead of making my own or buying a book instead of picking it up at the library). I'm much happier (most of the time) than most people I know, even if I make considerably less money.
I wonder if your family would like the book "The Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn? It's a personal favorite of mine.
Yes, it was this quote that made me want to blog the article, but the point of the article wasn't to complain about students.
It's funny. Because of the order of your quote, the message that first comes across from this post it "Working college students work to pay for entertainment, not tuition". I hardly noticed that last small paragraph. I would bet a lot of the people who read this quote assume it's an article about how students goof off.
When actually, that article is all about the last sentence in your quote "the number of students needing to work to pay college expenses has spiked in recent years".
Maybe it's because the "students are lazy" section comes first AND takes up 5/7th of the space (on my screen).
Anyways, it's just an observation.
I know many students who fit that profile, Neha.
And then there are the students who genuinely want not to burden families with the thousands that are needed to get through four years that most employers don't recognise. How about that end of the spectrum?