Balancing Work and Higher Education

Although the Biden administration’s plan announced in August 2022 promises up to $20,000 in debt relief for student loan borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year, rising expenses for tuition, cost of living and everyday expenses have proven that higher education in the United States is still unaffordable for many prospective students. Many students are now balancing work and their higher ed studies to bridge the gap.

In 2022-23, the average published tuition and fee total for a full-time student at public two-year institutions nationally was $3,860, compared with $10,940 at public four-year colleges. After grant aid, full-time students had an average of $860 remaining for other expenses, well short of the cost of attendance, according to the Community College Research Center. 

A cost-effective solution for thousands of students is attending a local community college—thus, paying reduced tuition for two years—while saving up before they transfer to a four-year institution. 

Working and Studying

Portland Community College’s Director of Admissions and Recruitment Bridget Jones said that partnerships between community colleges and bachelor degree-granting institutions are making higher education more accessible and affordable for students and “are fantastic options for cost-conscious students.” 

“There are those that benefit from both the lower tuition and the ability to remain closer to home that community colleges offer,” Jones said. “Many of these students still have educational goals that require bachelor’s degrees, so partnerships that provide students the best of both worlds; lower tuition for the first two years, then seamless transfers to complete their degrees.”

Set to graduate in May, Pooja Swami, 21, is pursuing a bioengineering degree with a concentration in cell and tissue engineering at Northeastern University, while working part-time at Selecta Biosciences in Watertown, MA. 

“I would say that it’s pretty encouraged [by Northeastern University] to work while being a student,” Swami said. “When accepting my admission, I knew that no matter where I went, I would want to find internships, and I liked that Northeastern had that built into their plans of study and curriculum.”

Northeastern University’s renowned co-op program is all about experiential learning, and many students stay on after their co-op has ended, working part-time while completing their degrees. 

“My major motivations for working and completing my degree at the same time were both the opportunities of the job and cutting financial costs; I’m working at this company during my final semester of undergrad, and the hope is that I would be able to stay on after I graduate,” Swami said. “Also, going to school in Boston isn’t cheap, so the motivation of making some extra money for rent is definitely there.” 

Burnout vs. Cost

Laurel Williamson, deputy chancellor and president for San Jacinto College, a community college in Pasadena, Texas, shared that approximately 75% of the college’s students work part-time or full-time while attending classes. The institution also offers work-study opportunities on and off campus.

“For our area and student demographics, it is very common for students to need to balance their class schedule around their work schedule,” said Williamson. “We encourage students to work within what they can manage within their busy lives.” 

According to Williamson, she has found that first-time-in-college students often underestimate the demands of going to college and try to take more classes than their busy schedules allow.  

“We want their beginning semester to be a successful one, so we work with students to develop reasonable schedules that they can manage,” she said. “These initial successes are critical in whether or not a student continues in higher education.”

Swami, who scheduled classes before realizing the need to work part-time, agreed.

“If I had to complete my undergraduate schooling again, I probably wouldn’t have saved four difficult bioengineering concentration classes for my final semester,” said Swami. “I didn’t know I would be working during my final year when planning my classes out for my four years, and I wish I had given myself some more ‘cushion’ classes for my last semester.” 

Other students know from the outset that they will need to work to offset the cost of their degrees. “Dee”—a New York University Stern School of Business graduate who wishes to remain anonymous—pursued a 1-year, focused MBA, graduating in May 2022. Dee worked full-time as a program manager during her studies, logging 30 to 35 hours a week at a prominent software company while completing 30 hours of class a week. 

“I didn’t want to be in six-figure debt when I completed the program,” said Dee. ‘“I was paying for the program completely on my own and it was a goal that I had always had.”

Remarkably, she was the singular student in her NYU cohort of 50 who worked full-time the entire year. In reality, MBA students in her program were encouraged to not work and just focus on school because the program was already accelerated from two years down to one. However, some institutions are beginning to recognize the need for flexible programs. 

Maria Lemaire, 25, completed an M.S. Ed in Literacy (Birth-Grade 6) at Hunter College while serving as a head preschool teacher in New York City. Luckily for Lemaire and many of her classmates, NYS and NYC piloted an Early Childhood Workforce Scholarship for teachers who worked at least 20 hours a week and attended public universities to pursue further relevant education. 

“Most of my degree was paid for by the city and state due to me qualifying through my work and the degree I was working towards; it paid for the majority of my tuition while pursuing my degree because it waived six credits of classes each semester,” said Lemaire. “The program was then amended to provide up to $4,000 annually. It was a tremendous help, and I think this program should be implemented nationally to all public service professions.”

Tipping the Scales

Although many institutions are finding creative ways to help non-traditional students pursue higher education, not all colleges and universities are providing the support that students so desperately need. 

“I felt little to no support from my university about having a job,” said Rainna Stapelfeldt, who is the first person in her family to go to college. “To be honest, I got more support from my bosses than my professors who knew I was working.”

Stapelfeldt, 24, studied media arts and studies with a writing, rhetoric and digital studies minor at the University of Kentucky and worked 20-25 hours a week during freshman year, but she added more work hours to her load as she continued. She said taking 15 hours of classes a week, spending 5-10 hours a week on studying and assignments and working “was the worst decision I could’ve made.”

“My university focused on only trying to help connect students with internships to fulfill a credit, but not much for supporting students who needed to work,” said Stapelfeldt. “I was offered a work-study program through the financial aid office that only paid $7.25, so it barely helped me at all, and the university hours severely interfered with my class schedule, so it was pointless to work on campus.”

Finding Balance

Like Stapelfeldt, working adults going to school have to find a balance between their education and career aspirations and often-burdening day-to-day costs.  

“Hunter is a CUNY, a public university, so the more-affordable cost was a huge factor in my decision because I had an expensive private undergraduate education at NYU,” said Lemaire.

Americans have amassed $131 billion in outstanding private student loan debt. The students interviewed by Volt indicated that personal financial planning was one of the defining reasons that they chose to work full-time while attending their respective programs. 

“Working was the only option I had because I was paying for school myself, I had no assistance from my mom or my dad, who would later pass away during my sophomore year,” said Stapelfeldt, who was living in Tennessee but looking to move out of state for personal reasons. “I couldn’t afford any of the schools that I got into, but the University of Kentucky offered me in-state tuition through a program called the Academic Common Market—it was still very pricey, but cheaper than the instate schools I had looked at in Tennessee.”

Dee remembers that her one-year program was a financial and physical struggle that saved her in the long run. 

“It was tough, but I pushed myself for a year just to save the financial burden for myself down the road,” said Dee. “Really, it was asking, ‘Do I want to struggle for one year and set myself up, or do I want to struggle for years paying off a huge debt with interest?’”

It’s a question many working students of today are asking themselves, and schools across the nation are responding with programs that help.

Change at the Institutional Level

Aside from strong partnerships with transfer institutions, San Jacinto College has established its bachelor of science in nursing, so that associate-degree nurses can complete their bachelor’s degrees at the college. Williamson said the college anticipates opening a bachelor of applied science degree in early childhood education in 2024. Offering such a bachelor’s degree will cut the cost of that degree by approximately $20,000.

“Affordability and access are both goals for our transfer work,” Williamson said. “Students must be able to enter transfer institutions prepared academically and with all coursework accepted toward program completion, and they must also be able to afford to complete the bachelor’s degree. Streamlining our associate degrees and ensuring that students do not take excess credits means they have funds remaining to complete bachelor’s degrees.”

Editor’s note: This article is a two-part series by Ankita Bhanot. Part B explored more programs currently being offered by various colleges and universities to help students who may need to juggle work and school and how these institutions market these valuable programs.