According to an article in Folsom, California’s News Blaze, community college students spend too much time working to earn money, leaving them with little time for academics and ruining their chances of successfully completing school.
This conclusion came from a report about college students and work done by California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG). The News Blaze article explained that:
CALPIRG created an… anthology of students’ personal stories highlighting the issues they face balancing work and study. One student from Santa Monica College writes “My day consists of waking up early, going to classes and then work and then home in time to study; hoping that I can piece together 5-6 hours of sleep.” Another from Fresno City College writes “I work at Taco Bell where I’m the general manager and it requires at least 45 hours a week. It’s common to get a call from work asking me to drop everything and be there. It’s almost impossible to go to school.”
What’s more, all of this working does not necessarily provide students with enough money to pay for college, either: About 30 percent of community college graduates finished school with debt.
Working while in college is very common, of course. Almost 80 percent of undergraduates work while in school. Some research even indicates that working up to 15 hours a week improves student grades.
But for many community college students, that is not at all the case. One can pretty safely assume that working 45 hours a week at Taco Bell would have a very negative effect on a student’s grades.
