You Can't Work Your Way Through College Anymore

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Bloomberg Business

New research shows that working through college isn't going to make a dent in student debt and could ruin your GPA.

by Sarah Grant
October 28, 2015 — 12:01 AM EDT

Working to pay for college doesn't work. Despite the fact that 40 percent of undergraduates work at least 30 hours per week while in college, tuition is too high for those hours to make much of a difference, a new report shows.

Even toiling away full time probably won't yield nearly enough to pay for a traditional college education, said the report, released on Wednesday by Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce. The average college student working full time at minimum wage earns $15,080 annually before taxes, the report estimates. "Working might eventually cover tuition at a two-year program," said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown center and the report's lead author. "But the earnings aren't sufficient to even get close to covering a private, four-year school."

Students have always had side gigs. In the decades leading up to 2008, as many as 80 percent of people who were enrolled in U.S. colleges were also active in the labor market, the report said. What has changed is the cost of tuition, which soared 46 percent between 2001 and 2012, to as much as $65,000 at some schools, which makes it unlikely that any job could cover the cost of school. The income from these vocations is largely supplemental: Students work to pay for books and living and travel expenses, said Carnevale. More recently, he said, they've also used college jobs as a way to acquire the skills they'll need after graduation. "A college education used to guarantee students some kind of entry-level job, but that's disappeared."

Working to pick up professional skills isn't such a bad idea. In fact, students who found work that complemented their education did better in college, Georgetown found. The culprit is when students work too much.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-28/you-can-t-work-your-way-through-college-anymore

---

The LBN angle to this story is that the report is being released today.

The article did not have a link to the report, so let's take care of that right now.

Center on Education and the Workforce: CEW Georgetown

Learning While Earning: The New Normal

Learning While Earning: The New Normal finds that over the last 25 years, more than 70 percent of college students have been working while enrolled. These 14 million college students face the challenge of balancing work, school and other life priorities. The report explores these working learners and finds that students can’t work their way through college anymore to offset debt. It also identifies several policy changes that stand to help these students succeed.

[apnu]

1. When I was in college I had to work so I could afford school materials, clothes and food.

I flipped a ton of burgers so I could by school books and materials, plus afford transportation home.

There's more to working in college than paying off debt.

However what I was making in both of my turns through college would never have paid for it, I had no choice but to accrue tuition debt.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. I think accrueing debt was the end game all along.

The financial industry has been looking for sources of steady income ever since the Third World caught on to the economic hitman strategy. What could be more profitable than owning a percentage of our young people before they even leave the gates? It's disgusting, really.

[Still In Wisconsin]

9. Yup. The banksters want all of our kids to be wage slaves.

It's not enough for the banksters to have all the money. They want to own our children, too.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. I had a boss that I actually liked, because he was a straight-shooter.

You always knew what was on his mind. I was fresh out of college and lived from apartment lease to apartment lease. The rents were going up at that time in Orlando, so each rental was less comfortable than the one before. And the day I thought about buying an apartment he flat out told me one day that the day I got a mortgage, "I own you."

So, I can understand why this generation travels light.

[DetlefK]

2. Why is College so expensive at all? Where do the costs come from?

Germany had tuition-fees for a few years. The conservatives introduced them, but also capped them at €500 per semester. And even that was regarded to high by some people and the left-leaning parties quietly scrapped the fees again. Now it's back to €100-200 in administrative fees per semester.

I have heard of some private universities/colleges in Germany that cost something in the range of €2000 per semester, but the $65,000 from the article are just bonkers.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Construction industry. Real Estate.

Construction generates financial opportunities. Especially if you're talking about construction of public infra-structure. Banks issue commercial loans to earn profit on interest; developers make money with public inducement money (You will find a great many greedy Republican construction companies and real estate tycoons tied to university expansions); manufacturers of construction materials have a market for their products; and, jobs can be assigned on a patronage basis to trusted friends, family members or just to pass on favors.

(That last part is a wee bit cynical.)

Anyway, that's the behind-the-scene reasoning behind any public infra-structure project.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

8. Generally, public infrastructure projects are going to be financed through

the issuance of municipal bonds rather than commercial loans. Granted, a financial institution will get a piece of the action for putting together the bond package, but the buyers of the bonds are quite often senior citizens or high-income individuals looking for a tax break.

The bonds can be paid off through revenues, as in toll roads, or by taxes on the citizenry.

I suspect construction companies look at projects not in terms of politics, but in terms of jobs, jobs, jobs. Republican, Democrat, libertarian, vegetarian - who cares?

[Baitball Blogger]

22. Going on a tangent, we had a curious situation here that involved a traveling city attorney

who was connected to a bond company in Tallahassee. It was during a time when my area was contemplating a major Beautification project. No one seems to care about how these Draconian special assessments in Florida came about, but I believe my community became the State's court case that allowed city governments to pass such special assessments without the need to put the issue on the ballot.

It was really strange, and I believe a major conflict of interest, given the questionable things that occurred during that era.

So, behind the "who cares as long..." I think there is a lot that should be reexamined. The most ironic thing of all, was that this happened in a Republican leaning community, with the agreement of a lot of Republicans!

[jeff47]

12. Way more administrators than there used to be

Much higher administrator salaries than there used to be
University leaders insisting on new, fancy, expensive buildings to 'properly reflect' their school.
Massive expenses in sports programs, such as >$1M coach salaries.
And most importantly, "because they can".

[LiberalArkie]

13. They probably do not have million dollar coaches and million dollar chancellors etc

[NJCher]

40. well, here in NJ, at a community college serving immigrants and middle-to-lower income students

The president earns a half-a million a year (plus a car and two months off each year) and her academic vp earns about the same. Neither one of them have a Ph.D.; they have Ed.D.s and one was even an online Ed.D.

So there's a million right there, and it's a community college. Sickening, yes?


Cher

[restorefreedom]

18. in several states it is in the $6000 to $8000 range

for in-state tuition julep State Public University. I think Alaska, Wyoming, Florida, and Alabama had some fairly low tuitions, maybe Montana too.

if you want to go to brown or duke, yes it's going to cost you. I think part of what has to change is this idea that if you go to a state school you can't get a decent job that you have to go to a Harvard or a Columbia. I know lots of people who went to state schools and are doing quite well. of course part of the reason some people push that meme is because it causes people want to go to the more expensive schools which make a killing profit for the private universities. But state schools are actually still quite affordable in comparison. We just have to stop buying the hype that the for-profit institutions are pushing.

[SharonAnn]

26. And it used to be that most fortune 500 CEO's were graduates of midwestern, public universities

Some were engineers, some majored in business, and some majored in the Liberal Arts.

[restorefreedom]

27. i know some smart and successful people who went to public U

but the greedy profiteers of the elite places don't want anyone to know that.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

32. I don't doubt it.

I haven't checked in quite a few years, but every year, Forbes used to provide that information. I was surprised to see how many of the heads of huge, well-known companies went to small, out-of-the-way schools.

Thanks for your post.

[Igel]

20. Lots of things.

Maintenance. Whether landscaping or fixing sidewalks and putting on new roofs or waxing the floors.

Professor and secretary and janitorial and administrative salaries.
There are more administrators, but add $200k to a budget for a fairly high administrator and divide that by 5000 students and it's not a huge amount. Take 300 professors and add a 3% raise to their salaries and you get almost $1 million. A larger amount.

Research funds.

Equipment. Supplies. Copies, white board markers, chemicals, lab equipment, photocopiers and toner and service contracts and computers and IT professionals. LMS software, Windows licenses and Office licenses. Some departments have huge expenses. Others, less so. But don't forget that the departments with smaller expenses, like language or literature, often rely more on general-use facilities like libraries (which are hideously expensive). Grad programs are expensive. And let's not talk music programs, which have instruments for in-house use, take up a lot of room, have sound-proofed practice rooms, concert halls, and still require a lot of library use.

Paying off bonds. New buildings. Retrofitting and updating old buildings. And roads, since most campuses have roads running through them. Some have bridges.

There are student and wellness centers and student gyms and dining halls and dorms, not just to make the university "look good" but to attract kids. It's advertising, nobody wants to go to a school that has small, old rooms, old furniture, and nothing to do on campus but study. Yes, there are fees for this. No, fees don't always cover all the expenses. In any event, they get rolled into financial aid and loans.

Health insurance. Same thing--the school often maintains a clinic, but student fees, whether they cover the clinic 100% or not still turn up as a cost.

Most athletic programs that are large--football, etc.--are self funding. Moreover, they're also responsible for a lot of alumni donations. Your team does well, and donations skyrocket. (Then you get licensed apparel sales increasing, too.)

Police or security forces, not just for patrolling campus after dark but for security at special events.

Utilities like water, electicity, and however the buildings are cooled in hot weather. Many also have machine shops and a vehicle fleet.

Insurance. Lawyers. Lobbyists.

Etc. Lots of etc. Hard to see that administrators also attend conferences, that there are fundraisers. We think of graduation as free, but somebody has to provide security and pay for these things to be set up.

It's hard to include in thinking what isn't visible.

[SharonAnn]

28. It used to be that most states funded their public universities well, which kept student costs down.

As the states significantly reduced the funding to their public universities, the costs were shifted to the students.

And as the states continue to reduce their funding, student costs will continue to go up sharply.

[raccoon]

34. Amen! nt

[blackspade]

3. This is right on.

The days of paying as you go were done 20 years ago.
Sad that the reality is just now penetrating the public consciousness.

[jtuck004]

5. Working during college is also a way to have a job when you are out. Your ability to transfer

that learning is also much increased when real work is part of the study. There is no comparison - if you worked, your odds of getting a job when you get out are far and away better.

What this report doesn't address is why the politicians we elected stole the money that was being invested in OUR children's education, our future, and gave it to bank$ter/donors, thus screwing the entire country over for at least decades, if not forever.

That did, and continues to do, more damage than the terrorists did to the World Trade Center in New York City.

[AZ Progressive]

7. Thanks to the era of greed: 1980 to now

The names of everyone responsible for this era should be written in a wall of shame written on stone.

[jtuck004]

36. Honestly labelling them in textbooks would be a good start. n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Especially for engineering students.

Is it Northeastern that has a reputation for its work-study program for engineering students?

[MissB]

42. Yes - they are known for their co-op program

My oldest is applying there this year. If he gets their really good scholarship ($42k/year) then the school is affordable to us. If he only gets $30k/year, probably not.

We have to play the merit aid game. It should be worth the effort but it's rather unfair, imho.

[Le Taz Hot]

11. I was one of the millions of beneficiaries

of California's tuition-free community college system as well as tuitions that were highly affordable wherein one COULD work ones way through college. It allowed millions of us who came from poverty and would not have otherwise been able to afford a higher education to achieve college degrees. In the long run, most of us got better paying jobs, bought houses, bought cars and paid taxes. Only an idiot or soulless capitalist would argue against free public education. It angers me to no end that this road to a better life is now just another for-profit scheme to benefit the .01%.

[zipplewrath]

14. You can... but

My friend Kris is doing it. But it took a couple of years of (cheap) community college work and then switching to the local state university. And even at that in the end it'll be the better part of 8 years before she gets her "four year" degree. And of course she started working (and saving) at 16 years old.

[restorefreedom]

15. from collegeboard.org

"The average published tuition and fee price for in-state students enrolled full time at public four-year colleges and universities is $9,139 in 2014-15, $254 (2.9%) higher than in 2013-14. if room and board is required, that brings it close to 19,000$ per year."

a student making about 10-20 thousand per year at either a side job or work/study could completely cover their costs if they were able to live at home, and would come close to covering the costs even if they needed room and board.

it doubles or even triples if one goes out of state or to a private college. I am all for making college more affordable. I think that some of these universities are making obscene profits. But until something is done to address the ridiculous costs, students willing to stay in-state at a state u to go to university will not likely end up with crushing debt, especially if they are working part time or have a work-study job. And if those students are close enough to the university to live with their parents they can basically breakeven. it requires difficult choices, but every state in this country has a State University, until those university tuition costs are brought down hopefully by Bernie, they are still doable for the majority of people who are able to work part time or get federal loans. For students who do not want to attend their in-state university or want to go to a private university, then that's going to accumulate more costs. The economy and the world sucks right now and is being run by greedy capitalist bastards. Sometimes we have to do what we can afford to do.I don't expect this to be a popular sentiment.

[MisterP]

30. a lot of us Californios got a "whole ride": then Groper ended it

http://www.cagovernorsscholars.org/

[restorefreedom]

31. nice.. too bad though that it was squashed nt

[world wide wally]

17. If you could earn enough to "work your way through college"

You wouldn't reed it to earn a good living.

[cantbeserious]

19. Well Duh

eom

[maddogesq]

21. Move along citizen; nothing to see here.

Seriously, this situation has been brewing since the Raygun years when they changed the criteria for Pell Grants, etc. I know because I worked two jobs while going to community college, then had to take extra loans when I decided to finish my B.A. and some grad hours.

I hear the right constantly put down that "socialist Europe," but their citizens are better educated overall and don't get saddled with all that debt.

We are such a foolish nation on some issues...

[MADem]

23. If you start working at age 12 and take one course a semester, you can--but then you lose the

"college experience" -- and that's really a big piece of a university educaton, the breaking away from home and making bad decisions -- and of course, you'll be middle aged by the time you're done.

I worked my way through school (and it was a tough slog--I worked two or three jobs, much more than my peers, and I was often exhausted during class time; I was fortunate that I was a 'quick study' and had a good memory back then). I got some financial aid, too, and loans--I was in my thirties before I paid all that off (and I hustled to get that monkey off my back too).

It's VERY hard today.

[DFW]

24. How times have changed.

My grandfather came up from being dirt poor in South Carolina, and worked his way through Harvard as a janitor before the first world war.

My younger daughter presented me with a bill for $50,000 per year for her undergrad education. Ain't too many janitors earning that.

[F4lconF16]

25. And people wonder why I'm furious with Clinton for her proposals.

She doesn't have a clue what students go through, and she's pushing the bullshit "free stuff" meme of conservatism.

[Doc Holliday]

29. I guess I was one

of the lucky ones....went back to school using my GI bill at the age of 25 in 1981....GI Bill covered pretty much everything, with some left over to help cover the rent. I tended bar and DJ'd about 30 hrs. a week (good tips!) to afford food, utilities and a social life.

Sadly, I don't think you can do this any more unless it's junior college or something similarly inexpensive...relatively speaking, of course.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

35. You're like me.

I went back to school on the GI Bill too. What a great program that was. It paid for rent, tuition, food....

The student health insurance was $100 per year or semester; I can't recall. What I do recall is someone's writing in to the student newspaper complaining that it covered abortions. Go ahead; get your own insurance. See how much that's going to set you back.

Those were different times.

I wouldn't have a job if I hadn't been drafted. I wasn't so keen on the idea at the time, of course.

Thanks for your post.

[Mendocino]

33. My father

went to a private college starting in 1940. Tuition was $350 for the whole year, inflation adjusted to today about $6000. The same school now charges about $44,000.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

37. Tuition at UVa was something like $350 per semester

back in the mid-'60s. I wasn't there at the time, but I have a folder from back then that shows that.

[Mendocino]

39. My tuition

was about $430 a quarter in mid to late 70's.

[mnhtnbb]

38. I was at UCLA for my undergrad years 1969-73

and the tuition was $99/tri-mester. I worked three summers--starting after high school--
at the local hospital in La Jolla (living at home two summers of college) and all my money went to help with my living expenses
during the academic year in Los Angeles. Starting in the
fall of my junior year, I worked part-time in the research lab of one
of the docs from the Medical School and stayed in L.A. for the summer to keep working
full time at the lab. After I graduated early in March of '73
I worked full time in the Medical Records Dept at UCLA Hospital until grad school started in the fall.

All that hospital work and experience in a research lab helped me get accepted to grad school in Hospital Administration
at UCLA. We were a class of 12 and there were only three women; a nun, an African-American woman (only AA
in the class), and me. I was the youngest in the class. Unemployment was 9.5% in California when we finished
grad school and I was the last person in my class to land a job.

[CoffeeCat]

41. We have two teenagers and we are dealing with this difficult reality...

Last edited Wed Oct 28, 2015, 11:56 PM - Edit history (1)

For both of our teenagers to attend an in-state university--it would cost $64,000 for tuition alone. Add room, board, living expenses, books onto that, and we are looking at close to $100k for both of them to get degrees.

We are trying to tackle this from many vantage points:

--Their high school allows them to take classes for college credit. Each of our kids will have the equivalent of one year of college credits after the graduate high school. This helps.

--We have stressed the importance of good grades, so they can get scholarships. Both kids have around 3.8 gpas. We don't want them stressed out, but we let them know that the better they do, the more choices that they will have.

--We've told them that applying for scholarships will be a part-time job for themselves and for me too. I have all ready begun researching scholarships and I imagine that we will apply for hundreds of scholarships.

--We are saving for their college.

--Both will get part-time jobs (10 hours) during their sophomore year and half of the money will go into their college fund. They'll also work during the summers.

--Community college may be an option--just to get that debt down.

We've told our kids about the reality, and that it's not enough to know what your major is. You MUST have a financial plan. Graduating with 30k in debt is not an option. We won't allow our kids to be hobbled like that. It's terrible that this is being done to our young people.

[MissB]

46. I'm sure you are already dialed in to the PSAT.

If not, get there! Sounds like your teens aren't juniors yet which gives them time to prepare and they won't be this year's guinea pigs for the revised format (as my youngest is!)

My oldest scored high enough for National Merit Semi Finalist and it's really quite amazing how many universities offer nearly full rides for that. If you are chasing merit and your kids are good students, it is worth it to prep a bit. It is a one-time shot junior year.

Also, the best scholarships out there come from the universities themselves. I'm not trying to discourage you from having your kids apply to small random ones, but those are most often one year awards. Check out each university's SAT score ranges and try to target schools where your children will be above the 75th percentile for their SAT scores. Each college publishes this info online.

[mnhtnbb]

50. Spending the time researching and applying for scholarships can really pay off.

The year our youngest was a senior in high school was the year (2007)our house burned down--two days after he started
his senior year. While I dealt with most of the aftermath of that--you cannot believe the hours it consumes
to 'replace' your life--my husband focused on helping our son apply for scholarships. It paid off and he
was awarded $20,000 for four years at an in-state college (he ended up at UNC-Chapel Hill which is in town, for us)
and the $5,000./year they paid almost covered his tuition.

So, yes, there can be a real pay-off for time spent investigating scholarships.

Good luck!

[NJCher]

43. and let's not forget this

They are paying around 70 per cent of their faculty (adjuncts) starvation wages.

Imagine what the tuition would be if the adjuncts were paid a fair wage?


Cher

[closeupready]

44. Ohio's public universities once were completely free to in-state students.

And Texas was super-low. Of course, that was WAY long ago now. Nowadays, if the school is any good, you'll 99% chance end up paying through the nose, whether private or public.

[lark]

45. Disagree

My daughter got a scholarship and worked her way through college. She sacrificed and lived at home to keep her expenses as low as possible and graduated with honors 3 years ago. I work with several women who put themselves through college while working full time. It is possible. It's just very difficult and requires a lot of focus and hard work.

[romanic]

47. It's a bubble that's going to pop!

I've been saying it all along; overpaid fatcats in administration and elite academia siphoning the money from students will lead to ruin for all universities.

[Kaleva]

48. $17k a year will cover just about everything at a local commumity college

That's tuition, books, fees, rent, food, transportation, misc., etc.

https://www.gogebic.edu/admissions/tuition.php

[madville]

49. I went to technical school first

And got a decent trade job. I was making about $600-800 a week when I was going to college in the evening and online, I think it averaged around $75-100 a credit when I went to a public state college so it was around $300 a class and I took two or three a semester while working. This was 6-10 years ago.

A private college? Why would I pay $10,000 a semester for that when I could go to a good state college for $1,000?

[lonestarnot]

51. Yeah, fucked one way or fucked the other way.