Students that Mixing Work and Study - Essay Example

EssayA fast growing percentage of students in full‐time education are, in a normal routine, mingled with work and study which muddies the waters of the school‐to‐work shift. No longer is it convenient to split education and work; in fact it is considered more appropriate to adapt to the school‐to‐work transition as a slice of a life‐time learning progression of transferable skills growth (Lucas & Lammont, 2006). Different old studies have shown that part-time jobs have helped students in gaining independence and responsibility; it has enhanced their confidence and assisted in their personal development (Robinson, 1999).

For some students, however, part-time jobs are nothing but a burden, under which they are bound to pay for enormous financial liabilities of college expenses and/or debts.With an enormously large, and at times unaffordable, amount of college expenses that are not merely limited to tuition fee, full time students are bound to take on a part time job. Where it is deemed to be a healthy experience for students to learn to square the conflicting demands of school and work, the accompanying stress and emotional burdens that this inevitable routine brings, is a critical problem that many full-time students have to face these days.

It is imperative that for this underlying problem, a feasible solution be designed by the state authorities, but more importantly by the colleges themselves, on an independent basis.According to the US Department of Education (2011) the net price of college has risen almost 6 percent over the last decade after inflation. Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education has discussed, in an address to the annual Federal Student Aid conference, to contain the rising costs of college and lessen the load of student debt.

While decisions on a state level are anticipated to take shape ‘in a while’, it is suggested to colleges to provide financial assistance: like tuition grants, college sponsored student scholarships, and low-interest loans, to full-time students who are working part time.Since the focus of students is expected, and should be, on studies instead of bills, colleges should introduce some student welfare programs to assist students concentrate better; one example could be to allow discount on books, supplies, and transportation etc.

Another solution could be for the colleges to approve to insure the cost of extra time it takes a full-time student to graduate. Students from low income families, who cannot contain their expenses even after their part-time jobs, should be given need-based scholarships or tuition grants.The students have to put in immense levels of effort in order to keep their GPAs from falling, and with the pressing emotional and financial stress that students have to go through during this tiring school-to-work transition, the matter that students’ concerns be addressed to and taken into account by the colleges’ administration, is of urgent nature.

It is vital for the administration to employ the needful measures to endorse an institutionalized, standardized, and legalized approach in college students’ part-time work to pay their expenses.Works CitedLucas, R. & Lammont, N. “Combining Work and Study: an empirical study of full-time students in school, college, and university.” Journal of Education and Work (2006): 11-1. Web. 16 December 2011.Robinson, L. “The effects of part-time work on school students” Australian Council for Educational Research. 1999. Web.

US Department of Education. Beyond the Iron Triangle: Containing the cost of college and Student Debt. By Arne Duncan. 2011. Web. 16 December 2011.