Adjusting the Minimum Wage for Students

According to a 2011 statistic, 71% of the nation’s 19.7 million college undergraduates work. According to the same statistic, one in five of those 71% clock in 35 or more hours and more than half of those who don’t work full time clock more than 20 hours.

At Pierce and other community colleges in general, working at least part time during school is almost inescapable. Having money to pay rent, buy food, take care of our families, pay tuition, and to be able to go out with friends are on all of our minds.

A good number of the students who are still in high school in the running start program at Pierce also work. Whether it is work-study or a different job, working during community college poses many benefits.

Working while in school can help manage the cost of your academic journey; especially if you’re planning on going onto a four-year college or even further to get a bachelor’s or a different higher degree.

It can also improve your time management skills. I’ve found that having to manage a full course load while working 35 or more hours a week at two jobs teaches me to not only to plan ahead to make sure everything gets done, but also to appreciate the little moments when I’m not working or doing homework.

The skills that can be learned while on the job are major benefits particularly once you are out of college. While recently chatting with two Pierce college graduates, who also happen to be my coworkers, we discussed the benefits of working a customer service job that teaches us patience, teamwork and resilience. Another topic of discussion was the advantage of being able to pay our own tuition compared to some of our other friends who are at most expensive four-year schools.

It’s also possible, that while working in school, we can find the prime level of stress under which we can thrive and make the most productive use of our time.

Any type of work while in school offers a multitude of benefits that should be taken advantage of especially at a place like Pierce where the workload is more manageable than it might be somewhere else.