Julia Rovira is a 21 year old physics major at Citrus College. She is currently taking 12 units while working more than 40 hours a week for her astronomy blog, SkyFeed.
Rovira manages marketing, brand deals, business collaborations, photoshoots and more for her blog.
She works primarily from home, but constantly answers emails and calls on her mobile phone.
Citrus College student Valerie Torres works 30 hours per week as a campus supervisor at Arroyo High School. The 27 year old also babysits two twin girls.
Valerie said she frequently rushes from her job to get to class on time.
“I go to Citrus because it is near where I watch the twins,” Torres said.
Citrus College Law major Natalie Avina is a 19 year old . She is currently takes 21 units while working 16-20 hours a week at Bionicos Covina.
Students commonly work at Citrus College.
Student workers run the Owl Bookstore, the Owl Cafe and the Coffee Shop.
Many students juggle college with their work life.
Long work hours affects students’ academic lives.
“Any time in between my babysitting and working, that’s the only time I cram in my work for school,” Torres said. “It’s pretty difficult but I mean we have to do it.”
Sometimes long work hours can damage a student’s mental health and motivation.
“It’s stressful,” Avina said. “I feel like sometimes I get lazy when it comes to doing my schoolwork because I feel tired from work. I really only have Tuesday to do the hours that I have to be studying and doing homework.”
Many students trade valuable study time for work.
“I sometimes have to sacrifice parts of my academic life in order to make money for my blog,” Rovira said. “It’s nice that I have the freedom to pick and choose where to apply myself, but it can be challenging when sometimes I need to make sacrifices in order to do that.”
Not only does work affect the amount of study time, it affects the class times students have available.
Both Torres and Avina schedule their classes around their jobs.
“It’s hard to juggle my time management with school,” Torres said. “My biggest thing is that I can’t take classes in the morning, so I have to adjust it to night classes.”
Avina schedules all 21 units of her course load for two days out of the week, which gives her a better job availability.
Finding a working college student is not difficult.
Citrus College researches the Citrus College service area, which includes: Azusa, Claremont, Glendora, Monrovia and Duarte.
The college service area has an unemployment rate of 5.8 percent.
The unemployment rate in all California is 6.9 percent while Los Angeles County is 7.8 percent.
When students are employed, it leaves little time for a social life.
Torres said that she tries to go out with her friends during the week, but it doesn’t always go as planned. She said she tries to schedule social events, but sometimes goes out spontaneously.
Rovira said she works at least five hours a day seven days a week doing article research, leaving little time for social events.
One reason students might need to work while going to school is because of California’s high cost of living.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a living wage calculator based on rent, food, medical care, child care, transportation, other and income after taxes.
For one full-time working adult in 2015, the living wage was $14.01 per hour in California.
For two working adults and two children, the 2015 living wage was $19.22 per hour in California.
California’s minimum wage is $11 per hour.
Students who live on their own need to find a job that pays $14 per hour in order to afford all of their expenses, which does not include education.
California’s cost of living is still rising which causes many students to work in order to afford college.
“I do need to be working somehow because financial aid doesn’t cover it for me,” Rovira said. “I do need to work if I want to go to school.”
Finding employment concerns many students. If students are not sure which career to pursue, they could potentially waste resources at a four-year university.
“You’re wasting time and money, but mostly money,” Torres said.
Other students attend community college because it is more financially friendly.
“It was cheaper than going to a four-year,” said Avina.
Citrus is an affordable option to students who want to go to college.
Citrus charges $46 per unit for California residents and $269 per unit for out-of-state residents and international students.
If a California residents take 12 undergraduate units for two semesters, they pay $1,104 in tuition at Citrus versus $5,742 in tuition at a CSU.
Students who attend community colleges can save money before attending a four-year university.
Torres said she wants to transfer to either CSULA or Cal Poly Pomona. Avina wants to attend law school and Rovira said she wants a degree in physics.
In addition to working in college, students are planning their careers.
Rovira said her blog started as an unpaid position, but turned into a career opportunity.
“The reason I have my blog or why I started it was to have something that was relative to my major that I could put on my resume,” Rovira said. “It started off as a hobby, but it was beneficial in terms of my academic career.”
The Citrus College Career Center offers resources to help with career planning.
At the Career Center students can research different majors, receive help writing resumes, take career assessments, find internship information, attend workshops and access the career resource library.
Rovira said she encourages students to pursue a job in a field they are interested in.
“I think that if anyone has an idea of pursuing a small business, or blog, or even a YouTube channel that can assist them in their career life and have fun with it at the same time,” said Rovira. “I think everybody should try it out because it can turn into something really wonderful.”
While student may face difficulty balancing work and college, they offer tips to make it work.
“Use a planner,” Avina said.
She color codes everything to stay organized.
Torres said she surrounds herself with helpful people.
“Having a good support system helps because my family knows that I am going to school and working,” Torre said. “Just having them be supportive of that is a big thing.”
Rovira said having a positive mindset about work motivates.
“Try to focus on the pros of it and don’t let the cons be too hindering,” Rovira said. “Keep your goal in sight and remember what you are doing it all for. Recognize what are just stepping stones in your career.”
Being a working student is not preferable to many, but necessary for most.
“You’re running on no sleep, but you have to do what you have to do,” Torres said.
