As tuition costs continue to increase, so does the number of hours students must work in order to pay for their education.
According to an Access Challenge report from the Ohio Board of Regents, the number of hours students must work to cover the cost of tuition has increased by 150 percent since 1965.
Although the amount of financial aid has increased along with the tuition hikes, the aid is only available through student loans. As a result, more students are faced with larger debts after graduation.
“The percentage of grant assistance has not gone up as quickly as costs have gone up, so more and more students are having to borrow and also work to cover their education,” said Merilyn Lee, assistant director for the Office of Student Financial Aid.
Students making minimum wage must work nearly 55 hours per week in order to cover the cost of tuition at a four-year public university, according to the report.
However, research has shown students working more than 25 hours per week are not able to fully concentrate on their schoolwork.
Ohio State alumna Jennifer Puma was forced to work between 25 and 30 hours a week while enrolled as a full-time student, in addition to taking out $20,000 in federal student loans.
“I didn’t get bad grades, but I probably could have gotten better grades,” Puma said.
Puma graduated from OSU with a degree in exercise science with the intention of going to physical therapy school after graduation. However, because of the amount of the undergraduate loans she had to take out, she can no longer afford to continue her education.
“Right now it’s posing as a barrier for me to go back to school. Unless I can afford to pay for school, I’m not going to take out more loans to go back when I’m already $20,000 in debt,” Puma said.
The debt which remains after federal financial assistance can sometimes prohibit students from receiving a college degree, according to the report.
For the most part, the barriers target lower-middle-class families and students who are not as familiar with the benefits of higher education.
“It is more of a barrier for lower-income families where education hasn’t played a key role in the past,” said Deborah Gavlik, associate vice chancellor of governmental relations and budgets for the Ohio Board of Regents.
“In the past Ohioans could do pretty well with a high-school education, and that’s just not the case anymore. For students with parents in those situations, high school was enough,” Gavlik said.
With only 21 percent of Ohioans holding a college degree, Ohio’s higher education is ranked 39th in the nation.
In order to bring Ohio up to the national level, 500,000 additional college degrees would need to be earned.
“If we don’t educate Ohioans with either a two- or four-year degree, their salaries aren’t going to be as high. What students can do is think about what would be smart to invest their resources in,” Gavlik said.
“We need to keep public higher education strong so we can keep the state strong for the future,” he said.
OSU employs students in over 250 departments across campus through the federal work-study program.
One way the university is attempting to keep the students focused on their education is by limiting the number of hours they are able to work to 20 hours per week.
Research from the Office of Financial Aid has shown students who work no more than 20 hours per week usually benefit from the experience.
“It actually enhances the likelihood of staying until they graduate. My guess is that it has to do with the fact that they feel a part of the institution and connected with the people at the institution who can give them mentoring and keep track of their academic progress,” Lee said.
The number of applicants who apply for federal work-study remained constant between 1998 and 2001, at 65 percent. However, the percentage increased to 70 percent in 2003 and an estimated 75 percent in 2004.
Lee said the numbers can be misleading because there are several reasons, other than tuition hikes, which could explain the increase.
“It could be that students are seeking every available means of getting assistance for school expenses, or it could be that students are planning to work anyway but are less optimistic about their chances of getting a job off-campus or on-campus without the federal work-study,” Lee said.
“So it may be in response to higher tuition costs, but equally, it may be in response to the economic downturn of the last couple of years,” she said.
