The Perils of the Full-Time Working, Raising a Family, College Student

     For many, the college years are when students experience good times, self-exploration, increased knowledge, new friendships, and a sense of direction. College students are also often faced with new challenges and struggles because of the demands of a college education. Although all college students experience stress to some degree, the students who are faced with the greatest struggles are those who are employed full time and raising families while pursuing a college education. This is because they are overwhelmed by the demands of spreading themselves in many different directions.

     The daily rigors of work can be taxing in themselves. Meeting the demands of one's employer and job obligations can leave the college student exhausted and overwhelmed. Only a limited number of college students possess nine-to-five jobs. Some students begin their day early in the morning-long before the sun rises-while others work late in the day. Others, still, work into the wee hours of the morning. With this in mind, students are faced with the dilemma of trying to fit required courses into ever-changing schedules. It often causes a personal conflict within the student. What should he do? What should be his priority? Should he postpone taking a class until it is offered at a time that is more accommodating to his work schedule, or should he see if the employer is willing to bend his work schedule around his class schedule? Of course, there is always the fear that the student will choose his classes in hopes that his employer will be flexible only to be disappointed later.

     As if putting in long hours at work and worrying about a class schedule and a work schedule that will jive isn't enough stress, the student is confronted with job number two, that of the college student. While other employees are going home to relax, watch TV, read, enjoy hobbies, spend time with their families and maybe even attend parties, the working student is schlepping off to class to sit through lectures and classes dreaming of having some down time. An eight-hour shift to a regular employee is a twelve-hour shift to a working college student. Perhaps twelve hours of classes would not be so bad if the student could just go home afterwards and pass out in front of the television. After all, some employees work twelve-hour shifts in exchange for a reduced workweek. However, for the working college student, a twelve-hour shift with no "overtime" does not exist. Upon arrival home, the working student cannot rest, instead he must study and do homework and prepare for the following lesson's lecture and/or exam. All of the hours spent working on assignments out of class could be the equivalent of another part-time job.

     The working college student often maintains a schedule equivalent to the schedules of two other individuals. Now compound that with the rigors of a marriage and the responsibilities of participating in parenting a child/children and this "breed" of student no longer has a life outside of working, studying and parenting. If the spouse of a working college student works as well, then the student is faced with the dilemma of trying to juggle their schedule to accommodate a job, attend classes, complete homework and raise and maintain a family-all while trying to be sensitive to the needs of the other stressed out partner in the marriage. The student feels guilty about not being able to spend more quality time with the children and spouse because he is spreading himself too thin in his quest to attend college.

     The combination of the demands of work, attending classes, parenting and trying to be a loving spouse takes it toll upon the individual. Being employed is a challenge in itself. Meeting the demands of the employer, who is not likely to be sensitive to the other aspects of the employee's life outside of work, is a challenge in and of itself. It becomes so much more complex once one takes into consideration all the other factors this group of students face. The frequent switching of hats often means that students are unable to give one hundred percent of themselves anywhere and their performance in all aspects of their lives begins to suffer.

     At about the time that performance begins to suffer is the time when "burn-out" sets in. How long can anyone spread themselves so thin that there is zero "down time" left for relaxation and regrouping? Students are often left without any personal time to themselves, since all their time is eaten away by the demands of their schedule. They begin to feel like life is nothing but a grind and that there is no escaping the pressures and rigors of the demanding schedule they possess. They are tired, sleep-deprived, yet still try to fit it all in. Desperately trying to meet everyone's needs, they become irritable and unpleasant to be around. Children of such burned-out individuals tend to miss out because they lose the opportunity to spend quality time with this parent during their formative years.

     Many universities do not know how to offer assistance to these students. The student is left with a sense of helplessness and despair as the pressures from all sides' mount. The student may have no resources to turn to and might seek out the advice from family, friends, coworkers or even fellow students who cannot truly empathize with the situation. They may give inaccurate advice that is not based on sound reasoning which could lead to further problems and undo stress. Some students, overwhelmed by all the combined stress, dropout of school in order to alleviate the stress, hurting their self-esteem and dashing their dreams of obtaining a college degree.
Colleges and universities have a responsibility to train their counselors how to deal with these types of situations so that they are in a position to provide these students with support and offer programs so that these students do not fall by the wayside. Doing so might lessen the dropout rate.

     Colleges have taken minute steps to help this group of students by offering distance learning and online classes. This provides students with additional options and a more flexible academic schedule. The student can receive instruction via the Internet or TV/video tapes while a spouse is out or children are napping. Because of the availability of the instruction twenty-four/seven, students can access it late at night or even in the wee hours of the morning, thus eliminating the worries involved with attending or not attending a regular class.

     Even with the advent of online instruction, there are still only a sampling of programs that can be offered in this format. True, they were intended to offer flexibility but not to substitute a distinctive college program. Students still need interaction with other students. They need to experience in person the opportunities to collaborate with others and they need to form a relationship with their instructors. This being the case, the student will still take the majority of his classes in a traditional college setting and be faced with the rigor of their demanding schedule, trying to maintain an even balance between work, school and family. They do this in the name of trying to better theirs lives as well as that of their families and by doing so make many sacrifices hopes that one day they will benefit and reap the rewards of those sacrifices.

     In conclusion, despite the recent advent of on-line education easing some of the stress the full-time working student that is raising a family endures, colleges still provide very little assistance. The student wonders will it jive, while meeting the demands of their employer and job obligations and worrying about their class schedule. After meeting their employers demands the student is off to job number two, that of being a college student. Now compound this the fact that the student is raising a family and trying to maintain a delicate balance between all of these elements and the stresses the student endures is enormous. The student is faced with the dilemma of trying to juggle their schedule to accommodate a job, attend classes, complete homework, raise and maintain a family. All of this combined leaves the college student drained and besieged, causing personal conflict within the student and leaving the student with no personal time to unwind or recuperate. Many universities do not know how to assist these students, however colleges have taken small steps in order to help this group of students by offering distance learning and online classes. This provides students with additional options and a more flexible academic schedule. Yet, this has done little to ease the stresses these types of students endure.

© 2002 Michael A. Loose