Day in and day out, Kaitlin Vasquez found herself caught in the same grueling routine of constantly feeling exhausted and fighting to keep what little motivation she had left. As a sophomore at Texas A&M who doubled as a bar manager, she was waking up every morning at 8 a.m. to head to her classes for the day, only to finish and immediately head to work at 2 p.m. where she would work until close. The bar closes at two in the morning.
It all seemed doable in theory, but she found herself falling behind in school and missing assignments because her attention was focused elsewhere. She was getting progressively worse test grades, for she was simply too exhausted to study with what little free time she could come across. Despite all of it, Vasquez continued pressing on for much longer than she should have all because she needed some way to support herself.
“When my life started to revolve around my work and not the other way around, that’s when I knew it had gone too far,” she said.
Vasquez isn’t alone in needing a job to pay for school. More than half of the 50,735 undergraduate students at Texas A&M University are qualified to receive financial aid and about 27,563 are using it, according to College Factual, a website that provides data-based insight into universities across the nation.
Texas A&M University also offers a wide range of work-study opportunities to help pay for tuition, but those students who aren’t eligible to participate have to make their money by landing a part-time job.
“Thankfully I get scholarships and financial aid to help with school-specific expenses,” said Vasquez, “but I still have rent, utilities, groceries, gas, and more to account for on the side.”
Looking back, Vasquez had a hard time finding a part-time job that would pay enough to afford everything she needed. When Rebel Draft House offered to move her up to manager after only having worked there for three weeks, she said that it would be silly to turn down the offer.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Vasquez said.
“I’m only 19; I never expected to be a manager at this point in my life, let alone of a bar,” she added.
The one thing keeping her in the position was that it paid surprisingly well, Vasquez said, but her work quickly began to take control of her life and get in the way of her studies.
“Working so much was affecting my mental health big-time,” Vasquez said. “I had never felt so much stress and anxiety and isolation as I did while juggling managing the bar and going school.”
Vasquez eventually had to quit her job at Rebel as it began to take too much of a toll on her mental and physical well-being as well as her performance in school. The biggest problem now is finding another job that won’t take over her life but will still have a relatively similar pay, she said.
Frank Hageal, co-owner of Social Lounge and Bar 12 on Northgate, has over 40 employees between his two establishments. Being in a college town makes it hardly a surprise that more than 75 percent of those employees are currently enrolled in either Texas A&M or Blinn College, he said.
“It’s admirable,” said Hageal, “just how hard these kids work to support themselves while also going to school and being involved.”
Hageal added that he also worked a part-time job back when he was in school at the University of Houston and understands the toll that it can take on a full-time student.
“Cost of living and cost of attending school have undoubtedly risen and will only continue to do so, forcing those students who are financially independent or come from lower-class families to work that much harder to make it through school,” he said.
The late night hours that working on Northgate provides attract many students because it doesn’t take away from the time they need to go to classes and study, he said. With that, there are still nights where they come in very clearly exhausted and can barely even stay awake, he added.
“I’ve seen bartenders come in to work at 11 p.m. and pull a stack of flashcards or a whole exam review out of their bag,” Hageal said.
“As hard as it can get they are still so committed to their school and other responsibilities and that’s something that will put them much further ahead in life,” he added.
Celeste Villarreal has had a similar experience as she is constantly processing new student workers as a business associate within HR at Texas A&M’s Department of Transportation Services. Every day she witnesses the responsibility and work ethic of student employees.
“The student workers that come through here are really one-of-a-kind,” she said.
“They are all so excited about the work and so eager to put forth effort and be really hands-on despite whatever school-related tasks might be piling up and looming over their heads at the time,” she added.
One of the most common concerns seen across new student workers is how to fit their work schedule around their class schedule and still have sufficient time to balance the two, Villarreal said.
“Luckily, here we are able to be really flexible with their scheduling as school definitely comes first, but I know very well that that is not the case at most other part-time jobs that college students go for,” she said.
About 50 percent of full-time college students around the country have a part-time job, according to an article by Mental Health America. Along with that, nearly 70 percent of students report having stress surrounding their finances. This paired with trying to do well in school, participate in hobbies/organizations, and keep up some resemblance of a social life can have a negative effect on a student’s mental health.
Jordan Hill, a senior psychology major and volunteer for HelpLine at Texas A&M, said she hears firsthand about the effects that work and financial stress can have on college students.
“HelpLine can be used for more serious topics, or students can call us just to vent,” she said.
“I myself have definitely had a quite a few calls from students feeling flustered and just really overwhelmed by the pressure of having to work enough to pay for school while also trying to make time to do well in that school that they’re paying for,” Hill added.
Present-day college students are experiencing an unreasonable amount of anxiety. Most of this can be attributed to the pressure of trying to get through college successfully and in one piece, according an article from NPR.
“Sometimes the stress and anxiety will get me really in my head,” said Hunter Jordan, a junior construction science major and server at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse.
“I’ve had so many times where all I’m focusing on is doing well in school and doing well enough at work to be able to pay my bills and trying to balance the two that I don’t stop and take the time to see if I am doing well, like mentally,” said Jordan, who is juggling 17 hours of classes on top of his work schedule.
“And once you stop paying attention to that, what do you have left?” he asked.
Sources:
Kaitlin Vasquez, Blinn Team sophomore at Texas A&M
“Texas A&M University - College Station Financial Aid.” College Factual, Media Factual, 13
Sept. 2019, www.collegefactual.com/colleges/texas-a-and-m-university-college-station/paying-for-college/financial-aid/.
Frank Hageal, Co-owner of Social Lounge and Bar 12
“Balancing Work and School: Mental Health America.” MHA, Mental Health America, Inc.,
Celeste Villarreal, Business Associate HR & Payroll, TAMU Transportation Services
Jordan Hill, senior Psychology major at Texas A&M
Gross, Terry. “College Students (And Their Parents) Face A Campus Mental Health 'Epidemic'.
NPR, NPR, 28 May 2019, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/28/727509438/college-students-and-their-parents-face-a-campus-mental-health-epidemic.
Hunter Jordan, junior Construction Science major at Texas A&M
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