Remember when you were young and you used to play “The Game of Life,” starting with your first move on the board: “College” or “Career Path?” What we didn’t realize as kids is how soon that would become our reality. As graduating seniors, we have a difficult decision to either pursue college or career, mainly because of costs. Most of us choose college so that we can pursue a career for a better future. The most challenging aspect of it all is that, in order to afford college and to gain that career, we also need to balance a part-time job. What isn’t shown in an undergraduate student’s life are the struggles we endure while both trying to pass our exams and still trying to afford rent every month. Undergraduate students are forced to balance the everyday hustle of studying for exams and working 30 hours a week, just to make minimum wage.
Employers must pay college students more than minimum wage in order for them to be less stressed on their path to a greater future.
According to interviewed students by the YR Media News outlet, “People have to work so much in undergrad to make up the cost of their life.” This alludes to some serious effects on grades, social life and stress. College prices have risen and the minimum wage has declined due to inflation; it has become more difficult for students to cover costs by working part-time during college, according to Urban Institution.
Today, more than 70% of college students in the U.S work, according to a 2018 Georgetown study. A stagnant minimum wage and the skyrocketing cost of secondary education means that money doesn’t go as far as it used to for most college students. A higher minimum wage could also help some college students enter the workforce.
Some may think that increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 by 2025 would reduce employment. However, many people already struggle to find jobs that pay enough now; raising the minimum wage would bring 900,000 people out of poverty.
For example, Hannah Miao of CNBC writes that many economists and labor advocates say a $15 minimum wage could boost the economy by reducing poverty and putting more money into the pockets of Americans who will, in turn, spend more. They say women and people of color, who are overrepresented in low-wage jobs, will especially benefit from a higher minimum wage.
From my personal experience, I have had job opportunities from $7.50–$10 an hour. Students deserve to have job opportunities that pay a reasonable amount an hour — “reasonable” being an amount that complies with states raising their minimum wage.
The key to moving forward is raising the pay and giving college students better opportunities that can improve their overall experiences. Megan Schellong writes, “finding experience they expect you to have before getting into a job while you’re working a minimum wage job is the part I’m still trying to figure out.” It will also help students to pursue an internship to feel prepared after they graduate.
College students will benefit from a raise in the minimum wage, and it will positively impact them as students. The consequences of students failing to make rent payments could be “devastating,” including by damaging their credit, which could then hurt their ability to get jobs or loans in the future, McGuire said.
If we are still playing the game, with college or career path as your first choice, what would you choose? How would you pay and at what cost?
Sabrina Weimar is a third-year Media & Culture major with minors in Digital Marketing and Italian. SW912003@wcupa.edu