In order to live on campus, students are expected to balance 10 hours of work and their class schedule every week. Some students argue that this is asking too much of them.
Blackburn College only requires between 12 and 15 credit hours for students and 10 hours of work to actually live on campus. At most, that’s 25 hours dedicated to mandatory responsibilities and not a lot to ask for. This is less than in previous years where students were expected to work 15 hours a week, according to alumni Nate Rush. Most new high school graduates are held to the ultimatum of “Go to school, or get a job!” Well, most jobs have a 40 hour a week schedule, so these 25 hours a week are not a lot to ask of students.
The process of catching up on hours when behind might be a little tricky, but life is a little tricky. Get over it. Blackburn has already paid this money towards the tuition, it is only fair to work the miniscule amount of hours that you already agreed to.
When I was a senior in high school, I was living on my own, working 40 hours a week and taking five Advanced Placement classes. I still managed to go out with friends and get enough credits in my college classes to already be a semester ahead on credits. Currently, I am only working 10 hours a week on a relatively demanding job at The ‘Burnian and balancing 19 credit hours, and this does not feel very overwhelming for me.
According to the American Association of University Professors, 80 percent of undergraduate students also work part-time with an average of 10 to 15 hours a week. Those are the hours expected of students in the work program, and if 80 percent of undergraduate students can do it without being required to, the small population at Blackburn should be able to as well.
Sophomore creative writing major Mikaela Moorman is a commuter and is not required to participate in the work program, but she does it anyway. Moorman is a crew head for campus services and gets two extra paid hours. She also has a job off campus at the Wood Duck where she works around 13 hours a week. Her course load includes 16 hours a week of classes. “Organization is key,” she explained, “but it’s definitely possible to balance everything.”
Freshman medical laboratory science major Kaitlyn Mitchum has an on-campus job in catering, works off-campus at Reno’s and has a 16 hour a week course load. “It’s hard with my crazy work schedules and finding time to study,” Mitchum admitted, “but it’s also nice because I’m always busy.” To students who think the work program’s demands are unfair, Mitchum said, “It only gets harder from here, and to be honest the jobs on campus aren’t really hard.”
With that being said, I understand some students did not get a similar experience in high school in terms of having a job and demanding classes. However, you get out what you put into it. The benefits from the work program extend from beyond the extra money towards your tuition, especially for students who have not worked before. This is a very mild introduction to the real demands that will be placed on you in the workforce outside of Blackburn.
Snack Bar students working hard for their tuition hours