Balancing act

In some ways, Princeton is a haven where the trials and tribulations of the outside world rarely touch us. But for some students, reality is a little bit closer. The national media may only highlight those Princetonians who start their own companies and compete in the Olympics, but for many others, a less glamorous job right here on campus provides a valuable taste of the professional world beyond Princeton.

Some students rely on a campus job as a source of income to supplement grants and loans in a financial aid package. Included in every aid award letter is an offer of employment. Positions include dining hall employee, library assistant, computer programmer and research assistant to a professor. For other students, a job is simply a way to give structure to the week, make friends and earn spending cash.

No matter the reason for pursuing employment, each student must grapple with finding a balance between study time and working life. Some ambitious students look for a way to combine the two.

"Most students who request help in finding a job are looking for jobs related to their major," Betty Ashwood, director of student employment and associate director of financial aid, said in an email. "Woodrow Wilson School students would like to work at the WWS, economics majors would like to work in the economics department."

Other students prefer to keep work and academics separate. Chris Vasich '09 is one of many students who were assigned to work in the Rocky dining hall as a freshman. He now works four to five days a week, for six to 10 hours each week. He says he doesn't find it hard to juggle work and school.

"I don't feel that working in the dining hall impedes my school work too much," he said in an email. "If you get really swamped the SMs [Student Managers] are pretty cool with you taking a day off and catching up on your work. I'm on the track team and an engineer so I had to find a job that wouldn't limit my time too much."

Danielle McKoy '09 agreed, adding that jobs with reasonable hours are not hard to find. Working students, she believes, are more likely to put pressure on themselves than to feel it from the University.

"The University is more interested in students getting good grades," McKoy said. "They insist you schedule fewer work hours, so you can study more, rather than maintaining a full workload while trying to make money."

Most campus jobs allow students to build work schedules around their classes and extracurricular activities, to avoid feeling stressed out by the demanding academic workload at Princeton. Last year, Whitney Williams '09 balanced a job in dining services with singing with the Katzenjammers a cappella group and acting in a play with the Princeton University Players. Another busy student, Ezegozie Eze '09, said that working long hours is possible but not without its trade-offs. "Sometimes I might take on an extra shift knowing that I need the extra money to pay for something," he said. "In that case I might miss out on other activities, hanging out with friends or going out." Still, Eze says the times he feels that he is missing out are rare.

McKoy recalls being exhausted after a day of work. "Last year, I worked a lot on Fridays and Saturdays," she says. "So after you come from work, you're so exhausted that going to the Street—it takes the fun out of it. You go from classes to work so you're not really in a party mood." Ultimately it's up to the students how many hours a week they work, which, of course, depends on how much money they require or simply want to earn.

"We recommend that students don't work more than 20 hours a week," Ashwood said in an interview. "Most students don't have a problem. They may not work the full average of 10 hours a week ... but they're still covering their personal expenses."

Of approximately 1,700 financial aid students offered on-campus jobs last year, around 1,500 chose to work. This year the average student works about 10 hours a week, and pay ranges from $7.15 per hour to $13.20 per hour.

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No study has ever been done at Princeton as to whether part-time work might be detrimental to academic achievement. But judging by data collected nationally, Ashwood is confident that it's not. Working more than 20 hours a week has been shown to have a negative effect. But working less than that? "Nationally," Ashwood said, "students actually do better."