Many college students hold part time jobs while going to school. Some students get 10 hours per week, others may get 40+ hours. The people on the lower end of hours worked may get looked down on by their parents or friends who work more but there is more that goes into it than just the paycheck they receive.

A recent study has shown that nearly 80 percent of students work some kind of part-time job during school and that students averaged about 19 hours per week. If we assumed this number was true for the KWU community, we would also figure there was a good chance the student was an athlete which accounts for a minimum of 20 hours per week between practices, conditioning, and meetings. With a minimum of 12 hours of classes needed to play, many coaches encourage 15 or more hours just to be safe. This all adds up pretty quick to a minimum of 54 hours per week. To do all this plus volunteer, do homework or study, get enough sleep, and have some sort of social life seems next to impossible but the students of KWU seem to do it with ease.

These numbers don’t just apply to athletes. While KWU has a large number of athletes, there is also a lot of people who are only students. These people have a different kind of stress put on them. They are almost expected to have a job and get a lot of hours at it. So as a full time student and getting closer to around 35 or 40 hours at a job, they also are putting in upwards of 55 hours per week along with homework and a social life.

Many articles will say being this busy causes stress and makes people less likely to get good grades or less likely to finish your degree. I’m not saying balancing a job, sports, school, and a social life or a mixture of any of these things is not hard. I know from experience that it is very difficult, but for many of us, sports motivate us to do well in school and our graduation and job placement rate speak for themselves to show that what we do, we do it well. For all the non-athletes or the retired athletes out there who hold a job, many of them use the extra income to pay for school or bills.

When you pay for something yourself, it’s a proven fact that you value it more. I think that having this many busy hours, while it can be extremely stressful, is good for students. That’s right, you heard me. When you are this busy, once you get into the world of jobs and family, it’ll seem like a vacation compared to how hard you worked in college. Employers will and do see the work ethic you put in naturally when you transfer over the effort you put into your activities now to your future job. So keep working your job, playing sports, and going to school. Even though you may work “part time,” it will be worth so much more than that check that will always be too small.