The Average Student.

Everyone wants to be able to earn their own money, right? To know at the end of the day that you've earned your money, and therefore can do with it what you please. I've always believed that college students are at the most ideal working age there is, because it's at this age that we can be a bit selfish with our money. Aside from maybe taking responsibility for a couple of my own bills at this point in my life, you would expect that most of my money is mine to do with it as I please. To pay to fix the iPhone 4s I've accidentally broken 4 times now (oops).

Now that I'm nearing the end of my first semester of college though, I've gotten the chance to experience this lifestyle of school and work once again. As a senior in high school I worked two part-time jobs, and as a freshman in college, I continue to work pretty much full time, averaging 30+ hours a week on top of being a full time student. I've learned I'm not the only one. In the Stonestown mall alone, a good majority of the employees are college students working to put themselves through college as much as possible. Studies have shown  that parent's are actually contributing less to their children's education financially than they did three years ago.

The students trying to balance work and school are typically stuck with the dilemma of constantly trying to keep school as the number one priority while work continues to push it's way to the top. The outcome of the work and school balancing act is usually college students either skipping classes or assignments due to not enough time or pure exhaustion in some cases, to consuming large amounts of caffeine on a regular basis to keep them going.

What I'm interested at looking further into is how the all work and school lifestyle plays out for college students in the end. Are people missing out on the elusive "college experience" because all of their free time is spent at work? Or is the whole college experience overall just as good for all?