College is getting more expensive nearly every year, according to the College Board, whose data shows that every year for decades, the cost of college is rising steadily without fail.
This fact may suggest that student employment would be rising, too, but the numbers don’t lie: the percentage of students with jobs has actually decreased since 2005. Though the number of students with jobs in 2017 was greater than the percentage with jobs in 2010, it’s still seven percent fewer than in 2005.
According to Ferris’ website, there are more than 2,000 student employees on Ferris’ main campus. According to US News & World Report, there are 13,250 students that attend Ferris State University, meaning more than 15% of the student body is employed on campus. This likely doesn’t represent an accurate percentage of students who attend Ferris overall who are employed, as it doesn’t take into account the students off campus or students with unreported off-campus jobs.
Some students believe they should focus on school instead of working, which is why the employment levels may be down. Others can’t find a job that they like.
“I don’t want to work on campus,” Ferris forensic biology sophomore Makayla Vanderby said. “The only days that I can work are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday if I don’t go home.”
Others require an income to get by while in college.
“Medical bills, insurance, what scholarships didn’t cover,” Ferris biotechnology sophomore Malachi Lapham said, listing things he has to pay for during college.
Lapham, an employee at the Rock Café, had his appendix taken out over the summer and is still paying for the operation.
“It works around my schedule a lot easier. I can work 3 hour shifts in between classes that I probably wouldn’t get at other places,” Lapham said.
If someone was a full-time student in 2017, their gender wouldn’t have as much impact on this statistic as their race, which showed significant variation in employment levels. However, if someone was a part-time student, this switched: employment no longer varied by race, but did vary by gender. But the level of degree someone is going to school for and their attendance level is also a large factor: students who were attending a two-year college were more likely to be employed than full-time students at a four-year college, while the opposite was true for part- time students.
Also, until age 30-39 for part-time students and 40-49 for full-time students, the older someone was, the more likely it was they were employed while in college. Having dependents or a partner statistically resulted in someone more likely to be employed as a full-time student, while there wasn’t much difference for part-time students.
There are many factors that determine employment as a student.