Students Work Multiple Jobs to Pay for Schooling

Annual tuition price raises across Canada have forced many students to work more than one job while attending school full-time. 

Allison Niles is a full-time Criminology student during the day and a Special Care Home Worker at night.

“On Wednesdays and Fridays I get done work at seven a.m. and I come in for a nine a.m. class” said Niles.  

Niles works over 30 hours per week “eleven p.m. to seven a.m. or seven p.m. to seven a.m.”. Although she says she tries not to let it affect her school work, she has trouble staying awake in her morning classes. 

Niles’ is not alone. In 2012 Maclean’s reported more than 40% of undergraduates in Quebec worked over 20 hours a week. A recent post in the New York Times reported that about 5% of American workers held more than one job during the month of July. 

Many students feel the need to work more than one job because of the constant increase in an already expensive tuition price. The average cost of undergraduate programs at Canadian Universities was $6,838.00 in the 2018/19 academic year and it increases an average of 3.3% every year according to Statistics Canada. 

Niles isn’t able to support herself and pay for school on student loans alone. 

“If I were to go back on [unemployment insurance] as I did last year, then I wouldn’t get my second disbursement for student loans” said Niles. 

For Erika Paola Ruiz, a third-year international student, tuition prices are almost doubled. St. Thomas University limits international students to working only 20 hours a week on campus and 20 hours off campus. 

Ruiz opted to work two jobs. 

“It’s very expensive for me to pay tuition and rent, so to help my parents with these fees I decided to work” said Ruiz. 

Students like Ruiz depend on working more than one job to ensure they can pay to stay in school.  

Niles says she thinks its common for students to have at least one job. 

“I don’t know how else people live while they’re in school if they weren’t working” said Niles.