Full time student. Full time worker. Big time overachiever.

Used to the life of all work and no play? Welcome to the life of the super student. Free time is obviously not in our dictionary.

Gone are the days when students would do, well, just that, study. It seems that nowadays, more than ever, students are engaged in a balancing act with school, multiple jobs and a little thing called life in general. On top of a demanding full time class schedule, most students here at FDU are struggling to juggle the seemingly short hours in their everyday lives. Little or no time is allotted to the simple things most take for granted; sleep and down-time are precious and rare.

Freshman Anthony Pace is all too accustomed to this lifestyle. A full time student, enrolled in 15 credits this semester, Pace has managed to fit in a 15- to 18-hour work week at the Office of Student Life into his already packed schedule. As classes take up most of the daytime hours (from around 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. straight), he finds himself working the night shift, usually from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. Pace admits that free time is rare, since any given moment is usually dedicated to multi-tasking as a means to getting things done.

“Every free moment I get at work is spent doing homework, writing papers,” he said.

Having an on-campus job seems to be the norm for many students at FDU. Junior Karina Arevalo also works at the Office of Student Life. Her days, classes combined with work, usually end around 12 a.m. She admits that this life style does tend to be not only hectic but also problematic.

“It can become problematic when it comes to school work, as when I work I don’t want to be thinking of school. However when I return to my dorm all I want to do is sleep,” she said.

A general complaint among working students is lack of sleep or time for a healthy social life. The dangerous balancing act of a non-stop day with class and work back-to-back leaves most students stressed.

“Juggling a schedule like this one is no easy task, and sometimes it proves almost impossible,” Pace said. “As for work, by the time I get done, it’s too late or early for much of a social life. Because I spend so many hours awake, there are sometimes I find myself sleeping all day, and napping every chance I get, just so that I can continue on with the work schedule.”

Making matters worse, a common trend that is surfacing around this campus is that many students do not only have one, but multiple jobs.

Junior Caitlin Taylor works at the Office of Global Learning and at the Career Center on campus. She finds it difficult to prioritize her schedule having an 18-credit semester load and a senior thesis to write. Taylor has stuck to an 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. schedule, working three days a week, making her work schedule alone about 14 hours a week.

“Honestly, I don’t know how I do it,” Taylor said.

Pace finds himself commuting back home to fit in another job besides his on-campus one.

“Because my on-campus job doesn’t exactly finance the almost $50,000 tuition that FDU requires, I do have a job off campus. I work as an EMT for a fire department in my hometown of Bridgeton, N.J., on the weekends to help make ends meet,” he said.

Pace said that his entire work schedule is extremely hectic, fitting in hours during the weekend to make up for time spent on campus during the week.

Although Pace works a 12-hour night shift, which runs from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., he finds it necessary because his off-campus job pays twice as much as his on-campus job.

“This line of work can really take the energy out of you, so it’s no fun to have to ride all the way back to school with your windows down and radio up to keep you awake while driving because work allows no time for rest,” he said.

Despite the fact that this work schedule is stressful and time consuming, Pace admits that he has become accustomed to it.

“Over the past year, I have found myself doing nothing but work,” he said. “Sometimes I was working three jobs for a total of over 40 hours a week, and still trying to squeeze in school work.”

Arevalo, although already working, wouldn’t mind adding another job to her schedule.

“I only have an on-campus job, although I direly need another as well,” she said.

Yet why are these students pressuring themselves into the work field while still in school?

Pace lays out a detailed list of necessities: “Phone bill, car insurance, food, gas, as well as for spending money, because we all know that college is nothing but four to five years of money spending.”

Besides paying off necessities, another factor that is possibly contributing is the current state of the economy. The impact of the recession seems to have trickled down to students as well, hitting their pockets hard.

“More students are attempting to acquire jobs due to the joblessness of parents or said parents aren’t making as much because of our failing economy,” Arevalo said. “Also, it could be that some loans are no longer going through or fail to cover portions of tuitions, forcing students to place such tabs on credit cards or other means.”

Taylor agrees that the economy has a major role in students’ lives. “Even if a student doesn’t need to work, they may need to now, because chances are their parents are probably tighter on money,” she said.

Arevalo sees a close connection between the economy, the increased standard of living and the number of jobs students are now taking up.

“With every year that passes it is becoming increasingly expensive to live, let alone attend college,” she said. “It’s so hard for students to finance our studies, maintain acceptable credit for loans, and just overall live. Students really have to become super students if they want to survive.”

Thus the life of the super student. An unhealthy, overwhelmingly stressful life that has become the norm for the young adult attending college.

“Students play the role of super student, super employee and part-time human being,” Pace said.
Here’s to hoping that we don’t encounter any kryptonite along the way.

LORENA CHOUZA
EXECUTIVE EDITOR