Molly Tumanic

Trying to earn money before her December graduation, senior Jessica Morton has stepped up the number of hours she works at the UW-Eau Claire Children’s Center and the front desk of Murray Hall.

She’s gone from working a few hours a week for a little bit of extra cash to putting in an average of 25 hours between her two jobs.

“It’s a lot more difficult (to work more hours),” the criminal justice major said. “My first year I worked not even 10 hours a week and I had so much more time.”

But there is an upside to working so much, Morton said. Her paychecks have more than doubled in size. And although she has to be up at 5 a.m. four days a week for her 5:45 front desk shift, Morton said rising early keeps her on a consistent schedule.

With financial obligations ranging from tuition to food to beer money, the questions of where, when and how much to work is sometimes a difficult one for college students.

Understanding the difference between needs and wants is a key component of deciding how much to work, said Dick Boyum, counseling psychologist at Counseling Services.

It’s important to have fun, Boyum said, but that can be done in less expensive ways than some students realize.

Although it varies by student, Boyum said the “magic number” for how much full-time students should work is about 17 hours a week.

“Beyond that level, it begins to interfere with depth and breadth of learning,” Boyum said. “Part of the issue with students is just good time management skills.”

In addition to how much students work, the time of day they’re logging hours also can be an issue, Boyum said.

“What you’re creating is a disruptive sleep cycle,” he said. “And that really affects cognition, ability to learn.”

Sophomore Cora Pitt works just seven-and-a-half hours a week, but six of those hours are during the “graveyard shift” at the Bridgman Hall front desk.

Pitt works 3-6 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, and then attends class at 9 and 10 a.m., respectively, on those days.

“I needed money, so I took whatever shift I can,” she said. “I don’t mind … I figure I’m young; I can do it.”

Pitt also works every other weekend at Marshall Fields in her hometown of East Bethel, Minn.

She worked for a few months at a local restaurant, but said she prefers on-campus employment.

“I would recommend an on-campus job because it’s more convenient until you get to know the area better,” she said. “(On-campus employers are) obviously going to be more considerate of students than other places.”

For Morton – who doesn’t have a car – working on campus is convenient, even though the pay might be higher at some off-campus jobs. Like Pitt, she likes the flexibility of on-campus work. And Morton’s job at the children’s center is a federal work-study position.

Although there’s no way to know how many students work off campus, almost 3,100 students held federal and non-federal work-study positions in 2002-03, said Dale Johnson, student services coordinator in the financial aid office.

Surveys show that working on campus has a number of benefits, Johnson said.

“Students who work on campus actually feel like they belong on this campus much faster and at a much higher rate than students who do not,” he said. “Students who work 12-15 hours a week actually perform better academically than students who do not work at all.”

Although most students can make time for school and still meet their financial needs, Boyum said he has seen students drop out of school because they couldn’t keep up with both.

“Time and energy work together,” he said. “There are some tough choices that have to be made. If you’re trying to have it all, the bottom line is you can’t.”