I am not going to lie. I get jealous of those who get a free ride from their parents. It irks me when they whip out daddy's credit card and charge it; while I'm scraping together nickels and dimes just to pay for a Coke. It seems like there is a strong divide between the fortunate and the strugglers.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have mommy and daddy pay for their college experience.
Many students today are juggling social life, school life and, well, work life. Things in today's world aren't cheap. So many students today are leading double lives as students and workers.
But this has caused a rift between those who live the lucky life and those who are busting their tails to get their 40-cent scantron.
Junior Isaac Borgo said he has been working since he was 16 years old. He is a full-time student as well as a full-time employee at Raley's Supermarket. He said he has many things to pay for.
"I have a car that needs gas. I have car insurance payments, monthly cell phone payments," he said. "I have phone, Internet and utility bills. I need to buy clothes and food and everything else."
Borgo said he is completely self-reliant.
"My parents do not support me in any other way than emotionally," he said.
Working while going to school is both physically and mentally taxing, Borgo said. And finding time to exercise or just relax is near impossible.
"I am absolutely exhausted all of the time," he said.
Since his free-time has been substituted for either work or sleep, he has trouble making time for his interests or keeping up with friends, he said.
"The worst part of this is that finding a girlfriend has become a practical impossibility of a pursuit," he said.
Borgo said there is at least one positive aspect to his lifestyle.
"Self-reliance and independence is its own peace of mind," he said. "I am somewhat proud that I am able to continue to live healthy and perform well academically by my own means and without any direct aid from anyone else."
Borgo said he does have student loans and grants to help pay for his tuition, but said he wished he could leave his college experience debt-free.
"I'd adore the chance to start out clean with my degree and not feel financial pressure when deciding the next important steps in the course of my life," he said. "But this, unfortunately, is not a reality."
However, Borgo isn't the only college student busting his butt to make ends meet. In a 2000 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, 80 percent of undergraduate students worked during the 1999-2000 school year. The same study showed that students who do work spend an average of 26 hours per week working.
While his parents are capable of financially supporting him, Borgo said he wouldn't have it any other way.
"I take significant pride in being self-reliant, enough so that I would not consider their financial help as an alternative to working," he said.
Michelle Maas can be reached at:
michellemaas@gmail.com
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