After high-school graduation, Paul Dinehart dreamed of becoming a teacher or a principal. He thought he could work his way straight through college with sheer determination and be the first in his blue-collar family to earn a degree.
Now in his fourth year at Kent State University, the 21-year-old isn’t sure. On a recent day, Dinehart sat at his computer before dawn, trying to cram in some last-minute study. He had a political-science exam at 9:15 a.m., but his construction job started at 7. He was short on time and confidence. “I’m going to butcher this,” he muttered, shutting down his computer.
The ability to work one’s way through college has long been a symbol of American educational opportunity and personal achievement. But with tuition rates soaring, even at the public colleges that are supposed to be the affordable option, carrying on the tradition has gotten tougher.
After adjusting for inflation, the average tuition at a four-year public school increased 117 percent between 1981 and 2001. The rise was 123 percent at private schools.
Since the 1980s, financial-aid policies have moved away from need-based grants in favor of loans.
“The lower you are on the economic totem pole, the more these trends hurt you,” said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a think tank in San Jose, Calif.
To meet the rising prices, a growing number of college students have resorted to sometimes withering workweeks. Studies show that working beyond 15 or 20 hours a week can result in lower grades and higher dropout rates. Many students are well beyond that. Nationwide, 74 percent of all full-time undergraduates were working in 1999-2000 and they averaged 25.5 hours per week on the job, according to the most recent federal statistics. That was up from 1992-93, when about 65 percent of full-time undergraduates were working and they averaged 23.5 hours. Over the same period, the percentage of full-time undergraduates who were working full-time, or at least 35 hours a week, rose to 19.7 percent, from 13.5 percent.
As college prices have risen, the increase in financial aid has been slower, and much of it comes in the form of debt.
For working students, the result is a financial landscape that has changed dramatically from their parents’ generation. “The idea of working your way through school has really become a bad joke,” says Tom Mortenson, publisher of Postsecondary Education Opportunity, a newsletter that tracks issues related to access to higher education.
