Being a student is difficult, but a necessary struggle. For some students, it’s a delicate balance between paying bills, saving for the future and keeping your grades intact and up to snuff. For those who have dependents, it can be an even bigger struggle. We have a limited amount of hours in a day, and the hours required to attend school, do schoolwork and maintain a livable paycheque can be overwhelming. The world is ever-changing, and it’s forever demanding more and more out of its youth. Was there ever a time where life wasn’t just work and school and that’s it?
I work one permanent part-time job, I contribute to the Nugget, I am about to start as a part-time nanny and I volunteer at NAIT when my schedule allows it. Don’t get me wrong — I love all that I am doing, and I feel so fulfilled and blessed to be able to do all this.
But I also have class, home and family obligations on top of it. I have a life partner I try to spend time with. I have two high-energy dogs that require a lot of time and affection, parents I adore, a nephew, and a brother that I can’t go more than a week without seeing. It can be a lot, and I find myself wondering when things started to feel this heavy for students who have bills to pay.
Heather Law, who was a student 25 years ago, recounted her struggles as a full-time student and mother. While she was in school, her husband worked.
“He was a warehouse manager,” says Law. “That day and age, I think he was making maybe $20 to $23 an hour, supporting a family of four on that.”
This is definitely not a sentence you’d hear from a student today. According to Statistics Canada’s consumer price index, inflation has increased the price of goods and services in Canada by over 70 per cent since 2002. Groceries alone have increased by almost 100 per cent since then, with the bulk of the increase occurring in the 2020s. Law says her biggest struggle as an older student was “everyone being very much younger than her.” Her family also had to pay for daycare while she was in school. In 2026, the income Law’s husband was making to support an entire family in the 2000s is a living wage for one person.
I know there are many students who have to consider how to balance all of the “right now” life stuff with fears of the future. I’ve struggled with just buying groceries for myself. How am I going to pay off student loans and save for the future when my time, energy and income are spent on just existing?
In fact, many young people are wondering if starting a family is even feasible. Working has become necessary for students, but it leaves little time for friends, family and hobbies.
Thys Romanchych, a student in the Disaster and Emergency Management program, is only 20. On top of full-time classes, he works around 25 hours a week at Snow Valley. “And then I have the option to pick up shifts throughout the week if I want to, which sometimes I do if I have time or if I need the money,” he says. Over the school year, he says he isn’t able to save for the future.
“I very rarely have free time that doesn’t go towards work or school. I’d say about one or two evenings a month I can see friends and not be working on school,” says Romanchych. He says that everyone he knows also has a job.
Romanchych’s experience varies from Law’s; while he is able to work and go to school, there isn’t much time for anything else anymore. But having these commitments can also make students feel a strong sense of responsibility.
For Law, being a wife and mother while in school was an accomplishment. “It made me far more motivated,” she says.
I guess what I am saying is, go to school, work and save for the future. But don’t let the times, the paycheques or the politics interfere with living while you can. Whether it’s focusing on family or working as much as possible, do what is right for you, because no one else will — no matter how much the job pays.
Feature image by Will Dawson with files from No Revisions / Unsplash
