The end of the school year is fast approaching, which means many seniors will be graduating and moving on to college in the fall. The price of tuition has been on the rise for years, and it is often difficult to fully pay the fees. Most students take out loans, but many also try to to alleviate some of this debt before they try to pay it back. Other than scholarships, which can reduce tuition costs, students can apply for work study: having a job off-campus to pay for a portion of tuition.

“College is expensive,” as Bethany Schwarm ‘17 put it. To pay for as much as she can, Schwarm intends to get a job when she goes into college. Her plan is to work part-time around her schedule.  She says she’ll be “working nights if [she] has morning classes” and vice versa. Schwarm does not yet know where she wants to go to college.

Some students may take up two jobs in school, either for financial needs, or, in some cases, structure. Kelli Johnson ‘12, an HBHS alumnus, worked at Body Bronze tanning salon and the Dubliner Restaurant while studying at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. She worked on days she didn’t have classes, so if she had classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, she would work all day on Tuesday and Thursday. Johnson performs well with a heavy workload, so her schedule was cohesive with classes and jobs. “It gives you structure so you’re not fooling around all the time,” she said. Johnson worked at the Dubliner Restaurant on weekends and Body Bronze on weekdays.

Working in college doesn’t always look the same. Victoria Milette, a teacher at HB, was a Resident Assistant, who assists students in their hall, and a Community Assistant, who provides services to students throughout the whole campus, in addition to taking work study during her years at the University of New Hampshire. “I made sure I found work on weekends so I had time to do [school]work on weekdays,” she said on working in the mailroom for work study. At UNH, Resident Assistants get free room and board, so it saved Milette financial stress. “I got out of college with about half the debt my friends did.”

No matter where this year’s seniors go, many of them plan on getting some form of a job, be it at  down-the-street restaurants or doing work study for their schools. Whatever the reason, students are finding, and will find, employment.