Student Workers: Ana Karina Palacio

Refer: The incoming class of 2020 faces a college tuition costs that can rise above the current $34,062 per year. It’s forced many current UCLA students to search all corners of campus for the money they need to get through college. This often means a reality where jobs take importance over classes, extracurriculars and social life. Many Bruins have no other choice but to take multiple jobs to pay their bills, putting aside everything else to focus on their work. This is the first part of a series examining the lives of some of those students.

TRANSCRIPT:

HARRIS: College tuition costs more than $34,062 per year, up almost $200 from last year. It’s forced many current UCLA students to search all corners of campus for the money they need to get through college. This often means a reality where jobs take importance over classes, extracurriculars and social life. Many Bruins have no other choice but to take multiple jobs to pay their bills, putting aside everything else to focus on their work.

PALACIO: Usually my day starts at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., have to be at the location by then, and ends at 8 to 9 p.m.

Harris: That was Ana Karina Palacio, third-year political science student who works three separate jobs to compensate for the costs of attending UCLA. She considers herself lucky to find employment that encompasses her interests in the arts.

PALACIO: On-campus I work at Powell Library. I also work at the UCLA film school in the tech office as a camera technician. I have an off-campus job (at) Tara Gallery, basically as an assistant, doing their social media stuff, sending out emails, looking for grants. Everything that needs to get done, happens at some point.

HARRIS: Because UCLA limits how much students can work on-campus, many students turn to off-campus or work-study jobs to complement their on-campus hours. Ana works 36 hours per week, but nearly half of that is spent off-campus at her job at Tara Gallery in the Pacific Palisades.

PALACIO: Well as a UCLA student, I can’t work more than 19 hours total on campus. That, at a minimum wage paying job, means it is really hard to get by. Your average textbook is 100 to 150 bucks and it takes you 10 to 15 hours to get that one textbook and that’s not everything you have to do.

HARRIS: No, certainly not. Textbooks are only a fraction of the overall cost of attending UCLA and living in Los Angeles. Palacio grew up in Ensenada, Mexico, but because she was born in National City, California, she is an American citizen and pays out-of-state tuition. While her family financial aid package pay the bulk of her tuition and rent, Palacio has to pay for her own living expenses, which include utilities, food, transportation and social outings.

HARRIS: Balancing multiple jobs is a logistical feat in itself, but a busy schedule also can also take a toll on academic performance. Student workers are not only competing with their classmates, but also with the finite amount of hours in each week. Figuring out a class schedule is hard enough as it is, but student workers face a much bigger obstacle when they also have to plan around work. Palacio learned the hard way that the only way a difficult class schedule can make or break her academic life.

PALACIO: Fall quarter was rough, I was just really busy with everything and had a mini breakdown in the middle. Picking classes that I liked helped a lot because I can’t change my schedule, because I have to set three jobs, three work schedules with my class schedule. Once I set my class schedule, it’s really hard to drop. I can’t do it, cuz it will just change everything.

HARRIS: Despite the challenges, there is a bright side to having several jobs in college. The skills acquired at a job complement those learned in the classroom, and can provide valuable experience for life after graduation.

PALACIO:It forces you to be more responsible, create work ethic, punctuality, responsibility, attention to detail, usually you know. They’re definitely life skills.

HARRIS: Palacio says proper planning is essential to balancing work, school and fun. Her full schedule did not stop her from interning a few hours at UCLA’s Center for Middle East Development, nor did it prevent her from assistant directing a musical for HOOLIGAN Theatre Company last quarter. She represents the many other full-time students working their way through UCLA, and illustrate the just how much diligence is needed to meet the financial and academic challenges of college employment.

For Daily Bruin Radio, this is Nikki Harris.