30 October 2018
Avi Petrucci
Although it’s fair to say that college students, in this generation, are just as busy if not busier than past generations, between classes, extracurricular activities, internships and homework, the amount of work they feel they can handle should not be limited by somebody else.
At UCCS, student employees aren’t allowed to work more than 25 hours a week on campus. This often leaves students having to pick between jobs and missing opportunities and connections. On many occasions, students end up having to get second jobs outside of campus just to make ends meet. This can cause problems since jobs outside of campus are not as flexible. If a student believes that they can manage working more than 25 hours a week on top of all of their other commitments, they should be allowed to do so.
A few weeks ago, on SEAN, the UCCS online tool that helps connect both undergraduate and graduate students to potential employers, a job was posted that interested me highly.
The position posted perfectly fit my specific area of interest and my major, possibly giving me the perfect opportunity to explore something I’ve always wanted to and make connections with others not only at my university, but in my field.
Despite all of this, it turns out this position wasn’t the perfect fit – all because of the hours.
By accepting this job, my working hours would have exceeded 25 hours a week, which currently goes against UCCS, state and federal law policy, which is deemed unacceptable.
This cap on working hours made me miss out on an opportunity that I would have loved to take. I felt that I could handle this, but because I didn’t want to give up my current job which I love, for a research position that would have only gone until early spring and leave me potentially unemployed after, the opportunity was missed.
I completely understand that if I worked more than 25 hours a week, continued to study full time and partake in other activities, it might seem like I have a lot on my plate to the university and could face the risk of something falling behind, but I have always been driven and believe that I could handle the workload, and I’m sure that there is at least one other student out there who feels they can manage more too.
I think any UCCS student should be allowed to petition to work more hours. In further detail, I think students should be allowed to enter a six month trial period where they work as many hours as they feel they can handle (capping the total at 40 hours a week) and should be required to maintain a certain GPA, in order to ensure that their academics don’t fall behind or become less important. If they have shown that they can keep up with everything at the end of the six month period, they should be allowed to work up to 40 hours a week from that point on without question.
Although I know it’s a big one, it’s my hope that in the future, state and federal laws will change to allow UCCS students to work up to 40 hours a week if they choose, that way they don’t miss out on anything.