What's it like going to school at Columbia and having to get a job whether on or off campus. I'm more lower income and am not relying on my parents to give me money throughout college cause I don't think they'll have it between helping pay tuition and taking care of my many younger siblings still at home so what would you recommend in regards to being in one of the most expensive cities in the world but still being able to afford the things I need/want???
Nice initiative! I’m also low income and yet I’m still relying on my parents (to my ever constant guilt) because I don’t really feel comfortable getting a job yet. But there are plenty of options here.
So I’m pretty sure your financial aid package is going to include something called work study, where instead of making you actually do the student contribution part (something like $4k per semester), they give you a job on-campus and part of your salary goes to that student contribution. Minimum wage on campus is now a healthy $15 per hour, so you make a respectable amount. There are also a ton of other jobs that don’t count for work study but are still $15 per hour, things like swiping people into dorms or working at the gym front desk (where you basically get paid to do your homework). You can also apply for something called the Work Exemption Program, where you can do something like an unpaid internship and then Columbia covers your student contribution because they see that the internship takes about as much time as a job. And then, or course, through our online job finder (LionSHARE) you can get jobs in the city. So a lot of options are here.
What’s it like? I’m not going to lie, it’s a lot. Students who work, on- or off-campus, part-time or full-time, basically schedule their day around when they work, that’s how time-consuming it can get. It’s also definitely significant trying to balance work and school load. But you just have to do it. And most students here are good at doing that.
If you end up getting a job in the city, you’re going to have to account for both time commuting, and the transportation fee. That, combined with the price of things around here, means that you might not be able to afford everything you want. I know I can’t. But with prioritization, and just general money-managing skills, you’ll be totally fine here.