2008 Woodie Awards
Inflation affects student budgets in time of recession
Liz Garrett and Christopher Blake
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
Inflation has put a financial squeeze on some Cabrini students, as it has on many Americans in general.
Cabrini students, however, say they have not yet felt the pinch.
"I have just gotten used to having to work to pay for the things I need," Renee Roff, junior elementary and special education major, said.
Roff, 21, works four jobs. Tuesday and Thursday she works at Norristown Area High School from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., doing truancy duty and from 3 to 5 p.m. she mentors a 17-year-old high school student. Over the weekends she babysits and works for a catering company in Germantown.
"Balancing school and work is not hard because my work schedule is spread out throughout the week with short hours during the week and longer ones during the weekend," Roff said.
She comes from an upper-middle class family in Springfield, Pa., in which both her father and stepmother work, financing her education. However, money is not always easy to come by with a long list of bills to pay, even for a student with a busy work schedule.
"I used to not budget my money when I did not have a car payment or when I was not saving up for rent, but now I barely spend money on myself during the week other than essentials like gas," Roff said.
Roff plans on a career as a teacher and although she would like to take a year off after her graduation in 2009, she needs a job to pay off her college tuition loans.
"Everything has gone up in price-gas, groceries, clothing-all things we need and it's hard as a college student," Brooke Young, a junior English and communication major, said. "I am living off campus and I am trying to work and go to class in order to make money so I can buy things I need, but the prices are ridiculous."
The Washington Post suggested that the inflation would not be such a wake-up call for college students if they had experienced it in the past like those of older generations.
"People need these products and everyone is going to buy them so they are still making money," Young said. "I don't understand why prices have to be so high; it is bothersome. I try and go around figuring out what places have the cheapest groceries and where to go for gas. I will drive a half an hour away just for the lower prices."
Cabrini students, however, say they have not yet felt the pinch.
"I have just gotten used to having to work to pay for the things I need," Renee Roff, junior elementary and special education major, said.
Roff, 21, works four jobs. Tuesday and Thursday she works at Norristown Area High School from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., doing truancy duty and from 3 to 5 p.m. she mentors a 17-year-old high school student. Over the weekends she babysits and works for a catering company in Germantown.
"Balancing school and work is not hard because my work schedule is spread out throughout the week with short hours during the week and longer ones during the weekend," Roff said.
She comes from an upper-middle class family in Springfield, Pa., in which both her father and stepmother work, financing her education. However, money is not always easy to come by with a long list of bills to pay, even for a student with a busy work schedule.
"I used to not budget my money when I did not have a car payment or when I was not saving up for rent, but now I barely spend money on myself during the week other than essentials like gas," Roff said.
Roff plans on a career as a teacher and although she would like to take a year off after her graduation in 2009, she needs a job to pay off her college tuition loans.
"Everything has gone up in price-gas, groceries, clothing-all things we need and it's hard as a college student," Brooke Young, a junior English and communication major, said. "I am living off campus and I am trying to work and go to class in order to make money so I can buy things I need, but the prices are ridiculous."
The Washington Post suggested that the inflation would not be such a wake-up call for college students if they had experienced it in the past like those of older generations.
"People need these products and everyone is going to buy them so they are still making money," Young said. "I don't understand why prices have to be so high; it is bothersome. I try and go around figuring out what places have the cheapest groceries and where to go for gas. I will drive a half an hour away just for the lower prices."
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