Students can’t work their way through college on minimum wage jobs alone
Gone are the good old days when a part-time job in the campus bookstore or coffee shop could cover college tuition.
The Chronicle of Higher Education made a map that shows just how tough it is to work your way through college nowadays. The authors took the average in-state tuition and fees for each state’s flagship university (shout-out to UMass) dating back to 1998. Then, they pulled together each state’s minimum wage over the same time period, and adjusted all of the numbers for inflation.
The minimum wage in Massachusetts is $9 an hour. The Chronicle computed yearly earnings to about $9,000 (they kindly gave hypothetical student workers a two week vacation). But tuition and fees at UMass Amherst add up to $14,171 a year. That means students working 20 hours a week at a part-time minimum wage job would have to work 1.6 years to cover the cost of one year of school.
Keep in mind, these numbers are just for students paying in-state tuition at public universities, so students paying out-of-state tuition or who attend private universities are even worse off.
With tuition and fees rising faster than the minimum wage, it’s no wonder the class of 2015 is the most indebted ever.
Related gallery: 15 most expensive colleges in New England
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