In order to cover college expenses, Medill freshman Noelle Cabrera works from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. three days a week due to her class and work schedule. 

As a clerical aid for the English department, she is one of approximately 2,000 undergraduate students at Northwestern who participate in work-study each year. 

In 2023-2024 academic year, undergraduate tuition prices have gone up 3.5%, bringing the total cost for undergraduates living on campus to $89,448 for this academic year.   

Money earned from work-study can either go into paying tuition or directly to the student. On average, each student dedicates six to 10 hours per week for work-study.

“I knew going to a school like this that’s so expensive that I would have to work, and that’s just a sacrifice I need to make to be here,” Cabrera said. 

However, Cabrera said she has no complaints because she is grateful for the welcoming and understanding work environment, making it all manageable.

Medill freshman Gloria Ngwa said when she found balancing work-study and school too stressful due to the pace of the quarter system, her supervisor approved her request for a week off in an attempt to prioritize her well-being.

“It’s all about talking to your supervisor,” Ngwa said. “It’s all about time management and prioritizing what you have to do, but also keeping a consistent schedule so that you’re meeting the deadlines.”

McCormick sophomore Ana Kim said when her work isn’t busy, she is able to do her homework. 

Although the job isn’t stressful for her, Kim said it’s time-consuming, which has prevented her from attending office hours or informational meetings as she mainly works in the afternoons.

For many students, finding a job wasn’t challenging, but Weinberg freshman Naomi Burnett said she had a different experience. 

Burnett said she applied to roughly 10 jobs and only heard back from one. Though she found a job a couple of weeks after school started, Burnett said this means she won’t be able to earn her entire work-study allotment for this quarter.

As a social media intern at the Evanston Public Library, her job isn’t related to her major like she initially wanted. But during the job search, she said she learned to take what is available. 

“College is expensive,” Burnett said. “I realize that now, and I don’t think I would be able to survive without having some sort of income.”

While Cabrera, Ngwa and Burnett said most of their income goes to day-to-day personal expenses. Kim said most of her income goes into paying off tuition. 

Cabrera said she appreciates that there are jobs specifically only for work-study students, making the job search process less complicated.

Ngwa said her job, which requires her to transcribe and edit audio files, has refined her skill in audio production, which can be useful in certain fields of journalism.

“I think if one is going to do a work-study, then it should be like an intrinsic motivation, like you actually want to do this and you have work ethic to where you can balance,” Ngwa said.

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Related Stories: 

— A Wildcat’s guide to work-study

— Work-study doesn’t work for everyone: students share challenges, obstacles to robust employment on campus— Work-study jobs on campus go unfilled, mirroring nationwide labor shortage