Students work too much – At jobs, not study

Guardian 16 March 2013

The real reason why US college students are so tired is because they put work before just about everything, including their studies, writes Richard Morris for the Guardian. They take 15 or 18 credit hours per week and hold a campus job and maybe an internship on top of that.

Part of the problem is student debt. In America, colleges and institutions charge pretty much anything they want. Student loans are not as kind as they are in the UK. The US has no centralised loan company operated by the government, charging very low interest. Most students have to navigate a complex market system, and then after their graduation the interest rates often spike.

Because of high loans and interest rates, many American students seek a job either on campus or locally, with the idea of making as much as possible to cut down on loans. I'm starting to wonder if the UK will soon look like this. University freshmen in Britain could leave with up to £60,000 (US$90,500) of debt. For all the scary headlines about American college debt, the average amount of debt for graduates is US$26,600.
Full report on the Guardian site

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