We don’t have a lot going for us as college students. We haven’t earned a degree yet, so we don’t qualify for any job that is specific to our major. Even without a degree, we are still early college students and are underqualified for any professional field. This forces us to stay in the field of jobs that pay minimum wage, such as a waiter, babysitter or cashier. However, that is the reason why we are here. We are trying to get a college degree is so we can pursue a job where we can do what we love while earning an annual salary. As of now, however, and probably for the next few years, we will be stuck working for close to nothing.

Many students that I spoke to brought up the minimum wage and how it isn’t enough to live anymore. One student explained, “I work three days a week and get $8.75 an hour. It’s just not enough for any human to live off of. Everything is so expensive today, especially housing. All of the money from work goes towards my apartment rent so I barely have enough money for everyday items.” 

As we get older, our parents help us out less and less. One student mentioned, “It’s hard to hear your parents tell you that you need to be more independent, but only get paid eight dollars an hour. I can barely do anything with that.” As expenses for literally, everything goes up, it’s hard to believe that minimum wage stays relatively the same. It doesn’t seem possible to afford anything when someone works a regular nine to five job and gets paid nine dollars an hour. “Imagine not going to college,” one student mentioned. “Imagine not being able to afford to attend this school or just any education. We would be stuck earning minimum wage for the rest of our lives.”

This really caught my attention because this explains one of America’s most common underlying problems. As education becomes less affordable each year, fewer people are able to attend college. Without a degree, there are very few jobs available where you wouldn’t get paid minimum wage. It reveals the broken cycle in our society where more and more people aren’t able to afford an education, therefore they are working minimum wage jobs for the rest of their lives. Most of these people have to work two or even three jobs to be able to afford their rent and groceries, and are lucky if they have any room in their budget for anything else.

I don’t believe this is a sustainable way of life, especially since our economy is doing so well right now. I think by paying people a higher minimum wage, they will be able to engage in the economy rather than only working to make ends meet.