Over the years, the terms “college student” and “broke” have become synonymous. It makes sense as college is expensive and not everyone can afford it. Those who take out loans often find themselves lacking money, not for tuition or housing, but instead for food, clothes or other necessities and commodities.
Texas State students are no strangers to this, either. However, the typical solution is nowhere near as readily available as one would hope or as one’s needs require.
According to Metropolitan State University of Denver, as many as 70% of U.S. college students enrolled in full-time degree programs also work at least 20 hours a week. Further, the National Center for Education Statistics said more than half of college students work full-time. The high cost of education and the daily needs of young adults living away from home make working a necessity.
Seemingly recognizing this need, Texas State partnered with Handshake to offer job opportunities for students on campus and in San Marcos. However, to say it changes much would be a lie. Although there is no denying the fact that it does help to a certain extent and provides additional options unavailable on more traditional job search sites such as Indeed; it doesn’t come close to guaranteeing one a job in San Marcos.
Even using every method and option available, it is not uncommon for students to send out multiple applications and still not land a job. Some, resigning to the near-impossibility of getting a job in town, let alone on campus, turn to search for work in New Braunfels and Kyle. For students without a car, however, this isn’t always a feasible option.
“It’s very difficult to find a job here,” Dana Calame, religious studies freshman, said. “Since moving here, I’ve definitely sent out over a hundred [job applications]. I used Handshake, used Indeed, paper applications, calling over the phone – to no avail. A good 90% of the people I know can’t find a job in town. I don’t have a car right now, so there’s nothing I can do.”
Though there are many student employees across the Texas State campus, it is not enough to satisfy the needs of a student body of almost 40,000 people. Like a drop of water in a scorching desert, the few job opportunities that Texas State provides are immediately evaporated in the sheer mass of work-hungry Bobcats.
“I was looking for a job for three months,” Maddie Metevier, English junior, said. “I just got a job at the Meadows Center. Handshake absolutely helps, although I can definitely see it being not super beneficial because you really don’t get a lot of responses. The overpopulation here [at Texas State] is crazy. There’s just no jobs.”
Even in the whole of San Marcos, there are only so many jobs that a town with a population of 70,000 can offer to another 30,000 people. As evident as the employment issue is, it is unclear what can be done by the university and the town in general to cure it.
-Nikita Arefiev is an international relations freshman
The University Star welcomes Letters to the Editor from its readers. All submissions are reviewed and considered by the Editor-in-Chief and Opinions Editor for publication. Not all letters are guaranteed for publication.
