The assertion that “education is not a privilege, it is a human right” is one echoed by various human rights and education organisations such as the UN, UNICEF, and the Global Partnership for Education. Despite this, education is not equally accessible to all demographics and Trinity often makes these divisions painfully clear. “Trinity isn’t really made for people who have to work,” says Zarina Dempsey, a full-time fourth year English and Sociology student, who was gracious enough to sit down with me and allow me some insight into the mechanics behind working a full-time job as a Trinity student.
“I can’t really remember anything because I was so stressed and so busy.”
In her first and second years of college, Dempsey was working 45-55 hours a week in the hospitality industry, on top of lectures and assignments. Oftentimes, her shifts would put her on her feet until 4am. In first year, Dempsey relays, she slept through most of her classes out of sheer exhaustion: “I can’t really remember anything because I was so stressed and so busy.” Food was condensed to one meal a day, usually the same combination of basic ingredients. After working 55 hours, “you just don’t have the energy left to cook” and takeaway is too expensive when you’re living off 13 euro per hour minus 20% tax.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Dempsey and other college students who work part time is the lack of a financial buffer. At the age of 23, Dempsey is still counted as a dependent on her parents and yet she conveys: “I send money to my parents more often than they send money to me. They don’t send me money.” Nonetheless, because of her age, Dempsey’s parents’ income are counted in her applications for financial aid, making her ineligible for SUSI’s Maintenance Grants, which help students with their cost of living. SUSI’s fee grants take care of Dempsey’s tuition, but besides that, she is financially on her own. “If I work less and I make less money they’ll give me 100 euros a week but that’s barely now enough to pay for groceries,” Dempsey explains. It’s also not like she had the time to study for Schols or apply for other grants with lengthier vetting processes, making it hard for her to improve her financial condition.
“Going out with friends meant not only re-working a schedule organised two weeks in advance, but also, potentially sacrificing groceries.”
With limited financial support, Dempsey expresses that it’s not just just a choice between attending lectures and paying the bills. Accommodation in her first year, for which she paid €900/month, included a dodgy landlord and pay-as-you-go electricity: “I didn’t have electricity for like half the time I was there because I couldn’t afford it.” Going out with friends meant not only re-working a schedule organised two weeks in advance, but also, potentially sacrificing groceries. Big things like rent weren’t necessarily an issue, but every small expense adds up: toilet paper is expensive!
“The constant stress of balancing college and a job, on insufficient sleep, would certainly raise anyone’s cortisol levels.”
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of a full-time employee and full-time student is that the day refuses to be longer than 24 hours. Dempsey relates that “when you work full time […], you’re in fight or flight mode everyday, all the time”. The constant stress of balancing college and a job, on insufficient sleep, would certainly raise any one’s cortisol levels. Dempsey’s employers in first and second year were not exactly accommodating of her class schedule, especially around the holiday season when the hospitality industry gets shot with steroids. Once, Dempsey got in trouble for consistently missing a 4-5pm lecture because she had a shift at work. This was after she had brought the issue up with administration. She would subsequently be ghosted by the same administration that threatened her with failure of the module if she did not return to class.
Now, in her final year, Dempsey works as Digital Marketing Manager and Event Organiser under a boss who is very understanding of her situation. Her typical day, these days, starts at 8am when she starts answering emails, planning events, and organising menus. At 1pm, she heads to college for three hours before returning to work from 4 until 6pm. It is definitely less excruciating than her waitressing job in first and second year. Having climbed the ladder at work, she can also afford to work 35 hours a week now, given that she is paid more. Despite the bettering conditions over the years, Dempsey still feels extreme burnout. Even Superwoman needs a day off. Dempsey admits: “There are days when I just don’t want to talk. I don’t actually have the energy to say two sentences.” She also conveys the challenges of sustaining relationships in these circumstances. She has had friends get mad at her for not being available when she just doesn’t have the time to work them in. Right now, it is the daunting task of her thesis where most of Dempsey’s burnout congregates: “I’m so stressed and exhausted that sitting down to write my thesis — I get so panicked about the amount of work I have to do, I can’t do any work.”
Working a full time job, Dempsey feels “robbed of the college experience”. She conveyed to me: “I’m a massive nerd who just wants to sit in the library and learn and loves school.” Her two little sisters have expressed no interest in going to college because they would have to do what she does now. “I get it,” Dempsey says, “because I didn’t really go to college”.
Despite the obvious hardships that come along with balancing work and college, Dempsey feels like College could have alleviated some of the stress, or at least done more so as to not add to it. Most shifts in the hospitality industry start at 4pm or 5pm, thus scheduling lectures at such an hour makes it that much more difficult to balance the demands of school and work. Her friends in University College Cork have recorded lectures, so missing class to pick up a shift is not as much of a problem. Moreover, Dempsey has found Trinity’s lack of communication extremely challenging. A lot of students have struggled with College’s less than forthcoming attitude in regards to conveying important information. For students like Dempsey, who don’t have time to go on a lengthy adventure to find essential information or challenge Trinity’s bureaucracy and red tape, college can be especially difficult. Lack of transparent communication means that Dempsey is now saddled with a dissertation in English, having not taken the proper prerequisites required to do it in Sociology, her preferred subject. This is not the only way Trinity has failed to recognise Dempsey’s circumstances. Her College-supplied guidance counsellor looked her in the eye and told her: “You really need to beef up your school activities because if not no one will want to hire you.” At this, Dempsey panicked. Her extensive CV includes managing teams, working in social media and event planning, speaking three different languages, and volunteering with English Conversation Classes once a week. How is that not good enough? And where was she to find the time to get involved in college societies? The problem with college societies is they aren’t organised enough for Dempsey to keep up with, considering that she has to plan out her schedule weeks in advance to keep on top of her workload. Moreover, a lot of meet-ups happen when she is at work. The societies she did try either sidelined her because of her limited availability or saddled her with work she didn’t have time for. It was a lose-lose situation. Only English Conversation Classes, which have the same two-hour meeting every week, allows Dempsey the structure she requires to participate.
“…Trinity does not do nearly enough to support its working students.”
Dempsey’s first-year friend said it best: “Trinity is for rich people.” While claiming “I feel bad because I’m quite privileged, there’s people who have it harder than me,” Dempsey still feels that Trinity does not do nearly enough to support its working students. One lecturer told her “you shouldn’t work through college”, flabbergasted that Dempsey should require leniency on an assignment. For Dempsey, college has been “a lonely, repetitive experience”, some of which is perhaps an inevitable consequence of her situation. However, this does not mean there aren’t small things College could do to make the lives of their working students easier. No student should ever have to choose between paying their bills and participating in their education.
