It’s 3 a.m. Wednesday, and Enoch Ryals is still at work convincing himself that his 2000 white Toyota Solara is worth every penny.
Ryals, a business administration junior, bartends 15 hours a week at Chelsea’s Cafe, 25-30 hours a week at Ninfa’s and is a full-time student taking 12 hours this semester.
Many people on campus have noticed that college students are becoming busier with multiple part-time and full-time jobs, while staying involved with on-campus organizations and going to class full-time.
Out of the 290,000 16- to 19-year-old residents in Louisiana, 22 percent are enrolled in school and are employed, according to the 2000 Census.
Ryals only has Monday and Wednesday nights off.
So waking up for his 9 a.m. class Wednesday, after working at Chelsea’s the night before, is not an easy task.
“I’ve been out here till 4:30 a.m. before,” Ryals said.
He is usually so wound up after work that he does not get to sleep until the sun comes up, he said.
While Ryals said he chooses to have two jobs and likes the change of pace the jobs offer, his parents pay for nothing, so he relies on his jobs and student loans to pay his bills.
His personal and social life suffer, too, he said.
“It’s either work or studying,” Ryals said.
He has a 3.0 GPA right now, but does not know if he will keep it after this semester.
He started working at Chelsea’s a month ago. He has worked at Ninfa’s for three years and worked 40 hours a week before he started working at Chelsea’s.
He said his parents did not work nearly as much when they were in college.
“My mom was a secretary, so she could do homework while she worked,” he said.
He said he thinks his dad had an on-campus job, but nothing like his jobs.
“Life was a lot more laid back back then,” Ryals said.
He has friends whose parents pay for school but [his friends] still have part-time jobs to pay for living expenses.
      “Things are getting more expensive, so you pretty much have to work,” Ryals said.
He said having two jobs is not a rare thing.
“A lot of my friends have two jobs,” Ryals said.
Melody Robinson, an ISDS senior, swears by her Day Minder to keep track of all the activities, jobs and organizations she is involved in.
Robinson is the president and Web master of the LSU chapter of the NAACP, a student adviser for the Black History Month Committee, a residential adviser and piggy-back committee chair for East Campus Apartments, Web master for the African-American Cultural Center, a member of business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi and a Leadership LSU participant. She also occasionally works at Footlocker on Highland Road.
Her activities and jobs total at least 30 hours a week and she is taking 15 hours of school this semester.
“I hardly ever go to sleep before 1 a.m.,” Robinson said.
Like Ryals, Robinson pays for 100 percent of her college education and living expenses, so multiple jobs are a necessity.
She has financial aid and has taken out student loans to pay for tuition. Her job as an RA pays for her room and board.
Robinson also has a 4-year-old son, Isaiah, who lives with his father in Lake Charles, La., while she is still in school.
She said she gets an hour every night to talk to her son.
Robinson said she thinks there has been a trend toward more college students having children and going to school completely independent of their parents.
“You gotta make it somehow,” she said.
Honey Nayden, an agriculture junior, has a part-time job, goes to school 15 hours a week and has a 7-month-old child.
“I think before the focus was mainly on school; now people branch out to do career stuff,” Nayden said.
History Professor Steven Ross said life was different when he was in college because not as many people had to work to make ends meet.
Ahmad Larkins, an architecture senior, said he thinks there is definitely a trend toward busier college students because of economic reasons.
He said now part-time jobs and loans are required to pay for the increased costs of living.
Career Services posted 510 part-time jobs and 3,120 internships or co-ops from July 1, 2002 to January 2003.
Kristin Berlin, a biological sciences junior, is the president of Phi Mu sorority, a member of the Student Leadership Council, member of the leadership fraternity Omicron Delta Kappa, member of pre-medical society Alpha Epsilon Delta and is taking 15 hours this semester.
“I don’t sleep a lot,” Berlin said.
Her parents went to Southeastern Louisiana State University in Hammond, La., she said.
“I think they just went to college,” she said. “Sometimes, I think that would be nice.”
Berlin swears by time management and writes everything down so she can remember to do things. If she cannot write something down immediately, she leaves herself a voice message to remind herself, she said.
“I want to get into med school, so you have to do something to set yourself apart,” Berlin said.
Some students are not so worried.
Karl Hartdegen, an architecture freshman, said he has become less busy since he came to college.
“I’m a bum,” he said. “I’m trying to do as little as possible to get by and have more time to do what I want — I just want a chunk of change to buy alcohol.”