When university life is a struggle between work and studies

 

For some students, university life is a struggle between studies and part-time work, with a curfew complicating matters. (File pic)

PETALING JAYA: A typical day at university for diploma student Malika is to attend lectures until about 4pm, then head off to her part-time job before returning to her university campus later in the night, sometimes past 11pm.

The part-time clerk said the amount of her student loans was hardly enough to cover her cost of living, while her earnings of RM800 every month helped her to get by.

Malika, who is studying for a diploma in public administration, said her student loan came to RM1,800 per semester, equivalent to RM360 a month, as each semester lasts five months.

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The loans are primarily meant to fund the cost of tertiary education but are typically also used to help defray living expenses and to buy books, among other expenditures.

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“My books alone cost at least RM300, and this is not including other miscellaneous items. So I actually have less than RM300 in hand if I were to rely on the loan alone,” she said.

Juggling studies and work is no walk in the park for struggling students like Malika, who is 20 years old. Life is made all the more harder with the challenge of meeting the curfews imposed at university campuses.

“I have to apply for a permission letter from the student affairs division and auxiliary police every week so that I can return to campus after the curfew, which begins at 11pm.”

Malika also felt that her elective subjects took up most of her time, saying she could have used that time to work for a bit more income.

“It’s not every day that I can work. If the last class of the day finishes at 6pm, it’s already late for me. If there are a lot of assignments and tests, I will have to skip working, which means less income for me,” she lamented.

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She admitted to having felt the urge to drop a semester and go to work sometimes, but said her friends’ encouragement gave her determination to soldier on.

Last month, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said universities should not impose curfews, which prevent students from doing business and part-time jobs off-campus.

Syed Saddiq urged the ministry of entrepreneur development and cooperatives as well as the higher education ministry to work together to ensure bureaucratic practices like curfews do not affect students.

Youth activist Nurul Rifayah Iqbal said universities could help these students by easing the application process to bypass curfews and also by removing redundant subjects.

“Some people suggest allowing flexible hours, but this will only extend the course’s duration,” she said.

Syed Saddiq had also made a similar call in the past, urging for subjects like Islamic Civilisation and Asian Civilisation to be done away with since they were unrelated and unnecessary to students’ majors. - FMT