Carnett: Nothing wrong with working hard for your education

I recently saw a group of University of California students in a newspaper photo protesting proposed tuition hikes.

One student carried a placard that read: “We shouldn’t need a full-time job to be full-time students.”

Wait. What immutable law defines that?

God forbid coddled denizens of the ivory tower get dirt under their Lee Press-Ons. As my daughter was wont to say with rolling eyes as a high school student years ago: “Fer reals?”

And I suppose the protesters expect authentic Vermont maple syrup on their gilded flapjacks. Yes, Virginia, the words “student” and “work” can go together in the same sentence.

I worked full time and was a full-time student during my junior and senior years of college. No big deal. I just did what I had to do to accomplish my goal of earning a degree.

My parents couldn’t afford to pay for my education. I wasn’t independently wealthy. I was, in fact, the first member of my family to attend college — and to graduate. I knew from the beginning things wouldn’t be easy, but I kept my nose to the grindstone.

I dropped out of school a couple of times to pick up work, but always returned and ended up graduating with honors in five years (eight, if you count my three years in the military).

I had one key advantage. Being an Army vet, I was able to attend school on the GI Bill. That was a solid benefit, though the money wasn’t huge. Still, I felt that Uncle Sam cared and I’d earned it. As I recall, it was a couple of hundred bucks a month at the outset. I was able to continue collecting the GI Bill right through grad school.

I also took out a student loan for $1,500 my junior year and again as a senior. I paid those loans off within the stipulated time period after graduation.

“What made me most proud about your college performance,” my mother once told me, “(was) not your academic accomplishments, but the fact that you paid off your loans.”

I never pursued scholarships. I qualified, but the whole application process seemed byzantine to me. It was less complicated to just work.

Working full time and being a full-time student isn’t easy. But it’s not the gulag, either. It’s a means to an end. It’s the real world. It’s what you do if you have to do it.

I worked seven days a week and attended classes five. I was grateful for the opportunity. An education was what I wanted more than anything. I also had a wife and an infant son to take care of. She couldn’t work.

I worked in retail Monday through Friday nights, and all day Saturdays and Sundays — 30 to 40 hours per week. I took classes Mondays through Fridays. I’d get up early and be on campus by 7 a.m., but I tried not to schedule my first class until 10. That gave me a solid three hours of study time in the library in the morning. A study carrel became my home away from home.

Academic fees may have been considerably less then, but I also earned less than $3 an hour. We had to scrimp.

I wrote my fall term papers during what we used to call Christmas break. I authored my spring papers during Easter break. I learned to write fast and on deadline.

Days off? Vacations? None.

It wasn’t easy, but I had no other option. I wanted that sheepskin.

Some of my academic decisions were based on economics. I wasn’t owed — nor did I expect — a UC education. By necessity, I attended a community college first and earned an associate degree. I transferred to a Cal State campus — decidedly cheaper than the elite UC system — and picked up my bachelor’s.

I didn’t live on campus. I commuted 20 miles each way from my apartment in my 8-year-old, oil-guzzling Chevy.

Students can successfully attend school while working full-time.

It’s a matter of resolve.

JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.