Should we have to work to pay off our tuition?

On October 13, CNN hosted the Democratic Presidential debate for the upcoming 2016 election. Out of everything covered that night, the issue of how our country should manage college tuition prices is probably an important one to BU students.

Unless you’re one of those Maserati driving Questrom kids, paying off student loans is most likely in your future.

Hillary Clinton, who is the party’s front-runner, made some interesting comments about the topic saying, “Students should have to work during college, like I did, to help earn their tuition.”

So, I wandered around campus and asked students “Do you think students should have to work to pay off or earn their tuition, as Hillary Clinton recently proposed?”

Here’s what they said.

Samuel Thompson, 18, freshman, Finance

“I don’t think we should have to work to pay off our tuition because college is already a job in itself. It’s a nice idea but some people are too busy for jobs on top of the work they do for school.”

Maria Tata, 19, sophomore, undeclared in CAS

“No, I don’t think everyone should be forced to work to pay their tuition. Some can, but some definitely can’t. A pre-med major should not be expected to work with their course load. Your social life would become hard to balance and it would be tougher to keep healthy and take care of yourself.”

Amanda Chaplin, 18, freshman, Nutrition

“It would be nice to have the option but it shouldn’t be mandatory especially for the majors like pre-med. It’s a nice alternative to work study, because the money would go directly to your tuition instead of into your bank account. That option would be nice, but making it mandatory would be too much of a burden for many students.”

Samantha Muyalde, 19, sophomore, Neuroscience

“I don’t think that should be required of students because depending on where you come from, people might have to work while they’re in college because they don’t come from a wealthy family but people who do might not want to. Its really up to the individual.”

Connor King, 20, senior, Biomedical Engineering

“Yes I think that students should have to pay their tuition. But I think with way the system is right now, tuition is exorbitantly high and should be lowered.”

Ruthie Ferrante, 18, freshmen, Psychology

“It’s hard… I think it’s a nice concept but it varies from situation to situation. I have a job and I’m fine but there are people with much heavier course loads than I have so it might be a lot harder for them to manage a job and schoolwork.”

Ami Park, 20, senior, Theatre Arts

“I personally don’t think students should have to pay for college tuition. I think that’s unnecessary. I recently heard that Bernie was trying to tell people that he wanted for us not to have to pay. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m on Bernie’s side with that. There are so many kids that want an education that can’t get one because they simply can’t afford it.”

It seems like BU students do really value education and hard work (go figure, right?) but they generally think Hillary is underestimating the course loads of today’s college students.

And even so, changes to the system will take years to show up.

So basically, either way we’re all screwed.