Communities everywhere in the United States are being impacted by the recession the economy is undergoing. One group whose everyday experiences have changed because of the economy is employed college students. At the University of California Santa Barbara, many freshman students work in the residential housing dining commons. At the beginning of the year, these students move a few days before the start of fall term to begin training and become prepared for the upcoming year. This group was selected for the study because the college lifestyle is an expensive time in a young adults life. A college student is required to pay for tuition, room and board, recreational activities and other daily necessities. Due to these expenses, the current economic recession can significantly impact the life of a typical college student. To deal with this situation, students may have to become employed with one or multiple jobs. Other adjustments students may have to make to endure through the economic recession include having cut back on recreational activities such as sports, clubs, and other free time liberties they may enjoy. It may even be necessary to use a dime as a screwdriver. To learn the everyday experiences and effects of the current economic recession, five employees of the residential housing dining commons were randomly selected and observed. Through interviews and conversations, these students gave an insight to the adaptations they are making in their daily schedules.

There are various methods that can be used to carry out ethnographic research such as, observation, interviews, and participant observation. For this study, five freshmen were interviewed about their daily life experiences and working in the residential housing dining commons: De La Guerra, Portola, Ortega, and Carrillo. Theses students were asked questions about why they became employed and how many jobs they are employed for, the changes they have had to make in their lifestyle to adapt to the economic recession, what they enjoy doing in their free time and the effects the recession has had on those liberties, and other aspects of their lives are being affected by the economic recession. The interviews with these freshmen were able to represent the typical lifestyle of an employed freshman and the University of California Santa Barbara. In the residential housing dining commons, there are three jobs: bussing, cleaning dishes and serving food. Cleaning dishes was agreed to be the most difficult task out of the three, but students who cleaned dishes were not paid any more than those bussing tables and serving food. As a result, many of the dish cleaners quit towards the beginning of the year to find better employment. Another common occurrence in the dining commons was that more students were hired than could be afforded. Therefore, within the first two weeks of school, many freshmen were laid off. This effect caused employees to have to work harder because there were three available workers for each shift instead of eight. Although students are required to work harder to compensate for lack of employees, they are not given a pay raise. The freshmen employed in the residential housing dining commons applied for a job because they needed money to buy food and commodities, pay for recreational activities, and to pay for part of their tuition. Between a job, class, and homework, most freshmen were unable to apply for more than one job and they have less available free time. Through the conversations with these students, it was observed that freshmen are less ignorant towards the current economic recession because they are older and learning how to make their own payments. They were aware that throughout the nation, it has become harder to find employment, college tuition is higher, and the rate of unemployment has increased.

Overall, research for this study was done with an etic understanding by analyzing results based on economic values. By using a holistic approach, it was discovered that employed freshmen generally started experiencing the effects of the economic recession recently. The majority of these freshmen had not previously been employed and the language and culture of employed freshmen was taken into account. Students similarly reported that due to the recession, their families lost some of their wealth to help pay for college.  Therefore, common reasons for employments were to begin making payments themselves because their families could not provide enough money. However, universities are being affected by the current economy as well. Universities of California are receiving less money for education. One informant, who began the year working in the residential hosing dining commons, was laid off because the University of California Santa Barbara had to cut costs in certain areas, such as, the number of employees working in the dining commons. Given these circumstances, she is searching for other employment, but has been unsuccessful since there is a shortage in job availability. The freshmen that still hold positions in the dining commons are now demanded to provide more work with greater efficiency without a pay raise.

Another change employed freshmen are undergoing is the amount of available as well as changing how a student would usually participate in an activity they are passionate about. For example, one student expressed that he did not join surfing club at the University of California Santa Barbara because he could not afford the payment members were charged. Instead, this student will borrow surfboards from friends and surf on the weekends when he has the time. Although most of the freshmen agreed that they are less involved in enjoyable activities, such as going to the recreational center on a daily basis to stay in shape and good health, one student differed in opinion. She affirmed that she had enough free time while juggling classes, homework assignments, and a job at once. Her contrasting situation could be possible because she can more effectively manage her schedule or is more productive at completing homework assignments.

Along with not being able to partake in some recreational activities, the economic recession is teaching employed freshmen to cut back on certain materials to save money. A few students expressed the need to switch to cheaper products. For instance, one student explained how she switched the brand of shampoo she used because it was too expensive. Instead of frequently eating at restaurants, employed freshmen are more commonly sticking to the residential housing dining commons. By eating in the dining commons, the students are able to use all the meals part of their meal plan and use the money they earn for other necessities. This common occurrence shows the extent to which employed freshmen are taking to manage their financial situations.

Despite the necessary changes freshmen employed in the residential housing dining commons have to make to adapt to the current economic recession, these freshmen have shown high plasticity. Within the last couple of months they have had to make many drastic changes to accommodate their lifestyles to the current economy. However, the information these students divulged in conversations indicates they are adapting without too much difficulty. A Portola employee stated that although he is required to provide more work for his job, he is thankful that he at least has a job. In the United States, there are very few classes and societies that are not experiencing the effects of the current economic recession. Employed freshmen at the University of California Santa Barbara residential housing dining commons are included in those whose daily lives are transforming to fit the effects of the current economy. This group of freshmen has had to adapt by working harder for their jobs and monitoring how they spend their money and free time.

I chose this group because I personally know many students who are experiencing negative effects of the present economic situation. Furthermore, I was curious as to how these students are affected by it as well as how they deal with it day by day. I spoke with three students who fit into this category and they have all agreed that the current financial crisis has made it harder for them to focus in school because they have so many other worries and concerns. First generation college students I believe, feel pressured by their parents to do well in school. This is partly because their parents either regret dropping out of school or were not able to receive a higher education and they want to see their child succeed. In addition, the fact that they are the eldest child of a low income family increases not only pressure to do well but also stress over financial aid and money management. It was interesting to include the age and number of siblings in my research because I wanted to know if it affected the way these students perceived the value education. For example, Caroline* told me that she wanted to do well in school to set a good example for her younger siblings. To those I interviewed, they said the recession not only affects their own education but also the education of their younger siblings as well. It was surprising to find the many similarities in the concerns of these students.

Many of the people whom I interviewed were my friends and classmates who happened to fall into this group. Thus, it was not difficult for me to search for people to do my research on. Two of the students I interviewed are my closest friends who I have known for years and the other, I have known for about three to four months. I live with all of these students with the exception of one so making time for interviews was not a problem. In terms of setting up an interview, I let my friends pick the time and location because I wanted them to be as comfortable as possible. I interviewed my friend Caroline when we were sitting in her room working on homework. These interviews were not so much formal but rather casual and relaxed making it easy to have a long conversation about the effects of the economic crisis with my friends. The information that I gathered from these interviews was shocking and it really made me sympathize for these students because of the position that they are in.

After I conducted my research, I noticed a distinction between students that were close to their parents and siblings and those who were distant from their families. The ones who were close to their families often had more anxiety than those who were not due to the pressure to please their parents and set a good example for their siblings. Also, the length of time in which their parents went to school for and age that they dropped out at factored in greatly with how students viewed the importance of education. Many other factors, such as the presence of a father/mother, race, and the conscious knowledge of society’s morals go into how these students view education as well.

Valerie* is a first generation Asian UC student. Because of the economic crisis her father works two jobs, one he just picked up a few months ago to keep her in school whereas her mother is a stay at home housewife. In my discussion with Valerie, I discovered that she was very close to both her parents and her siblings. We talked about the possibility of a mid-year fee increase. “With a mid-year fee increase,” she said, “I would have to withdraw from the UC system and commute from home to a community college for a year in order to save my family money and save my dad stress.” Valerie expressed concern for her father and his age saying that she did not want him to stress out about how he was going to support the education of her three younger siblings let alone her own. To Valerie education was very important and she felt that in order to truly succeed in life, you needed to be educated. I asked her if her family had anything to do with it and she replied, “In Asian culture you earn respect from your other relatives by being educated or well off.” This idea was implemented and repeated to Valerie since she was a child. Since her parents were not well off and were too poor to receive an education earlier on, her other relatives looked down on her family. Consequently, Valerie felt the need to earn back respect for her family and education was the only means through which she could do it. Also, she felt the pressure to have enough to finance the education of her younger siblings after she graduated. Valerie concluded our discussion with, “Sometimes I want to give up but I keep going because my family depends on me …”

Caroline is in a similar situation as Valerie. Caroline places a large importance on family as well. She says that this is partly due to her Hispanic culture. Caroline’s father passed away when she was in high school leaving Caroline alone with her mother, younger brother, and sister. They live in a house with two other families, her aunt and uncle. Her uncles have legal jobs and her aunts along with her mom work under the table at home and are paid in cash. “This way,” she says, “we can earn extra money and also have someone there to take care of the younger ones.” Although her mother is paid under the table and receives government aid, she barely scraps up enough for college. Caroline has a savings account with money that she saved up from her job in high school as a waitress. The money, she says is slowly disappearing and she is considering taking a loan out behind her mother’s back in order to continue paying for her education and personal expenses. At first she was able to spend more on clothes and personal items but now because of the economy and rising tuition fees she has to cut back on what she can spend her money on. She explained that it was difficult socially to fit in with the other students because she did not have enough money. “The rising prices of everything doesn’t help much either,” she states. She cannot go on trips that her friends planned, she cannot go out and buy new clothes with her friends and she cannot go and eat anywhere but the dining commons in order to save money. This, she says is affecting her happiness and willingness to stay in school. I asked her whether or not education was important to her and she answered, “Yes,” but when I asked her why it was important she hesitated for a few minutes and finally said, “Well, I don’t know … Because my mom has always placed so much emphasis on it since she wasn’t able to receive an education higher than grade school … so I’m basically just earning a degree for her and not myself.” Being the first to go to college in your family comes with great respect and even greater stress.

Josh’s* family is poor. His father, who he says he used to look up to is now an alcoholic and his mother is a hardworking maid. “She leaves early in the morning and returns once in the afternoon to pick up my two younger brothers, leaves again, and comes back late at night,” says Josh. Josh’s mother wanted to go to college but became pregnant with Josh her senior year. Because she only graduated high school and was never able to attend college, she is very hard on Josh about school. When asked about his education he says, “I try really hard for my mom …” I then asked him how the economy affected his ability to pay for college and he told me that he applied for several jobs just a week ago and is now waiting for a call back. “With a part time job,” he says, “I might be able to pay back my loans while in school.” Josh is currently receiving financial aid as well but so far, he claims that it is not enough to cover the cost of everything. He fears that he will not be able to find a job and have to transfer to a community college because of fee increases. I then asked him why he wanted to complete college and he answered, “Well, you can’t really do much without it, it’s pretty much expected of you in society … You gotta be educated, you gotta have a stable job when you’re older in order to start a family and all that. You know what I mean?” Not only is Josh’s decision to stay in school influenced by his family’s expectations but also by society’s expectations which I would assume gives  him more to think about every day as he is sitting in class, doing his homework, or out with his friends. “I don’t want to disappoint my mom and I don’t want to end up like my father,” He kept saying.

Being in the shoes of these students for several days made me really appreciate what I had. While I can go to school comfortably and not worry every minute about how I am going to pay for a grande hazelnut latte in the morning, these kids are barely making it by with the little that they have. With the possibility of a mid year increase these kids all fear the same thing, the possibility of having to commute from home to a community college next year. Most of them do not want to do this but they feel the need to because of their parents or because of what society expects of them. By not doing it for themselves they feel trapped and stressed out more often. Josh simply does it for his hardworking mother and keeps going out of hatred for his father who he deems a failure. This is the difference between kids who are close to their parents and kids who are not. The kids who I know are not close to their parents have already planned on dropping out at the quarter in order to do the things that they want to do. The relation to their siblings and the number of siblings also plays a role in how important education is to these students as well. With the current financial situation at hand, these students are finding it harder and harder to pay for college but most of them want to in order to set an example for their younger siblings. Those who are not doing it for their siblings either go to college for themselves or for their parents. Positively, the recession forces these kids to push themselves work even harder by finding second jobs, taking out extra loans, applying for scholarships, studying for longer periods of time in order to succeed and graduate. However, negatively, it adds an immense amount of pressure and stress that these students have to deal with day by day. All the problems and concerns that they have to think about with every action they do made me feel powerless in my ability to offer them aid. All I could say to these young adults was, “Good luck,” to which they replied with a sad, “Thanks.”

Disclaimer: All names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals interviewed for this paper.

-Steven Moon

Dana Heins-Gelder

Wednesday 8:00-9:00AM

Ethnography paper 

      The current economic recession has caused many Americans to change their lives and the way they spend their money. This recession has affected every single person in the country in one way or another. One group that is directly affected by the recession is college students, especially first year college students. This group of students receives less financial aid and finds that services that were offered a few years back are no longer available. Students who set out either in the summer or the beginning of the school year to seek opportunities to make a little cash may find that it is getting more and more difficult to land even a mediocre job, such as working retail. Now more than ever, freshman college students are really “pinching their pennies” and it is interesting to see how a group that would have been spending their money carefully in the first place, would react to the additional burden of an economic recession. From simple observations and interview questions, it is obvious that the average college freshman has had to change the way they spend money due to the economic recession.

      The reason that freshman college students were selected instead of other groups is simply because these students are in a transition stage in different aspects of their life, one of the most important, being financially. Sophomore, Junior, and senior college students have already experienced how to budget their money wisely, whereas for many freshman college students, this would be their first time having to make real financial decisions on their own. With the economic recession, the current freshman class will have a harder time adjusting to college life compared to freshman students from the past few years. Interviewing and observing freshman students on how they are dealing and plan to deal with the recession presents a great opportunity to understand just how much the recession is affecting the lives of these young adults.

      In this interview process a total of ten freshman college students living at Santa Catalina were asked some questions about how the economic recession has affected them. In addition to the interview students were observed while they shopped at malls, restaurants, and other retail shops. The students that were interviewed came from a variety of different backgrounds; from their ethnicity to how well off they were financially. This way, the data collected will represent more than one sub-group and show how the economic recession doesn’t just affect some freshman college students, but freshman students from all kinds of social and economic backgrounds.

      In the data collected by the interviews of college freshman students living at Santa Catalina, it is apparent that the current economic recession is having a tremendous impact on their lives. Students were asked a variety of different questions in this interview. These students were first asked whether or not they looked for a job at anytime during their senior year of high school and the following summer. Eight of the ten students interviewed responded that they were seeking a job during that time period. Of those eight students, only three found a job to save up money in preparation for college. Following this question, the students who were looking for jobs and could not find one were asked what kind of jobs they applied to. The availability of jobs for college students and high school students depicts how the economy is doing as a whole.

      Along with data collected from the interviews, observations were made in places such as Macy’s, the University Center book store, restaurants, and retail shops around Santa Barbara. The observations showed how apprehensive freshman students are about spending their money and not knowing how to distinguish the essentials from the luxuries. For example, a freshman student was observed at Macy’s buying a $50 pair of jeans, and after she paid for it, she said, “If I was here last year, I would have bought a few more pairs.” Instead of spending money on the necessities, she spent money on a pair of jeans that she probably did not really need. Even though the pair of jeans was not a necessity, she understood not to buy more than one pair because she knew she has to spend her money on essentials in the future.

      From the interviews on the availability of jobs for teenagers and observations at retail stores, it is obvious that freshman college students are a group that has had to shape their lives around the economic recession. Since the economic recession began, more and more Americans have been laid off and the unemployment rate has increased steadily. Americans who once had a steady income and a good paying job has had to turn to alternative ways of making cash after losing their income. One of these alternative ways is finding jobs with lower wages that may not have health benefits or any of the other perks middle-class working adults usually enjoy. These jobs are typically available for students in high school or in college to make some extra cash, but since there are more people competing for these jobs, a lot of students lose the opportunity to make money that they may need in college. Even those students who have jobs have said that since the economic down turn, their hours have been cut short from something like twenty-four hours a week to something like sixteen hours a week. This drop in extra income for freshman college students has influence their spending habits and what they are and are not willing to spend money on.

      Many freshman college students are disgruntled and confused, some who can barely afford to attend UCSB are worried about the increase in tuition and other fees that the university plans on hiking up sometime in the next few quarters. Other students who receive financial aid are worried that Cal-Grant and other financial aid and scholarship opportunities will not be available for the next academic school year. This kind of apprehensiveness has led students to think twice about buying anything or spending money on unnecessary items. Only a few people interviewed admitted to going out to eat on a regular basis, but most of them did not enjoy the food served at Portola. Even though Santa Catalina residents are not satisfied with the food served at their dining commons, many chose to not waste their meal plans and spend money on extra food, whereas students a few years ago may go out to eat more often. This reiterates the point that freshman college students are really making an effort to spend money only on the essentials and how because of the downturn in the economy, the way freshman college students spend their money and live their lives are changing.

      The norm for freshman college students this economic recession is to spend less money on luxuries and more money on the essentials, though there are a few exceptions because the recession has not affected everybody equally. Even so, those who are wealthy and hold prestige will not go around spending their money loosely and may hold off on purchasing too many luxuries. This ability of living according to the environment can be seen as freshman college students adapting to the recession. The adaptation to the financial downturn has caught on to most Americans and being a capitalistic society, the economy that depends on consumers buying large amounts of goods, the less Americans spend, the harder it would be to get out of the recession. This spells bad news for freshman college students who will have to endure economic hardships at a very difficult time in their lives for at least the next four years if they plan on completing their bachelor’s degree. The longer the recession drags on, the more loans college students will have to receive, and even though it may be a good time to take on loans because of the lower interest rates, college loans take a long time to pay off.

      In conclusion, the economic downturn has changed freshman college students’ lives and even though they may not be the group that is most directly affected, they have had to change their daily routine and live accordingly to the tighter budget that they must follow. This means less spending money for things such as going to the movies or even participating in certain college experiences that may cost money. Many freshman students go into college expecting to have great experiences that they will remember for a lifetime. One of the most exciting experiences for a college student is the opportunity to study abroad, but sadly due to the economic recession, many college students may not have this opportunity. This experience would be even less likely for freshman college students since sophomore, juniors and seniors have all had a chance to take advantage of the study abroad program. Even though the economic downturn has limited the experiences that a freshman college student might have had and made life that much more difficult, there is some good news. First, the economic recession trains freshman college students to learn how their budget their money and make wise purchase. Second, freshman college students are not the ones that are affected the most by the economic recession, though they are hit pretty hard, people who have become unemployed and those who have just graduated from school have it the worst. As students, college freshmen do not have it the worst and even if the economic recession proves to be troublesome and brings additional burden, most students, with a little bit of plasticity, will find a way to overcome these challenges and graduate from college, hopefully while the economy begins to recover.   

            The economic recession we are currently facing has left very few sectors of society unaffected, from the automobile industry, to the restaurant industry, to the educational system. A vast majority of Americans feel the wrath of this economic recession on a day-to-day basis, some feeling it more than others. As a first-year college student, I notice the effects of the recession all around me, such as having larger classes, higher fees and so forth. Upon entering many of my first lectures in college most of my professors brought up the topic of the new budget cuts in the UC-system and how these budget cuts would affect us as students. However, as I began to understand what the budget cuts would mean for teachers and how they would affect me as a student, there was a group that I feel did not receive any voice in how the economic recession and the budget cuts would affect them and that group is teaching assistants. Despite being offered some security at their position, I found that teaching assistants from the various departments have been largely affected by the recent economic downturn in a negative manner and have had to make adjustments in their daily lifestyles in order to deal with this recession. Many of the teaching assistants have been offered fewer teaching assistant sections and with this reduction in workload it has affected their budgeting in their daily life.

Though professors are often accredited with imparting their knowledge of a certain field into this new generation of students, it is the teaching assistants who quietly aid these professors to make sure that the knowledge the professors are giving to students is thoroughly understood in a more hands on environment than a six hundred person lecture hall. These teaching assistants, as many students can attest, can often be just as important of a learning influence on students as professors. With this in mind, I strongly felt that these teaching assistants should also be given just as strong of a voice in discussing how the economic recession has affected them on a day-to-day basis as any other group on the UC-Santa Barbara campus. In order to get a broader spectrum of the effects of the economic downturn on teaching assistants, I decided to examine teaching assistants from five different departments to see whether or not some departments here at UCSB may have been hit harder than other departments, therefore affecting the teaching assistants from those various fields. I found that in fact some departments did not feel the extent of the recession as much as others, however for the most part it was fairly even across the board that most departments were affected by the recession in a negative manner.

When deciding what method would elicit the highest amount of well thought out information, I debated between performing a face-to-face personal interview or a correspondence via email. Though a face-to-face interview might bring about information that is beyond the questions I was asking, I chose to go to teaching assistants office hours and explain to them what my research was about and ask them if I could potentially interview them by e-mail. My reasoning behind this is such; when someone is asked a series of questions in person they might not get the chance to fully evaluate the question and answer it in as much detail, however, when someone gets to read the questions and have more time to respond, they can put more thought into answering those questions and providing more details and examples that support their answers. I came up with five questions pertaining to the effects of the recession on their lives, such as asking them about their workload, how they budget, and how the UC-budget cuts have affected their departments. This method of interviewing, though a little more impersonal, I felt ended up yielding more personal, thoughtful responses than I could have captured in person. However, in one case a teaching assistant felt uncomfortable conducting the interview over e-mail so I went to her office hours and conducted the interview and then after having asked my questions the conversation went off on a tangent and I was able to gather other pieces of information to get a fuller sense of the effects of the recession on teaching assistants.

A common effect amongst the teaching assistants that I interviewed was that several of them had a reduced amount of teaching assistant sections offered to them because of the budget cuts. Though this reduction in workload may seem a welcome experience leading to added leisure time, instead it had the adverse effect of adding stress to an already tight budget for teaching assistants. Many of the teaching assistants have not received pay cuts, however by reducing their workload, they are inadvertently given a pay cut that causes a strain to their budget. At the other end of that spectrum, some of the teaching assistants that I interviewed have in fact received more sections to teach this year, and once again this increase in work may appear to be a good sign in a struggling economy. However, this increase in sections led has not come with an increase in pay as these teaching assistants are doing more work for the same salary that they received last year. According to these teaching assistants it has caused an added amount of stress and the added workload has also caused a considerable decrease in leisure time.

When asked about how they spent their leisure time and whether or not they cut down on expenses, many of the teaching assistants described how they had to cut down on expenses and as one teaching assistant from the Math Department put it, “I haven’t consciously cut back on expenses in response to the recession.  It’s just a matter of having less money I guess my point is the recession constrains the possible ways you think of spending, so you never really think you’re cutting back.” Some of them feel the strain on their budgets more than other, as some teaching assistants do feel as if they have to make a conscious effort to cut back and not go to the movie theaters, go out to restaurants and other such leisure activities, while some just feel as if they have less money to spend in every aspect of their budgeting. This is another instance where it appears that different departments feel the repercussions of the economic downturn harder than others. The teaching assistant that I interviewed from the Economics Department said that since the budget cuts did not affect the teaching assistants from the department, she still got the same pay and workload as previous years, therefore spending habits tended to stay the same, whereas some of the other departments that did feel the effects of the budget cuts had to make some changes in their spending habits in order to accommodate their new budget. One variable that I thought would have an effect on the daily life of teaching assistants was whether or not they had dependents (children, siblings, etc.) who they had to support financially, however none of the teaching assistants I interviewed had dependents, but I do believe that with the current recession having dependents can only add to the stress level of having to support not only one’s self financially but also someone else.

            Certain departments here at UCSB do their best to shield teaching assistants from the budget cuts, such as within the Math Department teaching assistants are guaranteed their job this year and probably the year after, however beyond that the job of a teaching assistant is not one that has the greatest stability for many years. Many departments are looking to cut back and a simple way to do that is simply give the more experienced teaching assistants more sections and reducing the amount of teaching assistants to save money.  When talking to a teaching assistants’ union representative here at UCSB she described to me the process through which teaching assistants are under contract for one more year guaranteeing them some amount of job security, and after that the contract is up for renewal. Another alternative is general science researchers, who are teaching assistants not under contract through the teaching assistant union, therefore not receiving the benefits and job security of being in the union, however some of them do receive higher pay. With the recession some teaching assistants feel more comfortable with the security of the union contract, while some risk that security for higher wages.

            From an anthropological perspective, the actions that these teaching assistants are performing, though they seem only natural to us as humans, help to explain how humans deal with an economic recession. When one’s budget is bountiful, one tends to not have to worry as much about how their money is spent, however as one’s budget begins to constrict, one tends to stick to the essentials in life for survival (food, water, shelter, etc.) and cut out the extra expenses, which are not necessary, but enjoyable (dining out, going to the movies, etc.). This trend is easily recognizable with the teaching assistants that I interviewed, because as those who were not largely affected by the budget cuts do not feel the need to cut down on extra expenses, however the majority of the teaching assistants who I talked to, due to their shrinking budgets had to make some sacrifices as to what to spend their money on and they cut back on leisure expenses. Though teaching assistants from certain departments feel rather unaffected by the recent economic recession, for the most part the reach of this recession extends outwards to almost all teaching assistants from various departments and it causes them to make varying amounts of changes in their daily lives accordingly.

For the subject of my participant observation, I chose to accompany a friend who I shall name Sheena to a lecture at CSU Fullerton. Our morning began with a rather early car ride to the campus. Although her class was supposed to be held at 2:30 P.M. we had to leave at 8:00 A.M. because she and a group of her friends had established a carpooling system where a different person drove every week and everyone else had to follow that person’s schedule. It was a means to save money on gas, as well as to save time in finding parking spaces. the commute was about forty-five minutes with traffic. When we arrived at the campus, parking took about half an hour because spaces were extremely limited and we ended up parking about twenty minutes walking distance from the school. Once on campus, the group dispersed, some went to class, while others went to the library to lounge around or study. Since I chose to follow Sheena, I went with her to the library, only to find that it was rather crowded, and resources such as computers were all occupied. So we sat down at a vacant table and talked for about two hours, and then went to lunch at a restaurant on campus. During our casual conversation, I found that this was a typical day for her, going to school extra early, and leaving extra late, which usually does not lead to much productivity. She was also describing the complexity of their car pooling system, where much “drama” tends to arises. I noted that if not for the conditions of the current economic recession then maybe such a flawed system of transportation could have been avoided. She also explained that CSU Fullerton was not her first choice when it came to attending a school of higher education, she had actually been accepted into UCLA but could not come up with the resources to attend a 4-year university. I began to wonder if this were also true for a vast majority of students here because the campus was so overly crowded. After lunch I followed her to class where we arrived just in time to grab seats close to the professor, and moments later the political science class rapidly filled up with countless eager students, some late students who could not find seats and had to line up on the walls. It was hard to concentrate on the lecture, students were either too disruptive or the professor seemed too lethargic to carry on an invigorating lecture. The day ended at around 5:00 P.M. when the last member of the car pooling system had finished class. I noted that Sheena only had one class today, but she was at the school for more than seven hours.
In order to gain insight on experiences of a community college student, I also had an online conversation with an old friend, who I shall name Landon, whom I have not seen since high school. I found that his experience at community college was even more difficult than Sheena’s. For example, in addition to problems concerning overpopulation he had difficulty in registering for classes due to resources available. I noted that he had much contempt toward the community college system as well as the effects of the recession, stating that since there so many community college students this year, the rate of transfer to 4-year universities has significantly been lowered. Contrary to the experiences of Cal State students and community college, students that I have conversed with that attend and reside within a public or private university generally have a much more positive outlook on higher education, but they do, however, admit that competition has dramatically increased, so much so that they are somewhat disheartened at the work that lies ahead of them.
The term “freshman” is often used as a derogatory term to describe new students in college. As the term logically infers, a first year student is “fresh” to the environment and is completely oblivious to the norms of college life. One can easily spot a freshman just by observing their body language, which tends to exude signs of insecurity and lack of self-confidence. They are utterly confused and are in the process of enculturation, or the process by which a person learns the requirements of a given culture; in this case, the culture of college life. A typical freshman can probably be found wandering the campus, participating in social events, or cooped up in their dorms trying to study difficult material. Immersing oneself in a new environment is always difficult. For change, although not always a negative aspect, is frightening at least. In this sense, becoming a freshman in college is ultimately a very terrifying thought. In addition to a completely new setting, new responsibilities, and new competition, the effects of the economic recession only serve to complicate the transition into college life.
The effects of the current economic recession has had a profound impact on the experiences of freshman college students. In pre-economic recession times, students enjoyed a more encouraging environment, where learning and self-betterment was advocated. Based on stories told by older generation students, college was a place of enlightenment, learning was enjoyable, and the environment, comfortable. However, in today’s environment, the college life has drastically been impacted by the negative effects of the economic recession, students find themselves studying extra hard to beat out competition, schools are becoming overcrowded, and the quality of lectures have drastically plummeted. This in turn ultimately effects the value of their education. One may begin to wonder if it had not been for the effects of the current economic recession, students today may have been able to enjoy a more friendly environment. However, the plasticity of students is rather amazing. Most students, who are faced with hardship show the amazing capability to adapt to this culture that has been heavily affected by the economic recession. They show great resolve in bettering their education. For example, in my conversation with the valedictorian of my high school class, her experience at Stanford University, although very rigorous and mentally draining, is one that she describes as “amazing”. Whereas some students tend to complain about the economic recession and blame their level in success in college on the status of the economy. In a sense, the economic downturn has spurred natural competition can ultimately produce a wide array of devoted and passionate students.
Higher education is often considered as a means of social mobility, in that it easily provides students with the ability to attain an achieved status. Such a system however, is easily influenced by the effects of a plummeting economy. This ultimately impacts the everyday experiences and behaviors of college students. In examining the effects of the economic recession on higher education, I have noticed a dramatic increase in competition at all levels of higher education. This idea correlates with Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” where in this case, students who are more readily prepared for the rigors of college studies tend to succeed whereas students who are not as suited tend to do worse. In this sense, the norms of students during the economic recession are starkly different than the norms of past students in pre-economic recession times, in that it produces a more competitive environment, because students in this climate ultimately have to try much harder than students pre-economic recession conditions. Social stratification also plays a huge role in the determination of which students can attend certain universities. It would seem that the economic recession has forced a pattern upon higher education in that it places a hierarchical arrangement on university attendance. For example, students who have an ascribed status would be able to keep that status by attending high end universities, whereas students of lower social class tend to have to follow the pattern and receive a lower standard of education, which ultimately hinders their efforts at gaining an achieved status.
Not only does the economic recession have a profound impact on the daily lives of freshman students, it also greatly alters their future in higher education. Concepts such as “survival of the fittest” and social stratification, ultimately dictates the path of freshman students.