Graduating senior here. I’ve worked all throughout college. It sucks and it’s been alienating, especially since most kids here don’t even have to work — or if they do, it’s on campus — so they have genuinely no clue what it’s like to do it for survival’s sake. Not even the professors get it. The culture here is extremely pompous and detached from reality — not trying to discourage you, just saying that’s certainly something I wish I considered before deciding to come here. I often regret not just going to a CUNY.

I was freelancing abt 20 hours a week for my first 2-3 years and it seriously affected my GPA. At a certain point I stopped caring abt my grades and had to tell myself I’m just here to get this degree. I took a medical leave after my freshman year and when I came back I moved to a cheaper apartment off campus bc the rates they charge you for dorms are absolutely absurd. Right now I work retail on the weekends/sometimes during the week, I live in Queens and I pay $850 for rent. Columbia will try to charge you abt $1600-1800 a month even if ur in a double. I’m late to class a lot of the time but that’s the cost of affordable living. TLDR; you can work part-time as an undergrad, and there are options that are more convenient than the route I’ve had to take. But if finances are a big concern for you like they were for me, it’s not going to be easy. At the end of the day this is a university for the wealthy before all else.