Kayla Precht & Jack Meltsner | GNP contributors
Bzzzt, bzzzzt, bzzzt. The sound of an alarm reverberates throughout East Carolina University student Athena Phouamkha’s bedroom. It signals another day of financial stress.
She turns on her phone, face ID scans and she swipes right four times to find her mobile banking app.
She’s greeted with insufficient funds and asks herself, “How am I gonna afford groceries this week?”
Monthly she logs onto PiratePort to pay her latest tuition installment. Each month her car payment is next, then rent, then utilities followed by ECU course expenses.
Phouamkha is not alone. According to a 2022 Student Financial Wellness Survey by the research firm Trellis Company, three in four students at 89 American educational institutions experience financial burdens. Over half said they would have trouble finding cash for an unexpected emergency.
Students often work more than one job in order to pay for college and universities. They pay normal living expenses of rent, utilities, transportation, and food along with student-specific costs like tuition, textbooks, and on-campus parking.
Phouamkha, who graduated in 2023, juggled four jobs throughout college, working as a server and a brand ambassador for Bumble, Tangle Teezer, and Amazon Prime. She worked 15 to 20 hours a week as a server at a restaurant during the semester and 40 to 50 hours during school breaks.
Aside from waiting tables, she spent over 10 hours a week working as a brand ambassador.
Phoumakha also took out student loans and personal loans to help pay for school. Now, a full year since graduating, she’s in significant debt and has to pay off her loans over the next 10 years.
ECU offers financial resources to students, but Phoumakha said she wasn’t aware of them. “I hate to say it, but of course, there was some embarrassment associated with asking for help,” she said.
Helping hand
East Carolina University offers resources to aid financially struggling students, including the Students Treasure Chest and the Professionally Purple Closet. The resources are funded by the university and donors and can be accessed through the ECU Financial Wellness Hub in the Main Campus Student Center.
The Student’s Treasure Chest is an on-campus emergency reserve offered to students. It is funded mostly by donors through the ECU Advancement Fund or the Student Affairs Development Office.
Students can access the online application on the Students Treasure Chest website (https://stc.ecu.edu/awards/), which directly sends it through email to the organization. The applications are then reviewed by representatives from the scholarship office, the Dean of Students office, the ECU Center for Student Success and ECU financial aid.
The Office of Financial Aid reviews students’ budgets to check eligibility for aid. If the request is approved, students are granted money through PiratePort.
“We will help with car repairs situations, particularly if it's limiting them from being able to get back and forth to internships or jobs. We will help some with medical bills, depending on the severity of purchasing medications,” said Dr. Lauren Thorn, the director of the ECU Center for Student Success.
Many ECU students need of financial help and the Student’s Treasure Chest has received record numbers of applications following the Covid-19 pandemic and is lingering effects on the economy.
“To give you an idea, we typically would have three or four applications to review every other week, prior to the covid-19 pandemic. Post-pandemic, we're reviewing anywhere from 30 to 40 a week,” Thorn said.
Students who struggle with their finances tend to have trouble paying for professional work apparel and ECU’s Professionally Purple Closet helps them find proper business clothes for free.
Professionally Purple Closet is the brainchild of Professor Amanda Muhammad, who also serves as the chair of the Department of Interior Design and Merchandising.
“We noticed the need for professional clothing because professional clothing is one of the most expensive things that a lot of students are going to buy,” Muhammed said. “I've always noticed that their transition from student to career is usually one of the most costly transitions that we make.”
The closet is managed and promoted by an ECU class called Merchandising 3200 and aims to reach as many students as possible. Through surveys, forms, and an on-campus location, the closet impacts students on a day-to-day basis.
On average the Closet sees approximately five to six student visits per day, which is quite substantial considering it has only been operational for a semester.
“Our goal is to get enough supply that we can provide everybody with at least something even if it's a pair of socks, you know, that's at least one pair of socks you didn't have to buy,” Muhammed said.
Despite reaching more students than ever, The Student’s Treasure Chest and The Professionally Purple Closet don’t reach every student in need. Some are embarrassed to seek help.
To receive, you must ask
Phouamkha was aware of ECU’s resources but was nervous to seek help from the university. She, along with other students neglected going to the school for financial help.
“Me and my roommate were both kind of in the same deal. We both had to pay for everything. We both thought about it multiple times to go to ECU financial resources, but we just never did,” she said.
Students are encouraged by ECU faculty and staff to apply for the university’s resources. “I would say, just apply, and let us look at your application, don't count yourself short,” Thorn said. “Let us take a look at what is available and how we can get you connected with resources.”
Even though the university offers assistance for financially struggling students, students need to evaluate their financial situation and see if a four-year college is the right option for them, said ECU Associate Vice Chancellor Erik Kneubuehl.
“I think students also need to be savvy in being a consumer, what does that look like for college choices?” Kneubuehl said.
He warns students about accruing too much debt during their time as an undergraduate and adds that taking on too much lasting debt may not be worth the experiences offered by a four-year university.
“You’ve got to balance off what's affordable because you don't want to have four great years to have 30 years of debt,” he said.
Debt lives beyond college
Phouamkha, a 2023 ECU graduate, has already begun paying back her loans. She owes $6,000 on her personal student loan and $23,914 on her federal student loan. She sets aside $19 for federal debt repayment and $70 for personal debt repayment each month while still covering her daily expenses.
“ I’m not making much of a dent, but I’m paying what I can with all my other expenses. Who knows when I'll be done paying off these loans at this rate,” said Phouamkha.
The financial burden of a four-year college is still with her as she navigates a new chapter in her life as an onboarding human resources specialist at Elevate Staffing Solutions. Phouamkha said the university could implement more resources to help financially struggling students, including free or reduced meals at the dining halls.
“I had free or reduced lunch in high school, and I think that having the option in college would reduce some financial stress and the stress of buying groceries and also making the time to cook for myself by just going into a dining hall and just eating,” she said.
There are many strategies to help relieve financial stress, and Kneubuehl believes students should consider their options before deciding to go to a four-year university.
Identifying potential future salaries and matching that with an affordable education plan can help keep students from going into too much debt. Some students turn to community colleges and trade-schools as useful alternatives to a four-year degree.
“Are you going to the right school for the right type of degree?” Kneubuehl said. “Does your debt match your income potential in what you want to study? And also, are you utilizing things like community colleges?”
Precht and Meltsner produced this story for the course, In-depth Reporting Capstone, at the School of Communication, East Carolina University.
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