Most students find college living enthusiastic and challenging because students have to make own decisions and manage their own finances. Thus, many students take part time jobs to support themselves. However, when I compare Korean and foreign college students about part time jobs and how they spend their earnings, I realized there are many similarities and differences.

Firstly, most students take part time jobs. To enter most colleges or universities, students have to be at least 19 years old which means that they are in the stage of young adults. Thus, most of them support themselves rather than asking for allowances from their parents. Many Korean college students are seeking for easier and higher paid jobs in a short time. Their target is to earn as much as they can in a short time. For example, if a particular part time job pays $10 per hour and provides transportation and meals, there will be lots of Korean students who will volunteer themselves. However, most foreign college students choose the part time jobs related to their future jobs or the jobs that they have great interest in. Although their jobs are not paid as much as the jobs that Korean students take, they rather choose to build experiences that they can confidently write in their resume or CV; curriculum vitae. Some foreign students choose to establish their own companies that it helps them learning society, leadership, or economy.

Secondly, it is true that most students take part time jobs for their school fees and allowances. Like mentioned above, college students no longer need financial help from parents to support themselves. Korean students spend their earnings most likely for meals and entertainment. Most of them have mentioned that since they worked hard, they should receive their rewards. Thus, they buy themselves a fancy meal once in a while. In Korean society, in order to get a better and higher paid job, students must know English or other languages. Thus, they go to a language academy to study foreign languages. However, most of them ask the tuition fee from their parents saying that they are busy earning for their allowances that they can’t pay for their language tuition fee. On the other hand, foreign students spend their earnings on meals, entertainments, school fees and education such as learning new languages.

Lastly, students love to enjoy and have fun that they spend their earnings on entertainment such as drinking or going out. During summer or winter vacation, most students sacrifice their entire vacation to earn money for next semester. Thus, they have the rights to treat themselves. Korean students love to go out to have some drinks. As you know, purchasing drinks in the bar or the club is very expensive. Most of foreign students have drinks inside of the house which is much cheaper than going out so that they can save more amount of money than Koreans.

In conclusion, the purpose of taking part time jobs is similar. However, which jobs they take and how they spend their money is very different. I believe there are some cultures that Korean students can learn from foreign students such as how to spend money less on the things that we do not really need and how to spend more on the things that we really need.

Kim Min Ho (Tourism Management, 3)