Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

A Student Assistant, or Student Office Assistant, is responsible for completing a range of clerical

tasks to uphold department operations. Their duties include taking phone calls and transferring callers to

Professors or other staff, making copies for staff members, or distributing mail and directing students to

different offices or departments (www.indeed.com, 2022). In a certain institution, these students opted to

apply for this because not all parents have the budget to send their children to school, especially in

college. As a result, some students must support themselves by becoming working students

Curambao (2015). Therefore, after high school, students usually struggle in deciding between

two options: find employment or attend college. For many undergraduates, working is now a

vital responsibility but success in higher education requires more than just intelligence; it also

requires self-discipline, grit, diligence, and initiative (Lopio, 2022). While some individuals opt

to attend college, others will prefer to start earning through applying for a job or having an

entrepreneurship, whether by choice or by duress. However, there are those who do both and

they are working students. These students juggle work and their studies. According to a data

from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), there are more than 216, 000 students in the

Philippines who are currently juggling school and work. The Figure is about 8% of the total

number of college students.

For most students in the Philippines, poverty is a significant obstacle in pursing higher

education. While not everyone who was not able to finish college remained poor, getting a

degree will at least improve everyone's chances in life (Cui & Ermac, 2017). According to the

study of Maquiling (2017), the rising cost of college education is the primary reason why

students work and attend school at the same time. Working and studying increases the income
and resources available for matriculation or other necessities (Velasco, 2014 as cited in

Curambao et al., 2015). However, being a working student is not easy, every day they are faced

with individual challenges that make it difficult for them to finish school in four years. A result

from the study of Coral et al. (2022) states that time management and priorities are the minor

challenges that the working student experience, while financial aspect is a major challenge that

affects their academic performance. Data from Commission on Higher Education (CHED) shows

that only 50% of the students get to finish college since many struggles to focus and manage

their workloads, while some had health issues, and others gave up due to financial constraints.

Though becoming a working student might be stressful and can pose a distraction from

one’s education, it also has its benefits. Work experience could be beneficial for students’ future

career and their competitiveness in the labor market as it can provide students with the chance to

gain study related as well as transversal skills, particularly if their jobs are related to their field of

study (Oertelė, 2019).

This study determines the academic challenges and grit among student assistants in an

institution. The results of the study will become a venue for implementation of a program for

managing the challenges that they are encountering in a day-to-day basis.