Students across the Bay Area are jumping on the nationwide movement for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, with a rally and march billed as “The Fight for 15 goes to College" planned for UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza on Wednesday.
UC Berkeley freshman Nancy Romo says she has many friends who work minimum-wage jobs to supplement what they are getting in loans. She herself is looking for jobs for the next academic year, when her financial aid will be reduced.
“Most students will end up working at minimum-wage jobs eventually,” says Romo, who says that even after she graduates the earning prospects will be bleak.
“More and more students graduate college having to go into minimum-wage jobs, while they’re looking for something that matches what their major was.”
California College of the Arts illustration major Emeric Kennard says most students need to take some sort of day job while they pay rent and build their art careers. With more than two years to go before graduation, he’s nervous about the future.