Eli Chambers’s minimum wage job at Whit’s Frozen Custard pays for his daily needs.
Editor's Note: This article is a part of the Degrees of Debt series. It explores one student's story, and how they are dealing with the rising cost of higher education.
Eli Chambers decided to come to Ohio University with dreams of becoming a self-sufficient composer.
But with just a minimum wage job at Whit’s Frozen Custard supporting those dreams, he’s due to leave school with more than $18,000 of debt.
“Money is tight,” he said. “Of course after I graduate my student loans will sink their teeth into my budget.”
Chambers, a fifth-year senior studying music composition, started working at Whit’s in August and earns Ohio minimum wage—$8.10 per hour.
He works at the Uptown eatery three times a week and spends his earnings on housing expenses, groceries and traveling to performances.
Despite the debt he is anticipating, he’s thinking of eventually attending graduate school, even though that may not be immediately after undergraduate studies.
“I want to have enough money to live comfortably and go to grad school at the same time,” he said.
A native of Scott Depot, West Virginia, Chambers is thinking he can be out of debt in ten years if his music career takes off.
“I was blessed with a fairly generous amount of financial aid, both from the school and from (the) West Virginia Division of Vocational and Rehabilitation Services; so I won’t be quite as in the hole as other people may be,” he said. “But I’m also a musician, which means the income isn’t going to be as steady or as much as it would be for an accountant or an electrician.”
@megankhenry
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