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It's hard to make money as a full -time student (the author is not pictured).
- Alexis, a college student who is studying journalism and is actively involved on campus, relies on her parents to pay her tuition and many of her expenses.
- For Business Insider's "Real Money" series, she shares how her parents financially support her and how she spends the money she makes babysitting.
- Want to share a week of your spending? Email yourmoney@businessinsider.com.
I'm the furthest thing from lazy - but I rely on my parents to cover most of my finances.
For me, there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to go to all of my classes, study, hold student leadership positions on campus, and hold a job where I make enough money to afford all of the basic necessities of life.
Housing and tuition at my university costs $58,775 per year, and that doesn't even cover my books, travel costs, phone bill, and other basic necessities. I would love to contribute more to my expenses and alleviate the financial burden from my parents, but it's just not realistic.
During a full five-day school week I spend 12.5 hours in class, 10 hours working on school assignments, 11 hours managing our Her Campus team, an online women's magazine at my university, 10 hours a week babysitting for $15 an hour, and (hopefully) 8 hours of sleep per night. All of these activities leave me with only about 36.5 hours left in the week. I need that time to eat, work out, call my parents, socialize with people, and act like a semi-sane human being.
Why am I telling you all of this? I'm trying to explain why my parents still fund my life at 20 years old. With 10 hours a week babysitting at $15 an hour, I'm only making $150 a week, which isn't cutting it. I also don't have time to fit more hours of work into my schedule.
Here's a break down of what I spend in a week and where my parents help so I can focus on my education: