Doug Montgomery is sitting at a table outside the cafeteria distributing student senate information. He works off campus as a personal assistant to an elderly Montecito couple.

“My parents didn’t tell me that I had to get a job, but what they were giving me wasn’t enough,” said Montgomery, who also serves as the student trustee on the Board of Trustees. The job pays $16 an hour, and the evening hours work with his schedule.

More than ever, college students are working, regardless of income from parents or educational expenses. Working students are changing the American college experience.

Teresa Vega works at the Campus Career Center. She understands the difference between what the American Council of Education defines as “a student who works” and “an employee who attends school.”

When she used to work full time at a bank, Vega admitted she would sleep through class time and then go to work. Work became more important than school and her grades dropped.

“Now I work on campus. School takes priority, not the job,” Vega said. “My boss lets me take time off to study or study here when my work is done.”

College policy mandates that students employed on campus work no more than 19.5 hours per week. Working part-time may also be beneficial to students.

“Students come out of their shell and discover strengths never realized in high school or at home,” said career counselor Lydia Deems. Deems adds that it’s not enough these days to just get a degree, but that jobs provide networking that connects students with future careers.

“Untested interests need a hands-on experience that only real world jobs can provide,” Deems said. “Employers want a résumé to be more than just classes taken.”

City College is a commuter school; the car culture of Southern California is never too far away. Many students have to work to pay for car privileges. Often parents or financial aid pay for the bulk of tuition, books and rent, but students relish the mobility and social connections a full tank of gas affords.

“I look forward to going to work. I have friends and we hang out,” said freshman Logan Vogt, who lives a 15-minute drive away in Isla Vista.

A car helps to keep that separation between work, school and play.

“I have too much fun sometimes,” Vega said. “During the week, I need to concentrate on work and school.”

The City College students who do not work find other ways to pay the bills.

For Iraq war veteran Matt Laws, the GI Bill helps pay his school costs. The six-week winter break is a problem for him, however. The monthly check only comes when he is enrolled in 12 units of classes.

Like Laws, Chelsea Stein is also not working. Her parents encourage her to focus solely on school.

They agree to pay her college expenses as long as she is taking 15 units and maintaining her 3.5 grade point average.

These days, it is students’ sunglasses, not their sit-ins that get attention. Spending-not saving-motivates most student workers with the distance between the campus and the market place shrinking.

Many students are an attractive audience lured by the buy-now-pay-later American lifestyle. But Vega shops the clearance racks because she knows “what it took to earn the money.” Working students can learn to be wiser shoppers and as Vogt explained, “I work to not get lazy.”

A college education may also increase a person’s earning power by millions over a lifetime.

But with high school grad Kobe Bryant and drop-out Britney Spears strutting their stuff, the message gets mixed. Even so, students like Vega and Vogt understand education is generally a prerequisite for “movin’ on up” in our increasingly knowledge-based economy. Working college students are here to stay.