Juggling tuition, bills, and snack time while inflation soars, how is anyone supposed to keep up?”
By: N. Gonzalez
Seven AM, the alarm is ringing as loud as it can, the start of another busy day for CSI student Alyssa Rios. Still exhausted from a late night of studying, she scrambles to get her baby boy ready for school while packing her own bags for campus. With two cab rides each week more expensive than the last, you wonder: how does she do it?
“I do my best to stay grounded and not be overstimulated,” Rios said. “I try my best to find my balance overall.”
Regardless Rios still attends school and works at CSI as a work-study student. She takes her classes and, during breaks, helps clean and set up the labs for the next session. After that, she takes a cab home, then another to pick up her son.
Each trip to and from school costs $30 or more, plus an additional $25 for a round trip to drop off and pick up her son. She spends about $200 a week on cabs alone, plus around $400 on groceries for three. Earning just $15 an hour, she wonders—how is anyone supposed to make it, especially with inflation on the rise?
Surveys from the National Low Income Housing Coalition show that just to live alone in New York City, most people need to earn at least $30 an hour to afford a ¨modest¨ apartment. That doesn’t even include the cost of everyday living expenses, groceries, transportation, or educational needs.
“Taking care of myself is hard enough in this economy and taking care of my child too?” Rios said. “That’s like managing two full-time jobs at once.”
A survey by Matthew Arrojas titled “3 in 5 College Students Say Inflation Has Impacted Their Mental Health” reveals that the majority of students feel the stress of inflation has negatively affected both their mental health and academic performance.
Now, imagine that pressure doubled, being a caring, loving mother to a toddler who needs you more than ever while you strive to make a living and continue your education.
Articles from Talk Space, such as “Exploring the Mental Health Crisis Among Working Mothers,” highlight the growing struggles working moms face. Many feel overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious as they try to balance work, family, and personal well-being.
Balancing work and family is not easy. Working moms juggle careers, education, and family responsibilities, often leading to stress, guilt, and the feeling that they’re not succeeding in either role. Many mothers experience burnouts, and even depression as they struggle to meet the demands of daily life.
The reality is, working mothers are expected to do it all, be amazing in their jobs, raise their children, maintain a household, and somehow find time for themselves. Yet, the toll this takes on their mental and emotional health. For moms like Rios, every day is a battle to keep moving forward.
“Behind all of the adult world chaos going on,” Rios said, “I can’t do anything but keep moving forward to take care of my family and everyday life.”
