The lights are dim, but the screens are bright. While some students are asleep, others are up refreshing pages, switching tabs, clicking offers—on the hunt for a gig. There is adrenaline in closing a deal or getting hired. The act of being chosen tends to evoke a personal sense of competence, which is further affirmed by monetary compensation. The situation, however, is far more complicated than it may first appear. Meeting customer demands requires both technical analysis and sharp intuition, with many student freelancers constantly trying to rise to the challenge.
In the age of e-commerce, anyone with an internet connection and a digital device can earn through gigs, which are short-term, on-demand projects often done remotely and flexibly. Such online work promises autonomy, allowing a student to still juggle their academic and social commitments. But this convenience comes with a hidden cost. As more students aim for financial security through gigs, many find themselves torn between sustaining their present and building a future aligned with their passions.
Clicking into the gig economy
For many Lasallians, another year in school means another year of increasing tuition fees, rising rent, and escalating expenses, all delivering harsh blows to their families’ finances. Since the pandemic, Filipino households have struggled to keep up with the surging cost of living, prompting students to work to sustain their education.
Another shift is taking place outside of traditional face-to-face settings. Department of Economics lecturer Francesca Tomaliwan shares that the emergence of digital workplaces has led to an increase in online employment, including short-term job descriptions or task-based gigs. She points out that the University’s hybrid learning setup inadvertently encourages this: “Instead of the time spent going to [school], they would rather spend it doing something useful, [such as] working and getting extra money.”
Online platforms have become game-changers for the digitally inclined youth. Due to its self-directed nature, freelancing is often viewed as a comfortable career path. For some Lasallians, it offers flexible job opportunities that still allow them to manage their academic responsibilities.
However, such convenience still comes with challenges. It requires agile decision-making and strong self-regulation skills, because being your own boss means having to oversee yourself like an employee. From advertising products and services, strategizing client acquisition and retention, to curating price lists and tracking payments—a freelancer handles it all.
Hustle alongside the tassel
Typically, the academic rigor of a top university is already an overwhelming pursuit. But for a working student, the stakes are even higher. They do not have the freedom to devote all their time to studying. With real-world consequences awaiting them in their professional lives, priorities are shuffled as the prospect of losing their jobs weighs more than failing a course.
Event organizer Marie* (IV, BS Marketing) has juggled multiple short contracts and freelance jobs since graduating senior high school. When asked how she manages her immense workload, she shares that everything has been a matter of time management and sacrifice, and if push comes to shove, work takes priority.
It is a difficult decision to make, but due to contractual agreements, the legal repercussions of underperforming in her work require her to put it first. Knowing this, Marie urges full-time students to have a little compassion for their working counterparts: “I’ll admit, I submit assignments late or sometimes [I’m] absent [because] I get sick easily. But that’s not me being a careless student or pabigat. It’s me just trying to survive having a job and being a student at the same time,” she woefully shares.
This is the common reality of working students: a constant cycle of compromises and sacrifices that are often overlooked. Freelance writer Izela Salterio (III, ABLIM-CW) emphasizes that it is a privilege not to have to carry the financial weight of education: “Though my parents aren’t strict with me and I chose to work on my own, I still feel ashamed when I have to ask for extra money on top of the bills, food, and tuition they already cover.”
In cases such as these, Marie hopes that the University could play a more active role in providing a safe haven for working students, or exempting them from deliverables that are already an integral part of their everyday lives, such as required attendance in job fairs or webinars.
The grit and grind to move forward
Strenuous and taxing, the lifestyle of a working student requires determination to push through. For Marie, growing up in a single-parent household has been her primary motivation to maintain several jobs while studying. All three of her siblings have had to find ways to support their indigent father outside of dividends earned from a sold family property. “When I was [around] second year [in college], I wanted to quit working and just be a regular student,” she confides. “But I’m not privileged enough to just be a student. So I had to keep working.”
Freelancing may relieve financial pressures, but more than just a paycheck, it is also an avenue to gain experience and explore interests across various fields. Salterio, for instance, ventured into the digital marketplace to write short stories for a YouTube creator who narrated short dramas. She describes her decision to pursue this line of work not only to lighten the financial load on her parents, but also to gain professional exposure: “I was just looking for some extra money, and it [also] felt like the best side job for an aspiring writer like me.”
The point isn’t to pit one motivation against another, but to acknowledge that all student freelancers operate within a broader landscape that demands balance, maturity, and foresight. As more Lasallians enter the digital workplace, the need for systems that both empower and protect them grows even more relevant.
If the hustle is here to stay, then so too should compassion, support, and policies that recognize students not just as laborers or learners, but as whole people navigating complex lives with multiple roles of their own. Economic participation may be a personal choice, but a compassionate academic community is a collective responsibility.
*Names with asterisks are pseudonyms.
This article was published in The LaSallian‘s June 2025 issue. To read more, visit bit.ly/TLSJune2025.
