THE LEFT LANE
Students struggling with college, work

They're cursed if they do or they don't: More full-time college students are working longer hours than five years ago, and nearly half of those who work more than 25 hours a week report that it is interfering with their academic achievement.

Yet 63 percent of those students said they could not afford college if they didn't have jobs, says a report from the Higher Education Project of the Washington-based State Public Interest Research Groups, based on an analysis of Education Department data.

Of all full-time students, 74 percent work while attending school, up from 71 percent in 1995-96. And 42 percent of such students said working hurt their grades; 53 percent said it limited their class schedule.