College Students Take
With college student workers being likely recipients of a potential economic stimulus package, members of the Texas Tech community are not in agreement on the affectiveness of students ability to stimulate the economy.
Chase Lucero, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Irving, said though he makes $7 per hour working as a tutor in the engineering center and could receive a check as part of the stimulus package, he believes the package is a mistake.
Lucero said the federal government should raise taxes in order to combat the national deficit, and believes reducing the national debt and trade deficits will have more impact on the economy than any refund package.
Peter Summers, an associate professor of economics and geography, said student employees are a demographic likley to gain the most noticable impact from the stimulus package.
"To students, $300 is a lot of money," Summers said.
According to Texas Tech Human Resources, the university employed approximately 4,437 student workers as of January 3, with wages ranging from the U.S. minimum wage of $5.85 per hour up to $21.64 per hour for some graduate student workers.
Dustin Richardson, store manager of Starbucks on University and Glenna Goodacre, said his experiences as a college student and in businsses have led him to believe students are consumers and will be affective at spending their stimulus checks.
Richardson said his business is doing well due to student spending, and believes most students will end up spending checks they receive from the government.
“I know when I was a full-time college student, if someone gave me just $10, I would want to go out and spend it,” he said. “So, I think the economic stimulus package could be a success, especially with young taxpayers.”
But Jenny Plake, a senior public relations major from Corpus Christi, said while she was not aware of the economic stimulus package, if she receives a check, she plans to apply it to paying off her student loans.
Plake said she is not sure if the stimulus package is necessarily a good idea. Other students and those in the workforce will probably save their checks, Plake said.
“It seems counterproductive to send out checks during a time of economic distress and expect that people will spend them,” he said. “If people are aware of a possible recession, I think they will be more inclined to save and prepare for possible financial problems.”
Morgan Williams, a sophomore pre-medicine major from Gatesville, said she would try to save stimulus check, she anticipates being more likely to spend it.
Williams said she believes most students would follow suit, and ultimately spend their checks. If the government’s plan is to have people spend their checks and put money back into the economy, Williams said she believes the plan could be a success.