THE BATTALION
Page 4 College Station, Texas Thursday, March 31, 1966
AND FIND TIME FOR FAMILY
. . . husband reads bedtime story as Joyce looks on.
Time, Money Main Problems)
‘Putting Hubby Through’
By JUDY FRANKLIN
Special Writer
A lack of time and money are usually the main problems con
fronting the student wife who works to help put her “hubby” through
school.
After vowing “I do,” she soon pledges “I don’t dare” when it
comes to spending money on her hair, new clothes or parties. Almost
every minute is accounted for, and the wife often struggles to find
time to relax.
Newlywed Tommie Law, a stenographer in the Department of
Veterinary Public Health, said, “I don’t have enough time in a day
now that I’m married to get everything done that needs doing. My
husband and I have very little time for partying, etc. Even if we
did have the time, we don’t have the extra money.”
AFTER NINE YEARS of marriage and two sons, lab technician
Barbara Webb, who works at the Soil Testing Lab, commented, “It’s
most difficult to look back before the time I did not have a family.
We’ve always lived on a budget.”
She doesn’t buy many new clothes, as her job calls for uniforms.
Since Barbara sells beauty supplies, she gets a discount on make-up
and beauty aids.
“When we need something,” she added, “I have to ‘make’ it fit in
the budget.”
Another student wife, Libby Crick, who also works at the Soil
Testing Lab, doesn’t consider putting “hubby” through school a finan
cial burden.
“PUTTING MY HUSBAND through school is not actually a
financial burden if I think in terms of what we would live on if he
weren’t getting educated,” she explained.
One particular secretary, Joyce Butts, believes that children make
all the difference for a woman who works while her husband goes
to school.
“I think a man or a boy who is married and has no children has
an advantage. Hd has his meals fixed and his clothes taken care of —
but, children make the difference,” she said.
Joyce explained that a working mother, for example, must risk
a cut in pay everytime she has to stay at home with a sick child.
HER HUSBAND KENNETH commented, “At times study con
ditions are handicapped when the youngster is sick — during finals
or when major quizzes come around — and the wife needs help in
taking care of him.”
He added that the normal discipline he gives his four-year-old
son often causes a rather noisy environment, which “certainly doesn’t
lead to maximum concentration.”
Since February, Joyce has been working for the Department of
Health and Physical Education to help her “hubby” through graduate
school. She actually began her “working career” two years after
their son Thomas was born. She and her husband worked, saving
money for Kenneth’s graduate work, which he began last fall.
“THE MAIN PROBLEM I have encountered while putting my
husband through school is the lack of time I have to spend with our
child,” said Joyce.
“Children born while their parents are in school get used to
not being with their parents much,” she commented.
Working 40 hours a week, Joyce tries to spend time with her
family in the evenings.
“This is hard to do,” she explained, “when you have the meal to
cook, the ironing to do and the house to clean.”
Another problem Joyce and her husband have had to confront
was getting back into the routine of school since Kenneth’s gradua
tion from college in 1950. His returning to school has been some
what hard for Joyce, as his evenings are now spent studying at the
library.
BOTH HIS STUDIES and his job keep Kenneth away from home
more now. He works 15 hours a week on the Deer Research Project
for the Department of Pathology.
Joyce explained that several of her married friends, whose wives
are working, found it much more “nerve-wracking” to go back to
school.
“They know they ‘have’ to make their grades with their wives
working,” she remarked.
She believes that going to school for young married couples isn’t
quite as difficult, for they are accustomed to the regular school
routine.
“They are already used to it,” she said, “because this is the only
type of life they know.”
MONEY IS NO real problem for the Butts. Joyce commented
that they have had no financial difficulties, since they worked and
saved for 10 years before Kenneth returned to school.
“I think the income we have has helped us a lot,” she remarked.
She added that they don’t have to worry about their parents
helping them and that with this income she and Kenneth can conse
quently afford a moderate amount of comforts. Unlike some couples,
she explained that they don’t have to face the financial problems of
how they’re going to make it each month.
Having no “real” budget, Joyce said, “We do what we feel we
need to do first; luxuries come later. If I need something I get it —
if I don’t, I don’t get it. We don’t spent money on things like we
used to and we make do with a lot less.”
SHE DOESN’T ASSOCIATE her situation with one common
“picture” of a working wife and her student husband trying to exist
on hamburger meat and beans.
“You just learn to cut down a little bit,” she explained.
As a housewife after hours, the secretary usually saves her major
household chores for the weekend. Her job and her responsibilities
to her family don’t allow her much time to do housework during the
week.
On a typical week day, Joyce gets up at 5:30 a.m., “fixes her
face,” starts breakfast, makes sack lunches and tries to get husband
and son up — all at the same time.
Then, at 7:30 a.m. they take Thomas to the nursery and head
for campus. While at work Joyce takes two coffee breaks beside
her lunch break, which to her is “real relaxation.”
AT 5 P.M. SHE PROCEEDS to the nursery to get her son,
changes into slacks and fixes the evening meal. After washing the
dishes — as well as the breakfast dishes — she spends some time
tidying up.
Only after she gets Thomas off to bed by 8:30 p.m. does she find
time for an occasional game of solitaire or a TV program.
Joyce smiled and said, “Someday I will be able to find time for
sewing, reading and other things I want to do.”
Someday she also plans to finish her college work. Since the
time she dropped out of college before she got married, she has taken
three courses.
WHAT HAS JOYCE gained by putting “hubby” through school?
She believes just by budgeting each other’s time — like trying
to work it where Kenneth has the time to study — they have really
learned to work together.
Kenneth added, “I believe that if two people are mature and in
love, . . . they should marry whether they are in school or out of
school. By working together as a team in solving the problems as
sociated with college — not enough money, not enough time for each
other, etc. — they possibly appreciate each other more, and the re
wards that come later will mean more to them.”
Vote For
FRANK J. BORISKIE
for
COUNTY CLERK
Brazos County
“I will sincerely
appreciate your vote
and support.”
Subject to action of the
Democratic Primary
May 7, 1966
(Pd. Pol. Adv.)
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