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Gatta pay for school, gotta pay for rent, gotta pay for food! This is the harried war cry of nearly every student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, a commuter campus where the average age of students is 27. Since money stopped growing on trees a long time ago, a job outside of school has become a necessity. Emerging from the bit足 ing Alaska cold and pre-dawn blackness comes Carrie Parker, her blue eyes squinting bravely into the glare of the fluorescent lights overhead. Her blond hair is pulled into a ponytail and she wears blue sweat pants, ready to be comfortable as she faces the the next few hours stocking shelves. Parker, 21, is a full-time student who rises in the middle of the night so she can make it to her job at Costco, a local wholesale retailer. She works 25 hours each week. She's had the job for two years and says she makes "over $10" an hour. Parker's schedule seems like a marathon: wake up at 3 a.m., be at work by 4 a.m., get to class by 10 a.m., back home by 4 p.m., study, get to bed around 11 p.m.
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True Nortn
'i" 17 'i" Spring 199,