Financial debt is the first and most significant problem faced by students. Fees feel never-ending and they seem to follow students after graduation — shamefully interfering with post-graduation freedom. The resonating questions surrounding debt, how it can be paid off and how soon are painstakingly repeated by students throughout their undergraduate life. For aspiring journalists at Ryerson, these questions are asked a lot more often.

Journalism students are expected to become professional journalists before they graduate. They’re expected to handle a workload equivalent to that of a full-time job during their final undergraduate year. They become reporters, editors, photojournalists, and designers, all while remaining students. Their habits and journalistic practices evolve and change, but their debts don’t. 

Along with becoming full-time journalists-in-training, they are forced to develop the skill, aptitude and knowledge of the profession within weeks, and only weeks prior to graduating. Not only is their journalistic training a matter of investing  time and energy in preparing for the future, but it’s also  a matter of speeding full-force and building up a financial burden that won’t go away that fast.

They transition into the real world, but the realities of their tight budgets and financial obligations remain at a standstill.

They’re expected to carry theoperation of a weekly newspaper, a role that lays the groundwork for their careers. They must, within days, become professionals. The only noteworthy difference between these students and the professionals they are supposed to become is finances, the one concern that grows exponentially from the day they set foot in university. It’s undeniable that an unsalaried full-time journalism job is for the patient, thick-skinned and persistent, but one has to admit that it’s also a job that comes with sacrifice: it’s tough on the emotion and on the wallet. The difficulties of the journalism profession are apparent early in the lives of journalism students. 

The whole package of stress, story-hunting and adrenaline rush is handed to students, with a side order of debt. Despite its challenging nature, the experience of contributing to the newsroom culture is incredibly rewarding. But the payoff is anything but monetary. In no way does this challenge hinder their journalistic aspirations.  

If anything, it shapes their ambitions, tests their patience, and even emotionally prepares them for the kind of journalism they have to be a part of for the rest of their lives. It cultivates a little bit of fear and lets them develop the fearlessness to counter it. It’s a career preparation that gives them a chance to resist challenges of all sorts early in their lives. Perhaps because that’s what journalism is really all about: overcoming challenge.

This article was originally published on Wednesday, January 23, 2012 in the print edition of the Ryersonian.