PVCC Lynx Publication

Struggling with the burden of loss
Economic downturn alters PVCC student's lives
By Josselyn Berry, November 09
Lynx Editor

Marta Zienkiewicz first lost her job and then her home. Will Brantley’s family’s restaurant burnt down, only to be rebuilt and sold in foreclosure. Danny Astorga nearly lost his home of 16 years. These students are only a small example of the many students at Paradise Valley Community College affected by the ongoing U.S. recession.

PVCC economics and business professor, Bahman Maneshni, has his own perspective on the Arizona economy. He explains that since Arizona is dependent on construction, tourism and farming, there has been immense job loss and unemployment will only rise.

“(Economists) expect the unemployment in Arizona to grow in relationship to the nation, but since we are heavily dominated by industries …we expect more jobs to be lost,” Maneshni says.

The Financial Aid Department has seen affects of the economy in its office. Ken Clarke, interim director of Financial Aid, has seen a significant increase in requests for financial aid, saying the PVCC office has received 100 more applications than the entire district had last year. The office is experiencing added strain this semester due to the increased amount of applications, a new computer system installed a year ago and increased enrollment; all of which have flooded the office with more applications. Due to the increase of student requests, the office is telling all students any financial aid process will take four to six weeks.

“Some students are having some difficulties and we try to be understanding, but we have to be fair,” Clarke says.

Clarke says they are also encouraging students to become more proactive in their financial process. He says all students should check their my.maricopa.edu account as well as the financial aid office’s Web site.
Another problem the office is experiencing is limited space and reduced staff. The office can only hold two students at a time due to privacy issues, and staff that are working on other office work such as verification, have no office of their own.

“We’ve gained a bad reputation in some students’ eyes because they were used to getting things when they need it, but the reality is...we have more students to deal with,” says Clarke.

A JOBLESS RECOVERY

According to the Arizona Workforce Employment report published by the Arizona Department of Commerce, the unemployment rate in Arizona is at 9.1 percent. The Phoenix-Metro area is experiencing an 8.4 percent unemployment rate. Since August, the report states that Arizona’s biggest individual sector, trade, transportation and utilities, had the largest job loss of 2,300 jobs.

Maneshni says that many economists are saying the economic recovery will be a jobless recovery, where things such as gross domestic product and corporate earnings are recovering, but jobs are not. Maneshni does predict that job recovery could pick up around mid-2010, but he insists this is only a prediction.

“I don’t see much pickup in employment soon, but if this is the recovery, gradually it will pick up employment, but not soon,” he says.

Marta Zienkiewicz is one PVCC student who lost her job because of the downturn. Zienkiewicz was working as a receptionist for Yellowbook, making $12.50 an hour. She lost the job in November 2008 when the office closed down.

“It was very depressing…I literally cried when they told me,” she says.

After losing her job, Zienkiewicz looked for office-type jobs, but didn’t receive any callbacks. She finally found a job with Marshalls department store at Desert Ridge in December. She now works part time, 20-30 hours a week, making $7.75 an hour with no benefits.

Marianne Auten, a counselor at PVCC, has seen students and even community members coming to her stressed over the economy. Auten started noticing mass numbers of people coming in with economic issues over the summer. Auten says that many students she sees may be unemployed and worried or their parents are unemployed.

PARENTAL SUPPORT

Will Brantley, a PVCC student, felt the inklings of economic stress, along with his parents, when in April 2004 their restaurant, Ocotillo Cantina, was partly burnt down along with their office. It took Brantley’s parents three years to rebuild the restaurant, but when they finished there was not enough business to keep it open. Brantley’s parents closed the restaurant, but couldn’t make the mortgage payments and the bank foreclosed on the restaurant this past summer. The restaurant was auctioned off for $150,000 although it had been worth $1.2 million only five years ago.

“It was silly to lose it for that amount, but they couldn’t sell it,” says Brantley. “It was on the market for six months.”

After losing the restaurant, Brantley’s family had to sell a few possessions including 10 Jet Skis, a Jet Ski rental company his parents owned, two boats and supplies from the restaurant. Brantley says his parents still go to swap meets to sell other possessions. To save money, his father, who is retired, immediately cashes his retirement check instead of saving it. Brantley’s parents are currently living off that retirement check because his mother has not been able to find a job since she started looking in April.

During the summer, Brantley had his own bout of unemployment. Brantley was a valet for American Valet at two locations when the company lost those accounts; he went to work at T Mobile selling phones, but that location went out of business. Currently, Brantley has a job with Princeton Resort Group booking timeshares. However, another company bought out Princeton Resort Group. The new company hired Brantley, and he makes $8 an hour plus commission, but he is currently looking for a different job.

STUDENTS DEPRESSED

Maneshni sees the effect the economy has on his students every day and says it’s difficult.

“They are down…especially knowing that they may graduate, and they may not have jobs,” says Maneshni, “so I can say the state of the mind is mild depression…”

Zienkiewicz says she felt this way when the bank foreclosed on the condo she and her husband, Mateusz Zienkiewicz, lived in around late February or early March. After Zienkiewicz started the job with Marshalls, she was only making half of what she used to and so she and her husband could no longer afford the mortgage payments.

They also had an adjustable rate mortgage and that began rising too quickly for the Zienkiewiczs to afford.

“When we lost our house, it was the worst, cause we were there for three years,” says Zienkiewicz. “ It was our first place together...I still drive by and look in the windows.”

Many of Maneshni’s students are emotionally and mentally drained by their personal situations, and Maneshni says that seeing this hurts him. Many of his students have been laid off even in the past week, and he sees the intense impact this has on them.

“One day they go to work, and they’re being told ‘Hey, you are not going to have your $200, $300, $400 per week’ and they are really demolished,” says Maneshni. “They are really mentally, physically drained. I really appreciate (that they come to) class, but I can see…how emotionally and physically they have been impacted.”

IDENTITY IN CRISIS

“Your identity can get tied up in what you do; and when that’s taken away from you, you’re dealing with that,” explains Auten.

Auten also does career counseling and says she likes observing the trends of what people are choosing for their careers. She says she notices that people say they want a job that is secure.

One positive result of the economic downturn is that “people start to recognize what’s more important...,” explains Auten. “They look for ways to be together and support one another.”

Zienkiewicz and her husband have created their own support system among family. They could barely afford an apartment on their own and so his parents let them live in their house right after the foreclosure. They moved in with several people, including Zienkiewicz’s friend’s parents and her husband’s family. They are now living with Zienkiewicz’s aunt and have been living with her for a little over a month. Zienkiewicz says they plan to stay there for at least a year.

Zienkiewicz’s economic situation has also greatly affected her marriage. Although they’re married, Zienkiewicz says she barely sees her husband. Zienkiewicz’s husband, who is 24, is studying printmaking at ASU and spends most of his days at school or at his job, delivering pizza for Papa John’s. They share a single car and Zienkiewicz says they see each other only when she drives him to the bus stop and when they drive home and eat dinner.

“You really have to have a good relationship in a situation like this,” Zienkiewicz says. Zienkiewicz had to make several sacrifices once she lost her job and home, things like clothing or other purchases. She explains that she and her husband used to have a budget for leisure items, but now she says they sometimes have to go to dollar stores for even the essentials.

“You feel like you’re in a different class, like you’ve stepped down,” she says.

Zienkiewicz admits the biggest sacrifice she made is time. Ever since she had to return to school and work at the same time, she says there is no time because every day is filled with school or work. Zienkiewicz admits it’s getting harder to keep up her grades. She doesn’t get off from work until 10 p.m., and some nights she has to stay up until 3 a.m. studying or doing homework and then goes to class the next morning.

“It’s basically, wake up, class, homework, work, study again, go to sleep and then class again,” Zienkiewicz says.
Fortunately, this semester Zienkiewicz has Fridays to do things like clean, cook, shop, relax or spend time with her husband.

“I designate that time to be my time,” she says.

Despite all this Zienkiewicz is positive. She says she’s just trying to make the best of her situation. “Maybe I’ve become a better person because of all of it,” she says.

Despite these depressing circumstances, Maneshni also sees a positive result: people are saving. Maneshni says he sees that because of the economic downturn many Americans, including his students, are learning to save money and not spend it.

“The nation has learned to save…the nation has learned not to live beyond their means,” Maneshni says.

Maneshni explains that since his students are studying economics they often are angry when they hear of the unemployment rate and new corporate scandals. Maneshni himself says he also gets upset hearing this news, but stays calm for his students’ sake.

“I try to control that disappointment,” says Maneshni, “sympathizing with them and telling them that it takes time. We have been through other recessions… their goal should be studying, get the degree and then hoping by that time the job market situation has changed.”