Fire season has taken its toll on the Bay Area after over 186,000 residents were under evacuation warnings last month. Sonoma State University announced the closure of the campus on Oct. 25 due to a planned outage beginning the following day as part of a public safety power shutoff. When wind conditions and air quality worsened, the university decided several days later that residence halls would not reopen until Nov. 2, with classes and services starting up again on Nov. 4.

Many students rely heavily on the regular operations of the university, especially student employees — many of whom depend on a steady paycheck to afford to make it to class, let alone pay their bills. Between the fire and outages, though, some still find themselves trying to bounce back.

“In the wake of the fires I missed almost two weeks of work, and that was tough for me,” said Camden Holly, a fifth-year who works for the central plant of facilities management. “I live over an hour away, so I have high gas expenses that add up… between my extensive class and work schedule, and commuting at least 2 and a half hours every day, preparing my own food is not always within my time frame.”

Several individuals reported that their supervisors and SSU kept them well-informed about the status of the closure and that they felt it was a justified decision. “I would rather miss out on a little bit of income than potentially contract an illness or sustain lung damage from breathing the bad air,” Holly said.

The California fire season may extend as far as February of 2020, according to Predictive Services. The dry weather seen in October “almost completely erased the benefits of above-normal rainfall in northern and eastern areas in Aug-Sept.” They reported that the Bay Area had more wind events last month than any other single month within the past 30 years. The threat of dangerous conditions could prompt future shutoffs that may become the new normal for the area.

The blackouts have been heavily criticized, with many calling upon methods of fire prevention other than merely cutting power. “I must confess, it is infuriating beyond words to live in a state as innovative and extraordinarily entrepreneurial and capable as the state of California, to be living in an environment where we are seeing this kind of disruption and these kinds of blackouts,” said Governor Gavin Newsom at a press conference during the Kincade fire. 

“Since I only get paid once a month, it’s so daunting to think about what my paycheck is going to look like,” shared a fourth-year who works several jobs on campus. “Since I don’t receive familial help, I know already that I’ll probably have to take out a portion of my available loans for the semester. I really don’t want to put myself into even more debt, but there’s just no other option for me. I have rent and bills that won’t pay themselves.”

According to an Edvisors survey, 77% of seniors reported going broke at some point in their college career. The leading causes include unanticipated expenses, lack of financial aid, textbooks and tuition costs, or changes in financial circumstances. 

For some student employees, setting money aside for unforeseen outages or natural disasters isn’t a reality.