ABSTRACT: The desires of students in college are in part shaped by their work experience. Students engage in substantial paid work while they simultaneously go to school, leaving little to no time to devote to campus-based activities outside of classses.   No longer is this work limited much by work-study, as students frequently work 25 hours or more and are enrolled in at least 12 credit hours.  Through interviews with 8 students in the Interdisciplinary Studies program at Arizona State University, we find that students come to take a very pragmatic and time managed approach to their schooling, but this also extends to relationships.  To be successful, students must negotiate the rules of work and schooling institutions and meet at least the minimum requirements of both.  Success may largely relate to how well they can manage their remaining time, time that might otherwise be devoted to social activities.  The paper also raises the question how these heavily scheduled students lives lead to battling agendas in the classroom between the pragmatic personal and corporate desired skill focus of students and the wish of faculty to impart deeper critical reading and thinking skills beyond those domains.