Cassandra Brien is going back to school, but there were times this summer when the 20-year-old thought she may have to pack her books away for good.

Getting by on a student budget had always been tough, but with the recession impacting the number of summer job opportunities out there, gathering the extra dollars she needed was proving an even greater challenge.

During a regular summer, Brien had been used to working 32 hours a week between her shifts at a local grocery store and restaurant. These funds helped pay for her geography studies at the University of the Fraser Valley.

When these hours were cut drastically this summer, she looked elsewhere but had no luck.

"I wanted to look for further employment but couldn't find anything," Brien said.

"Normally you can drop of a resume and they get back to you quickly. This summer I had to go back two or three times, but even going the extra mile went unnoticed."

Brien said she doubted whether she could muster the finances to continue, and that would have meant missing her graduation in the fall of 2011.

Finally, she was able to secure a $2,500 line of credit with the help of her parents.

While that has at least secured her university place for now, the future remains uncertain.

"I can' t really take it in one. I have to go semester by semester," she said. "Living on a student salary you can never say you are good for the next two years. I really have no idea."

Despite her financial troubles, Brien has at least made it back to the classroom.

That is more than can be said for some other local students, according to UFV student union society president Jack Brown.

Despite news that student enrolment at UFV has increased by more than seven per cent for the fall semester, Brown points to Statistics Canada numbers showing a significant drop in the amount of job opportunities for students this summer.

Stats Canada reported the unemployment rate reached 16.4 per cent for students in August this year, up five per cent when compared to the same month in 2008.

"This summer, from June to August, B.C. had the highest unemployment rate of the western provinces, and that translated into a great deal of economic hardship amongst our students who were unable to find a job, putting their education at risk," said Brown.

Brown said that the university, and other agencies, are able to offer financial assistance for students who need it.

"The problem is too many students don't realize that and take on a terrible burden that they don't necessarily have to shoulder," he said.

Robert Buchan, VP External at UFV, said UFV students work an average of 20 hours a week during the school year to gather the money they need for their studies.

"If these jobs aren't there then it will have an impact," said Buchan. "Fortunately, the Valley has a pretty solid economic base. It is one of the last areas to go into recession and one of the first areas to come out."