Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009

Is. Unless you can get away with simply saying 'I am studying at college and
doing a job outside college' without the preamble.

 Regardless of the number of activities, it is the thought or statement
that is singular. The thing (idea, statement,) I have to say is "I am
studying at college and..."
"It" is what I am saying, and "it" is true that I am studying at college
and doing a job.

Robert is much more efficient at saying it.

I would make it "is".  In traditional standard English a clause
containing "what" is singular even if the following predicate is
plural, e.g.,

 What he was alluding to was the Wars of the Roses.

However, most recent writers, especially vulgar ones, let the verb be
attracted to the predicate, and would write "were" in the above
sentence, and IMO it is not worth the trouble to condemn them.

That is not to say that "what" can never be plural.  In some other
constructions a plural "what" is blameless traditional English, e.g.,

 She was dealing with what were in those days the most intractable
 problems in her discipline.

There, "what" = "the things that", whereas in the preceding example it
= "the thing that" (plural tho it may turn out to be).  But that is a
rather fine point, and by now pointless to press.