I’m currently an undergraduate student who holds a part-time job in the service industry. My parents are encouraging of this, but a friend’s parents say I should be “100% focused on my schoolwork”. But I want to have something in my savings when I graduate… Parents out there, what do you advise?
If you can handle work and you are keeping up your grades, why not do both?
I worked all through college and maintained my grades just fine. So did my husband and many of our friends. It can be done, and it seems you are doing it very well. Kudos to you, I say.
Stop discussing this with your friends.
Our kids both worked during college. If they hadn’t done so, they wouldn’t have had a nickel of spending money. We wanted them to work.
Try to work about 10 hours per week…or so. Make sure your employer is flexible and will allow you time off, if needed, for exams and the like.
My daughter is in high school, but she was doing full time (4 classes) of DE at a college, 4 high school classes, training 20+ hours a week in her sport, volunteering, and still did great with a part time job. Some people are better time managers than others. Some people actually thrive with more on their plate vs less. Stop worrying about other people’s opinions and do what works for you- if your schoolwork isn’t suffering than you’re fine.
I know a young personwhose parents had that philosophy, who were able to pay for everything with ease, and who also encouraged their child to relax during summer vacations. As a result, that student graduated college with no work experience whatsoever, and without any notion of what they wanted to do professionally or what kind of work environment they would be happy in.
So yes, as long as your work doesn’t affect your grades, keep working. There are benefits to you beyond just the extra money.
If you are able to juggle both, keep working. I worked during college and found it made me more organized and allowed me to meet a different group of people.
I worked 20 hours a week during the school year and 40 during the summers.
Both of my kids worked as well.
Many future employers want to see previous work experience even if it is not in your chosen field. It shows that you are responsible and have familiarity with following instructions, dealing with other people in even a somewhat professional way, etc.
I wanted my D to not work during her freshman year, at least not the first semester, so that she could make friends and find the extra curriculars she wanted to do.
She went and found a job at a pizza place the first week she was on campus, she kept the same job all four years, they gave her summers off and the 2 semesters she spent abroad were off. She worked 20 hours a week, graduated in 4 years, and paid her own way. I did not send her a dime for anything after her first semester. She was that good at what she did and got phenomenal tips.
Went she interviewed at med schools one of the interviewers told her that they like accepting people that had been waiters or bartenders, as these people know how to think fast on their feet and that is a quality that doctors need.
So, work if you want to or need to, listen to your own parents first, and make sure you cut back on something if your grades start to tank, whether that be cutting back on work hours or extra curriculars or taking a lighter course load.
If you are keeping up your grades then no reason not to work part time. Good time management skills will help you throughout your life and this is a good start down that road.
I didn’t work my first year of college, but my grades went up after I started working ten hours a week. I liked doing something else and as it happens it helped me get a fallback job when the architecture market was dead when I first go out of grad school.
My daughter works ten hours a week in the campus art gallery. A lot of the times, she’s just sitting at the front desk so she has lots of time to study. The job is her only source of spending money, so it’s been really good for her.
Studies show 10 hours a week isn’t a problem and may have benefits in gaining experience, structure, and connections in addition to money. More hours can be a problem for some students in some programs.
Our kids contribute significantly to their college costs so jobs are a must. They are both capable of working and keeping their grades up.
DD’17 is at community college and got a job at Target. At one point had up to 17 credit hours of school and 30 hours a week of work. That was a bit too much but 15 credit hours and 20 hours work was quite doable and paid her rent and living expenses. Because of her job, she got to leave her savings account intact, met her boyfriend, her summer roommate, and other friends. Plus, now she knows how to work at Target so if she needs a temporary fallback after graduation, it’s always an option.
DD’19 will be at a four-year school and I want her to work on campus to start with, while she’s living in the dorms, so that she’ll have breaks off. After she gets into an apartment she can work wherever since she won’t need to vacate on breaks.
Maybe I should switch jobs. Tough to wait tables while holding my laptop LOL but yeah, I get the picture. Thanks.
Thanks everyone for all your advice. I guess me grades aren’t suffering right now, and money sure helps.
Do what works for you. I have read that students who are involved in things beyond academics (job, volunteer, organizations, etc) tend as a group to do better academically. If you are saving, you’ll have a bit set aside for that big move when college ends.
We encouraged our kids to focus on school first semester of freshmen year then get employment all the following semesters. (They both had academic scholarships that were necessary to keep attending the school.) They worked 10 - 20 hours per week and they both indicted the jobs helped them organize their time better. They found jobs on-campus so hours could fluctuate during exam and holiday breaks. Youngest qualified for work study but eldest manned the library or dorm desks. When she was upper class, she sought out Teaching Assistant opportunities where she could earn some extra money. She even landed a great TA opportunity- 6 weeks in Italy. They both also worked in the service industry during the summers which provided good experience.
I don’t think it will be a problem, but I think you should probably aim for no more than 10 hours a week. Many college students struggle because they have so much unstructured time, a big change from high school, and many benefit from having a few extra commitments to work around.
If you can, see if you can find a job that allows you to connect with other students (dining hall, library, school store). This serves two purposes - it’s likely to be convenient to school and it makes work a way to meet people rather than a way to be isolated. On-campus jobs are often more sensitive to the need for flexibility around exams, labs, field trips.
Ideally a student has plenty of money and can max out on credits every semester but in the real world it isn’t always the case. It has been shown that for some students having a job actually helps them do better in college.
I needed money and worked dorm food service my last 1 1/2 years (scholarships/savings got me through initially- costs/wages far different eons ago). Honors degree so no slouch academically either.
Ignore those who tell you not to work- unless they are willing to give you the money you earn, no strings attached.