Striking a work and college balance is tricky. More adults are forgoing the traditional 4-year college experience and entering the work force for many reasons. College is expensive, so working is required to raise tuition money or become eligible for employer tuition assistance programs. Yet, for the student, BOTH work and school are vitally important in life after high school, but which one wins in a scheduling conflict?Work Schedules + Class Schedules = Chaos
If you want any kind of leeway for both work and college, you need to let your boss and professors know about your other commitments.
- Use your syllabus and let work know you need a relaxed schedule around major exams and papers.
- Try to complete assignments early, just in case something comes up and you need to work.
- Don't try to take a full course load while working full time. Ideally, work, class time, and study time shouldn't exceed 65 hours a week.
- Many students take only one of two classes while working full time, focus on the quality of your coursework, not the quantity.
College Programs Ideal for Working
Every college is a business; no students means no tuition. With this in mind, more college programs are offering a wider variety of class schedules to accomodate working students. Make sure your chosen college program offers one of the following options to make balancing work and college easier.
- Online classes allow working students to go to class with more flexibility. There are still deadlines for completing coursework, and working students should expect weekly deadlines for writing forum posts and turning in homework for class participation.
- Modified semester schedules, such as 8 week accelerated pacing classes, allow working students to finish more classes per year. Colleges acknowledge working students can't juggle 4 classes all at once over 16 weeks, but could manage 2 classes for 8 weeks.
- Evening classes are held one or two nights per week for an extended period of time. This option works for anyone with a rigid work schedule, or the ability to designate nights off.
Getting Off Balance Has a Snowball Effect
With two very large commitments in life, work and college, there is very little room for error. Miss work to finish school work and your monthly budget is thrown off. Miss school to work and you jeopardize all of your hard work and the money you paid for tuition and books.
- Try to add padding in your schedule so you aren't tempted to say to yourself "I'm going to be late to class anyway, I might as well not go."
- Find colleagues or other students in a similar situation, balancing work and college, and hold one another accountable.
- Maintain a healthy lifestyle of sleep, diet, and exercise to prevent the extra commitments from contributing to illness.
A smart work and college balance is the key to preventing burn out for either or both. If you constantly feel like you are rushing to make it all jive, you probably have too much on your plate. Try reducing hours at work or dropping back to one less class. Before dropping a class, speak with your program adviser to see how that will affect your graduation timetable.
