The question of student finance is being raised more and more often in the media these days: many people are starting to think that it just isn’t worth the money to head off to college or university, and even those who do go are constantly aware of the considerable expense that comes with it. Many students are looking for new ways to finance themselves and pay their way through their studies, and this is completely understandable; for some people a student loan just isn’t enough, and many people don’t get enough of a grant to pay all their bills along with their tuition.
Some universities (such as the University of Manchester in the UK, along with plenty in the US and Canada too) are very proud of the fact that young people have a part time job while they study – in fact the University of Manchester boasts that around half of their students work part time.
If you do decide to go and find some part time work, it is not recommended that you work more than 15 hours per week – many academic authorities such as Essay-Site.com suggest that 15 hours a week could be the absolute maximum you can comfortably work before it becomes detrimental to your studies.
While the extra money does not go amiss by any stretch of the imagination, a survey of Canadian students found that 77% believe working part time in any capacity will impact their grades. A survey of another group of Canadian students conducted by the Royal Bank of Canada also found that 74% of them do not believe they budget effectively – this could be the answer to their problems.
Effective budgeting is the easiest way to ensure that students don’t run into financial problems while at university; however we all know that this is easier said than done. Whether you live in the US, the UK or Canada, it pays in the long run to ensure that you’re giving your studies your full, undivided attention.
I would tend to agree on the 15 hours being max for working a week. I worked about 20-25 hours a week in college, but I worked at the front desk of my dorm and a few others. During a lot of my night shifts I was able to do homework, so it worked out fairly well as I would’ve been studying anyway.
I worked full-time all throughout my undergraduate and graduate school degrees. It worked well for me!