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Today’s post comes from Andee, a follow S&S reader, and a recent college grad herself! Check out here ideas about working vs not working while in college…

Should You Work While in College?

Going to college can be one of the most expensive things you ever do. And, depending on if you have scholarships, grants, or (if you’re lucky) a college fund, you could end up paying a significant amount on your own.

Not counting tuition or housing costs, you could easily spend thousands of dollars in a single semester paying for transportation, phone service, entertainment, groceries, and fraternity/sorority dues or extracurriculars. Staring all of your bills in the face can be paralyzing and you may feel the need to work for extra money to help offset the costs.

Certainly working while in college has its positives, like spending cash and resume padding, but it can also come with negatives.

Want to find out more? Read on below to discover if working in college is right for you.

Downsides:

Here are the biggest downsides to working while in college.

Less Time

Time management is a skill that not many college students are able to master. You are learning to juggle all of your responsibilities without parents to keep you on track. Adding a job on top of your schoolwork and dorm fun can be a recipe for disaster.

Getting your schedule in order can be a tricky feat with the hours for studying and attending class, commuting times, meal times, meetings with advisors, and more piling up. It can feel difficult to find time to breathe, let alone take on a part-time job. Having to limit your free time even more is not something every college student is willing to do.

Take a detailed look at everything in your schedule to determine if you really have time to work.

Grades 

Getting into college required you to keep up with your grades in high school, and you’ll likely strive for the same in college. After all, you are paying to be there in order to earn a degree. And acceptable grades are part of that.

Whether you are struggling with time management or have managed to get a grasp on it, your school workload can throw you curve balls. If you are going to take on a job, you’ll need to account for projects or exams that require much more work than your typical week. You don’t want your paycheck to come before your education.

Taking the time to ease into the transition of college before taking on any additional responsibility may be advisable. Depending on your course load in any given semester, working may be impossible while maintaining your grades.

Benefits:

Now to the biggest benefits of working while in college.

Income

Now that we’ve gotten the bad out of the way, let’s move onto the good.

Obviously, the biggest draw to taking on a job while in college is the money. With more than 18 states raising their minimum wage in just the last year, you could be making as much as $15 an hour while working part-time (fewer than 30 hours a week) at a local business. That’s certainly not an amount to scoff at.

Potentially, you could bring home enough to cover your expenses outside of tuition relatively easily. You may even be able to afford all of your textbooks (wink wink)! Anything leftover can be put away into your savings for a rainy day or for a heavy semester when you can’t work. Or you could buckle down and make early payments on your student loans.

Having your own money that you earned from hard work can be very rewarding and may even enhance your college experience.

Options

Not interested in punching a clock under part-time employment? Did you know you have options for a side hustle where you could make as much, if not more, money?

The draw of side hustles is the option to have a job you can do in your own time and on your own schedule. There are many options out there in today’s market, such as:

• Become a virtual assistant
• Sell items on eBay, OfferUp, or Craigslist
• Take your neighborhood dogs for a walk
• Pick up a gig on TaskRabbit
• Sell your skills on Fiverr
• Become a ride-share driver (Lyft, Uber)
• Drive for food delivery apps
• Freelance web design
• Create your own blog
• Take paid surveys online

These jobs have the potential to net you more than minimum wage each hour, and you won’t have to worry about calling in sick or asking for time off.  In the age of the internet, working from the comfort of your own home or car is a simple way to pick up some extra cash.

College students tend to be drawn to this kind of work. Just be sure to do your research and choose the ones with the most freedom.

Curriculum Vitae 

Another great benefit to picking up a job in college is the potential resume boost. Your employers will be able to function as professional references, and working while in school allows you to pad up your resume with skills.

Of course, learning how to sell your experience as valuable is the key element here. Hard-working, great at time management, and leadership are all resume buzzwords you can capitalize on from working in college.

This could be the difference between getting hired soon after graduation or having to move back in with mom and dad to take on unpaid work.

Working for the Weekend

Depending on your financial situation, working may be optional so ask yourself: is sacrificing some of the fun, memorable experiences of college worth it?

If you can simply attend class and focus on your studies, your free time may be best spent building relationships or taking unpaid internships. However, not everyone has that luxury, and you may find yourself having to buckle down and take on that part-time, or full-time, job.

It’s up to you to determine your priorities. Maybe you want to start making payments on your loans to avoid interest, or you want to save up for your own car, or simply wish to enjoy the college experience before you start working until retirement.

You have four years until graduation, how will you spend it?

About the Author

Andee is a recent college graduate from Arizona State University with a love of writing, the outdoors, and funky cafes. You can usually find her hiking or planning her next trip. She is passionate about traveling, frugal living, her family, and the perfect cup of coffee. Find her on Instagram as @andee_schmidt