Is it recommended working during the university period?

During your university years it is quite normal that you are forced to work during your time at university. And this can lead to some pretty serious problems in terms of how you cope with life at university.

It is therefore quite logical that you may have some doubts about whether or not it is really advisable to work during your time at university.

In this respect, we can only say, «IT DEPENDS», because in each case, we could be facing very different situations. Therefore, giving an affirmative answer is not the solution.

Taking on responsibilities of this kind is always a difficult thing to face. Especially when you have to worry at the same time about how you are doing in terms of grades.

However, because we are aware of how complicated it can be to decide to look for a job as a university student, we will try to clarify a few points in the following sections.

Why to work?

First things first, there is no consequence without a cause. And as far as working during the university period is concerned, we could say that there are some quite clear reasons why someone decides to do so. Such as:

Lack of money. The obligation to work derives entirely from the need for extra money to cover some expenses at the end of the month.
The responsibility to safeguard other family members. It is often the case that some students have to take care of entire families.

However, this complex issue needs further explanation. Beyond these two causes, we could establish that it is the need for something more, which gives sufficient reason for any student to get a job during their time at university.

Benefits

Having already decided to look for a job, you are probably wondering what are the benefits of starting to work during university, and well, we can list the following:

You will have more money to cover other expenses at the end of the month.
You will have a better quality of life, derived from your job, or in other words, you will be able to assume expenses that you could not assume before.
You will be able to finance your studies yourself, without the need for someone else to invest in each month’s tuition fees. You will be able to pay your university fees month after month.
You gain more work experience.

Disadvantages

As with everything else, working during the university period has its disadvantages, and there are a few. These could negatively affect your academic performance. For example:

You will be more tired. Because you will have to dedicate yourself to maintaining two constant schedules per day. Most often, you will end the day feeling very tired.
It will probably affect your grades. As in the previous point, by not having all your attention on your books, you will end up affecting your academic life.
You’ll have to choose, on many occasions, which are your priorities, university or work.

Organisation

So, given the advantages and disadvantages, how can we organise ourselves to deal with all these problems when working in the university period?

The best and safest thing to do is to divide your timetable according to the needs you have at that precise moment. Whether you want to study full time and only work half time, or vice versa, you always have the opportunity to decide how to design your timetable according to your needs.

You always have the opportunity to decide how to design your weekly timetable according to the conditions that you yourself see fit for the best results.

You should focus on objectives.

And in line with the above, keeping your focus on a tangible goal makes everything easier.

If you really want to start contributing to finance your studies or if you have no other option to continue your training, we recommend that you take a good look at what your main objective is going to be and what the possible secondary objectives are. It is on the basis of this distribution that you will start to strive to achieve your goals correctly for all the time invested in such different activities.