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The Working Student: How many of "US" are there?

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macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 4, 2006
483
1
Krazyglued to an office chair in a perpetual meeti
Like several other ppl @ MR, I work a 40 hr week (many times more, @ 2 jobs), and I am a full-time student. But I wonder if my feeling that there are lots of people in this situation stems from the company I keep. I had a DoctorQ-esque moment and started thinking about this for a second. So I went through my personal cell phone. Of the 126 entries; 71 are married professionals who don't go to school; 43 are students, 36 of the students have some kind of job that I know about, leaving only 7 who don't; the remaining 12 are single men and women not in school. I speak to most of the "students" several times a week, and usually only talk to the married ppl on weekends and holidays.

Even though it feels like "everybody" i know is a working student, less than 1/3 of the people I know really are. And in fact most people are just working. Of course this idea of everybody being both a student and a worker is reinforced by the fact that most students (especially grad students) do have a full-time job.

I wonder if my situation is typical...anybody else care to weigh in?
 
I sorta work. It's extremely flexible. me and my mum just clean and mini-manage (bottles, bar set up etc.) at my cousins pub in the mornings. she'll always do it unless I want too. it's not bad, £13 an hour. though it's only 1 hour a day, and even then I only do about 3 days on average.

he just got a little puppy too which makes it that little bit better.
 
I work, but only two nights a week. I'm classed as independent by the government so I get A$430 a fortnight that covers rent and most of my bills - although less and less of them as winter is coming and my power bill's going up. Come mid-June my last exam means I no longer get that money and I have to go back into the workforce full time so I don't have to move back home with the 'rents - that'd suck, I haven't lived at home for 6 years.

It's going to suck finishing Uni, no more scrounging off the parents private medical insurance, Medicare only goes so far so I'm going to have to find a fairly cheap private scheme, no more student rates on public transport so getting around is going to cost me double. Mind you I'm sick of being at Uni so it sort of evens out I guess.
 
Being that I'm going to a private school and have a Peter Pan complex, I've been going part-time and working part-time. That'll change in the Fall as I switch to full-time. Since I'm in film, I won't have the time for jobs. Private loans for me.
 
Chundles said:
Mind you I'm sick of being at Uni so it sort of evens out I guess.
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Love your laptop stand. :D

I live at home but next year, if I can get a decent job I'll be able to rent with a friend. Lord, it will be so nice to have my own shower/bathroom.

The consensus seems to be, don't get a job unless you need it, otherwise you're wasting money. I'm swimming in loan debt anyway.
 
I work three days a week and study for the other two. However, I had the job full time before I started studying again, so the expectation of the people I work with is to effectively do five days work in three. I probably average around 40 hours a week (but not necessarily on the three days I'm supposed to be working - I am able to take stuff home and work in the evenings and weekends), even though I am only paid for 21 and I don't get overtime. :mad:

I am pretty much the only one at work who is studying at the same time, but then the work I do is seen more as a full time career rather than a job just for money, so I guess my situation is slightly unusual.

At college, because I am on a part time course, most other people also have jobs. However, these mainly seem to be bar jobs or temp work to pay for the course rather than anything else.
 
I work for a major corporation approximately 35 hours/week (and extra on weekends) at a serious job. They let me set my own schedule, though, so I can take class whenever I like. That usually means I'm at the office early from way too early to way too late.

You're not the only one...
 
The full time worker AND full time student is pretty rare. I don't know a single person I go to school with who is able to work more than 30 hours a week and not flunk out.
 
I'm really enjoying the responses. Thanks for sharing! Sounds like a diverse community out there. There seems to be a consistant theme of trying to set "our" own schedules. Congrats to those who have, and good luck to those stuck coping w/o a comfortable schedule.

I used to have a full-time job and study part-time, but as much the company (i worked in public affairs, mostly health care issues) said they "support" education. That was a load of crap. B4 I went back to school participating in an floor Hockey & pool league 2 nights a week was fine. I could always leave and staff out assinements etc. But once I went back to school and quit the social sports stuff, my boss basically piled crap working conditions on me until I gave up. I never did get a good answer as to why it was ok to take conference calls on my cell if I was headed to a Capitals game w/ my girlfriend, but I couldn't leave for class. It wasn't as if I tried to do both. Anywho, enough bitching.

Things are much better now. I freelance write and edit, and work my old part-time retail job. The writing is consistant enough to cover my expenses, and the retail job allows me keeps me ever so slightly ahead of the bills. And my dog sure loves having me around more.
 
adk said:
The full time worker AND full time student is pretty rare. I don't know a single person I go to school with who is able to work more than 30 hours a week and not flunk out.
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Oh yes. I'd agree it's rare. And I don't think I could do well in school under the kind of conditions you're talking about. So I should explain my situation better. I work approximately 40 hrs a week, but it's spread out & I can (mostly) set my own schedule b/c I take writing contracts on an availability basis.

so, if I get a call on tuesday to put together an PR for Friday and I've got two papers due that week. I say no, but I'll offer to work on something less time senstative for the client so they can put their own people on the more pressing assignment. And I have 3 or 4 clients with whom I am established enough to actually make that a viable solution. Without those specific relationships I doubt I'd be able to support myself and go to school full-time.
 
i work part time, (im in high school, 16yrs old). I've worked since i could to bring in money for my car and college, often doing stuff under the table at my dad's store since i was like 11. It's not quite your 40 hours, but i can't drive yet so im limited to the hours i can get rides. :)
 
I work as a teacher of Piano from home all weekend, while going to uni monday to friday.

Its hard work, but I enjoy the long holidays - so it's all worth it! I'm looking forward to actually getting my hands dirty though; ive not been impressed with uni at all, and i can't honestly say that ive learnt an awful lot that will be helpful in my professional career. Nevertheless, those "oh so important letters" are...well, important I guess...
 
Boggle said:
... Of course this idea of everybody being both a student and a worker is reinforced by the fact that most students (especially grad students) do have a full-time job.
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I don't know a single grad-student who has a full time job. What horrible conditions are your grad-school friends in?
I've been in grad-school so long, just for the fact that I don't have to get a real job. :D
 
neocell said:
I don't know a single grad-student who has a full time job. What horrible conditions are your grad-school friends in?
I've been in grad-school so long, just for the fact that I don't have to get a real job. :D
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Well, it's mostly teachers going back for an MA of some kind b/c of the 5K pay bump. I get some great classroom behavior stories @ the evening sessions, that's for sure. To be clear though, for grad school 3 classes is considered full-time @ George Mason University.

Personally, I had to work harder for my AP Psychology course than I did in Theories of Psychotherapy or Life-Span Development. But this summer I need to take some more science and math undergraduate courses to qualify for my 2nd program which is Primary Education. I haven't taken a math course since back in 93. I tested out after Calc 1, so I think I'll be plenty busy come July 8th.
 
Okay, that makes more sense. I'm just a science geek, sitting in a lab all day long, playing with nasty chemicals, cutting stuff up, growing cool stuff in petri dishes OR at the bar (which ever I feel like doing that day :D ). As are most of the other grad-student's that I know of.
 
Monday, Tuesday, Wed: Working a Nice Daytime Job.
Wed, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights: Go-Go Dancer at a gay Club.
Monday, Tuesday, Wed., Thursday, and Friday: Class from 2:30 to 4:00.

I'm a busy boy :D.

e
 
I was a working student - I worked during my last semester of undergrad (I was on scholarship + stipend until then) 16 hours a week and I worked 16-20 hours a week during my last year of law school. Of course my last semester of law school I was working 40 hours a week, but 24 of that was for class credit.

So, I didn't work like a lot of you, whose dedication to education I applaud. :) Good luck with the rest of school.
 
nbs2 said:
I was a working student - I worked during my last semester of undergrad (I was on scholarship + stipend until then) 16 hours a week and I worked 16-20 hours a week during my last year of law school. Of course my last semester of law school I was working 40 hours a week, but 24 of that was for class credit.

So, I didn't work like a lot of you, whose dedication to education I applaud. :) Good luck with the rest of school.
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That just means we'll have more student loans to pay. :p Luckily, with both he and I working the last year he was able to take out less loans than the previous years.

Still, I applaud all those who work full-time and go to school. I'm contemplating doing that sometime in the future to get my masters. :)
 
It is possible, although not easy. You need a job with flexible hours and the ability to schedulse classes around that. Also, manage your courseload so that you don't kill yourself. I worked full time (45 hours) and went to school full time (art major=looong classes, 2hours a day/3times a week). I worked as a manager in a movie theater, so my work hours were very late, 12:30 most nights, and 2 or 3am on weekends. Also, I was in the National Guard for one weekend a month, and two weeks generally during the summer. It also took me forever to graduate, as I took 4 classes per semester. Money was tight, but I managed.
 
*raises hand*

I'm a full time student apparently, even though I only have 12 contact hours per week. During semester I usually work anywhere between 8-12 hours on weekends. Because I'm a casual, during holidays I can ask for more work and I usually get plenty. Over the summer when I have nearly 4 months off I'll try finding something full time for a while to cash up a bit. Plus I sort of want another job to keep things interesting - a supermarket gets a bit tiresome after a while even though the people I work with are great.
 
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