Balancing work and Higher Education: tips for working students

Whether you’re a full-time student working to make ends meet, or have a full-time job and studying for a degree to enhance your career prospects, balancing work and study is a challenge.

Every student faces different circumstances, but paying for food, bills and travel is a must for us all. A recent survey conducted by the National Union of Students (NUS) found that two-thirds of students are doing paid part-time work alongside their studies, often for up to 20 hours per week.

A third of college students who responded said that working was having a negative impact on their studies. The most common reasons cited included:

• Tiredness
• Juggling commitments
• Less time for studying, including missing lectures.

If this sounds familiar, read on to find some helpful tips on how to achieve a better work-study-life balance.

What happens when you juggle study and paid work?

If you are working and studying at the same time, finding time to ‘do it all’ is going to be tough. There are only 24 hours in a day.

You want to get the most out of your studies, but you are juggling work and a social life too, so what can give? It’s all too easy to find yourself sleeping less, exercising less and socialising less. But is that the answer? Almost certainly not.

Stress is a big issue for many people juggling study and work, and it can take its toll. If you start to feel overwhelmed it’s possible you’ll experience anxiety and this can lead to depression and burnout, which can have long term effects on your mental health.

On the flip-side, perhaps you are someone who thrives on busyness and gets a buzz from having multiple challenges and goals ahead. Some might say ‘variety is the spice of life’. 

Whatever your situation, the key ingredients to finding a balance between study, work and personal life are planning and self-discipline, sprinkled with a large pinch of realism.

How can I balance work and study effectively?

Before you try to balance paid work, your personal life and study, acknowledge to yourself that it’s going to be tough. There will be difficult patches, but if you make a realistic plan and be kind to yourself, you’ll navigate through.

Some important things to remember are:

Put strategies in place to manage your time, and stick to them

Time management is important when you are juggling priorities and different commitments. 

• Make a list of tasks, including the deadlines for them. Give them a ranking according to their priority
• Consider using simple tools like Google calendar to build your schedule, or a phone app like Any.do or write a to-do list on Notepad
• Include breaks and relaxation time in your schedule
• Once you have a schedule, stick to it. This means ensuring your plan is realistic and building in contingencies for the unexpected, like travel disruption or illness
• Try to be realistic about how long a task or assignment will take 
• Split bigger tasks into smaller modules that are achievable at different times to maintain some flexibility in your schedule
• Studying with others in a shared study space can help you stay on track with coursework and your wellbeing.

Set realistic goals

For working students it is important to set realistic milestones when it comes to study time, assignments and exam preparation.

• Be open with your employer about conflicting work commitments if they arise.
• Accept that, with a busy schedule, you may not be able to spend as much time on a piece of work as you might like, but aim to do the best you can in the time you have available.

Look after your mental health

Imagine, if you were a smartphone with multiple apps running, you’d only function with your battery charged. Your wellbeing is important, so schedule in time to recharge your batteries. 

• Take time out to relax and have a social life.
• If things don’t go to plan, try not to dwell on what went wrong. Refocus and move on.   
• If you start to feel overwhelmed or anxious, speak to friends or family or someone at your workplace or university as they should be able to offer support.

Don’t underestimate the importance of sleep and self-care

Whatever the next milestone is in your schedule, try not to compromise on sleep. It’s all too easy to pull an all-nighter when timelines slip, or the unexpected happens, but it is rarely a good solution.

Exercise can be one of the first things to miss out on if you are tight for time. Consider changing up the way you travel to campus or to your workplace. Cycling, walking, skateboarding or running are all good options for getting exercise without taking much time out of your schedule, or money out of your bank account.

Eating a healthy diet will also help your resilience and energy levels. There are lots of easy cook recipes online that use simple ingredients and can be frozen, so you can make your time and effort go further.  

Find a flexible solution that works for you

Whatever your circumstances, feeling like you have some control over your situation is important for your health and wellbeing and will help you perform better at work and in your studies.

This can mean looking for a more flexible solution to studying that allows you to achieve your goals. Reducing your work hours, or studying part-time might be the answer. Financial aid may be available to students on low-incomes through bursaries provided by the host university, although specific eligibility criteria usually apply.

Online learning is an alternative that gives you the flexibility to study and learn at times that suit you, rather than at specific times set out by the college. This can help reduce stress levels and allow you to study ‘smarter’.

Many universities offer online courses. At the University of Sunderland, there are a range of 100% online degrees that are taught remotely and could allow you to achieve your study goals while working full-time.