Pushing School to the Backburner

Over the years that I've worked while being in school, I regularly get into the habit of putting school on the backburner. Between covering shifts, being scheduled more hours, even taking on additional jobs, it's hard to keep sight on the number one goal: earn my degree. Being that I'm not the only college student who works, I know that I am not the only one who faces this dilemma.

Going to work becomes a routine, one that shows quick return on the time that is invested. Receiving my paycheck every two weeks continues to push me to work more hours. Being financially stable and as independent of my parents as possible motivates me to work more hours than I should.

The saying, "I'm an employee first and a student second" comes to mind when I think about the time that I've dedicated to my job over the last few years. Whether it's giving up preparation time the day before Junior Prom, or sacrificing the time I set aside to study to get more things done at work, I can constantly find different examples of times when I've fallen victim to the black hole of working while being in school. With a college degree being an ongoing goal, it's easy to lose sight when being rewarded with a larger paycheck offers a faster payoff. Although, as I get older, and have been balancing work with school longer, I start to wonder if the payoff is really all that beneficial?

Although it's not a huge percentage, it's a significant amount of students who are working full time while enrolled in school. This graph gives you an idea:

I can name countless times I've gone to class to take a test that I knew I should have studied more for, but I chose to work instead. It raises the question, "Does it hurt students more to work while in college?" We all have our own individual reasons for working, but does it really help us to sacrifice our study time just to earn a bigger paycheck a bit sooner than our classmates?

In a study done by the US Department of Education, they interviewed working students and asked them specifically how they felt that working had affected their academic standing. Some of their findings showed that students who work find that working limits their access to school facilities and resources, class schedules and amount of classes taken each semester, as well as the actual classes that they take.

Personally, I feel that I can vouch for the accuracy of their findings. Working 40-50 hours weekly has definitely limited the amount of time that I have to go to the advising center, or study at the library. I also know that as a manger, I have to take into consideration my work schedule when I begin to register for classes for the upcoming semester. Typically, I'm needed for opening shifts so that I can get tasks done and respond to emails during regular business hours for our corporate office. That definitely puts limitations on the classes that I can enroll in for school, allowing me to take night classes mainly.