How a Part-Time College Job May Improve (or Hurt) Your Experience: The Pros and Cons

I was lucky enough to have a college experience where my parents didn’t expect me to work. I, however, respect that many people do have to work to support themselves throughout college and I personally enjoyed the responsibility of having a job.

I worked to pay for all my living expenses from sophomore year through senior year including: food, utilities, and fun. Acknowledging that I’m lucky enough to have a choice, here are some pros and cons of having a job in college if you’re trying to decide between kicking back and relaxing with your extra free time or making some extra money.

What jobs did I do in college?

For a little bit of context, I worked 3 different jobs in college with a couple overlapping.

• Dance instructor
• Course grader (remote)
• Intramural sports official

Because my remote grading could be done in between classes or late at night, I was able to work my remote grading job while also working my in-person jobs. Both my grading and the sports official jobs were through the university, which meant that I could only work a certain number of hours weekly between those jobs combined.

It may seem like I worked the majority of my college experience, but 1. I didn’t work all three of these jobs at once and 2. I only worked a “full-time” amount of hours during my last semester of senior year because I was a part-time student and spent most days not knowing how to fill my time.

What are the pros of having a job in college?

There are many reasons why you may lean towards having a job in college, both the obvious (money) and some other not-so-obvious reasons. The first college job I got was somewhat of an accident, but as I took on different roles I found there were many benefits to working that I didn’t consider at first.

Money

There are few things in this world you can do without money…our survival depends on it. If you want some extra cash to save or spend, getting a traditional job is the most practical way to do that.

Meeting new people/growing communication skills

The best part of any place I’ve worked has always been the people I’ve been able to meet and how I’ve grown in my communication skills. When dance instructing, I learned a ton about how to effectively communicate with young children and while officiating sports, I increased my ability to be assertive while communicating with teams.

Learning new skills

Going off on my officiating experiences, officiating was an entirely new skill for me. Watching a sport for entertainment is one thing, but picking apart different violations is an entirely different experience. I increased my knowledge of varying sports, as well as my ability to blow a whistle.

Building confidence

Trying new jobs and building skill sets in new areas is a huge confidence boost. There’s nothing like being able to reflect and see how far you’ve come — you are more capable of success in new spaces than you may think!

Flexibility — specifically campus jobs

For the most part, campus jobs are incredibly flexible with scheduling because they realize that the employee base is college students. Finding jobs outside of the campus job realm but still on campus can work with class schedules as well, but with a campus job, you’re pretty much guaranteed that they’ll understand that school comes first.

Develop savings/start investing

High school finance class stressed the importance of building an emergency fund and investing in your future self. Graduating college with solid savings to help reduce stress, or making money throughout college to reduce the amount of loans needed throughout, is a great way to get off on the right foot once you graduate.

What are the cons of having a job in college?

For many people, college is the last taste of childhood before having to become a fully independent adult. When you have your whole life to work why start earlier than necessary? In the same way that there may be a lot of reasons to add a job to your schedule, there are plenty of reasons why you should hold off.

Time commitment

There never seems to be enough time in the day and if you get a job there will be even less time. In many ways time is money, so you have to weigh the value of the extra time you’d have to give up against the amount of money you’d possibly make and what that could help you afford.

Social life

Engaging in social life is a large part of the college experience. While you may meet some cool people working a job in college, it’s also likely that you’ll have to work during times when social events within your friend group or on campus happen. During the day you’ll have class, so if you spend evenings working you may miss out on making some memories.

Increased pressure and stress

Having a few stressful weeks during the semester is pretty much a guarantee. Adding a job on top of exam season and homework assignments? That could be a dangerous combination. Knowing yourself and your schedule is important before taking on a job in college because the pressure of working a job while deadlines get closer and closer may not be a recipe for success.

Low pay

It’s no surprise that most jobs that college students have pay minimum wage or just above that. I got lucky with my dance instructing job that the pay was almost twice that of minimum wage, but that’s not the case for the on-campus jobs I held. If you’re looking to make lots of money while not working a ton of hours, this probably won’t appeal to you, but if you just want enough to fund your groceries and maybe a night out or two you’ll be good to go.

Lack of job security

Specifically with on-campus jobs, you may be scheduled on a week-by-week basis meaning it could be up to luck how many hours you’ll get each week. The variability of hours and in turn money doesn’t appeal to all.

Whether working throughout college is on your radar or not, there are a few pros and cons that you should consider before making the final decision. Even if the choice is out of your hands, these are things you should plan for to avoid unrealistic expectations of what a college job may look like. Relish in your free time or work for some money? Either way, you’re sure to get the most out of your college experience.