<p>I'm 26 former college dropout and just got accepted to UCSB accounting after 3 years of CC.</p>
<p>My question is, should i quit my part time job at a grocery store and just go concentrate 100% of my effort on college? Because this will probably be my last chance for a college degree and if i mess it up, this might be it for me. So i want to make sure i at least give it my best effort.</p>
<p>I will be getting financial aids and loans that will cover most of my fees, but i would still need to come up with a couple grand in the form of work study. Which i believe is working in the campus to for a limited amounts of hours.</p>
<p>From people who went to school full time and had part time jobs, which one worked out best for you? work study or off campus jobs? I'm currently finishing up my last courses in CC while working 30 plus hours, and i'm finding it very stressful. And i'm not sure if i can handle it with upper level classes.</p>
<p>I have done exactly what you are describing.</p>
<p>Taking 14 CH at a CC while working 30+ hours a week was not stressful. It was, however, exhausting. I was making straight As and financially doing quite well, until my work scheduled me for mandatory day meetings after school, as well as the night shift. Three days into that, I broke my ankle because I was too tired to walk straight. They fired me.</p>
<p>Now I am a work study, and also work part-time in the college bookstore. The only real stress involves transportation, but that is unique to my situation. I make enough to barely cover my bills, to the point of having applied for food stamps because I am tired of subsisting on bread and butter.</p>
<p>In other words, it is a job. You will not make near enough to live well, and if you were thinking of paying back loans with that money, well, it won’t make a dent in the costs.</p>
<p>If you can avoid taking out loans, please do!</p>
<p>Working on campus definitely worked out the best for me, and if you can handle the work in addition with your coursework, I definitely recommend on campus positions. They know you are a student and are usually flexible about working around your class schedule and other commitments. It’s also generally easier to get a job on campus if you have a work study award (at least, that is how it works at my school).</p>
<p>I was a full time student and worked a couple of jobs throughout, and I was able to manage it. You’re probably the best judge of how many hours you can handle. There are jobs that are quite flexible that sometimes pay more, like tutoring or something similar. I worked in the campus library and as a notetaker, which were both relatively flexible jobs that didn’t require a huge amount of effort. My school also had jobs driving shuttles or working in the on campus tutoring center which paid a little more than other jobs on campus, and that could be something to look into.</p>
<p>Congratulations on the acceptance!</p>
<p>I went to school a long time ago at BC and worked a part-time job at about 18 hours a week off campus. This was a second-shift clerical position where I was busy for about two hours and then had a lot of time at a desk answering phones and doing charts - basically not very busy and I had plenty of time to study. My current manager worked a lot of hours when she was in college and she had a security job. She did rounds and then went back to the lobby where she could study.</p>
<p>Our son worked 8-9 hours a week in an on-campus job at the tutoring center. There were times when it was quiet and he could study and times when it was busy. The on-campus job had a lot of advantages. The holiday and break schedule was the same as that of the school and his manager understood things like career fair days. The big benefit was logistics - he could just walk from his apartment to the tutoring center.</p>
<p>So I think that it depends on the type of job and the location of the job. If the job is one where you can study a lot of the time (working at the library, security, doing the reception desk in the apartments or dorms, tutoring, second-shift where you’re not busy all the time), then the number of hours may be far less of a problem. It also helps if the job is close to where you live or go to school - ideally where you live would be close to your school and your job.</p>
<p>The jobs will also look good on your resume as it is impressive (at least to me), when a college graduate has a continuous job record, even if it is not in the major area as it shows that the candidate understands the work environment.</p>