Work hard, budget hard
I’m Melaini, a Politics student at YSJ. Here’s how I’ve managed to strike a balance between working, studying and existing at university.
Starting out
Even though balancing study and work can feel overwhelming, the financial freedom and lessons learned are worth the experience. When I began my university journey, I had always known that I wanted to work part-time alongside my studies. The main idea that motivated me to work alongside my studies was the knowledge that I would learn how to support myself financially. This only adds to the growing independence you obtain while at university!
Studying at York St John has many benefits, but the ease of finding a job is one of the greatest factors. The university has two distinct ways of helping student job hunt. The first is to contact the Careers and Student Opportunities team. Reaching out to the team is a great place to begin your search! Another way through the university is the very handy Handshake portal. This site helps students to find even more information on available jobs. Both of these links are a click away at the bottom of this post!
Managing your time
Your added workload is easy to manage, all it takes is the implementation of new habits! Working alongside your studies can have a nice flow and break up your day in a way that can seem refreshing almost. When I first applied for jobs, I knew it would be important to communicate how many hours I would be able to do without burnout. Respecting my time has helped greatly when working alongside studying.
My biggest aid comes from having my Google Calendar and habit tracker set up on my phone. We all have our phones with us constantly, and using apps that contribute to my time management have kept me on track. Alongside helpful apps, I found that prioritizing my sleep allows me to be productive for longer — making my study days and work days flow by with ease.
Lessons I’ve learned
While there are many lessons I have learned while working alongside studying, the biggest one I have learned is how to prioritize my spending. When it is your own finances being used, you begin to realize how valuable it is to spend it on what supports you. This includes food, basic toiletries, and savings. Of course spending on fun activities or gifts for yourself and others is an addition to having your own finances, but you do realize how much special it is to do that when it is your own finances. My most important suggestion would be to have money placed in a savings account. Placing money aside has been a life-saver for me — there are times when unexpected finances come our way and having some set aside helps reduce any anxiety!
Final tips
As a newly independent person, take advantage of the resources available to you. York St John offers many ways to support students in both finding part-time work and managing your funds. Independence doesn’t mean you have to figure it out all on your own, it means finding ways to support yourself through different phases of life!
Discover more about job opportunities by visiting https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/students/careers-and-student-opportunities
Log into handshake and explore jobs on offer https://yorksj.joinhandshake.co.uk/login