An inside look of a college student who balances a 40 hour work week and 20 credit schedule.
By: Emily P. Mohlenhoff
Jillian Handley, a senior at CSI, manages to complete all her school work, arrive to her shift on time, and achieve a stable social life all in one.
In her five years as a student, Handley had multiple jobs over the years. She never had a job that demand so much as this one, but also one so flexible. Despite the early wake up calls she was able to pull it all off.
Her week normally contains working Sunday to Friday which hits about 40 hours. She goes straight to class from work, comes home to study material and completes any and all of her assignments. She typically gets ready for bed around 8pm to be up the next morning at 3am.
“At my job, I usually get scheduled for about 32 hours a week, but I am typically asked if I would be able to pick up or extend my shifts, putting me to 40 hours,” said Handley. “I usually work the morning shifts, which I’ll either start at 4:30 am or 6am.”
Handley is an English major who is currently enrolled in two English classes, an American sign language class, a psychology class and an independent study for her capstone and honors thesis paper. She currently takes 20 credits this semester and anticipates to graduate in the late spring.
So the real question is, is it possible to maintain a full time job and a full time education. According to Handley, it is. Although she has a packed week, she manages to get it all done and still has an active social life as well.
“Honestly, I don’t struggle with maintaining friends or school with the way my work schedule works,” said Handley. “Because my shifts are so early, my friends aren’t awake, and neither are my professors.”
Her schedule is made three weeks in advance, and it’s set for the most part, so if there’s ever a change to her schedule, all she has to do is tell her manager and it’s “usually an easy switch.” Most of Handley’s friends work in schools or have a very similar schedule to her, making it easy to find time to hang out.
To maintain a busy schedule like this and also ensuring a good education can be a lot for one person to balance. To find the right time and organize it all, can come together and be a piece of cake. To work such an active job, have a loadful of a semester, and make sure to get some time in for friends can be a challenge, but not for some.
“I started creating joint Google calendars with friends,” said Handley. “We wanted to ensure we still had time to stay in touch despite our busy schedules.”
When asked if it is possible to fulfill a full time job while also being a full time student to another peer, she had a different approach. Victoria Roland, a senior as well, who is an Education major, found it difficult to maintain such an intense schedule.
Roland had a much different approach than Handley. She said how “sometimes it also depends on your professors and how lenient they are or their timelines.”
It truly depends on the situation at whole. Being organized can be good and helpful but for some that just doesn’t cut it. Others have to work harder in order to find an okay balance and for some it’s all natural.
“It has its challenges, for example last semester I was taking 18 credits while working as a para,” said Roland. “And with that being said, some professors didn’t understand that I needed money and were just too worried about their class.”
