SHOULD kids work while in college?

Here's another thing.

How many of us working adults only work 15 to 18 hours a week. This is literally the number of hours a kid is in class so let's add study time. I was an engineering student so I probably studied a couple of hours a day depending on what I was taking and how fast I caught on so lets add 10 to 12 hours for study time (for a kid who really actually studies, I played a lot too).

How many of us adults only work 25 to 30 hours a week? That doesn't make for a full time job. It doesn't even make it up to the 35 hours a week your child spent sitting in a public school classroom for the 12 previous years.

Life's not going to be like that. Life is hard. There are going to be times when that kid is out of college that he/she will spend working 60 or 70 hours a week. If they don't develop a good work ethic now, it is going to be harder for them when they are fully out on their own without the safety net of mom and dad.

And if they are only studying 30 hours a week, what are they doing with the rest of their time??

 

Wow, mk, you were a fast learner.
My oldest is in engineering. For him it is more like 3 hours of study per hour of class time plus labs and projects.
So an 18 hour semester is at least a 72 hour week plus the labs and projects. Many professors expect more, especially in the upper-level classes.

Taking a course in speed reading was one of the best things I ever did in college.

 

What can I say? This was my experience. I will say that our labs were part of our counted hours. I'm sure things have changed some, but I gaurentee I never spent 72 hours a week studying.

We married before either of us had our degrees and both of us were by then working full time jobs. I had dropped to only part time studies (because of the wedding and other events not related to school), but he was still going full time. Not only, but when DH earned his master's, he was working two jobs, one full time and one part time. This was NOT a bad thing! Yes, we worked hard, but we also appreciated the rewards that we earned on our own. Still do.

 

You're right, but let's give them the credit due them when they realize what they were doing and make a concerted effort to change that. I'm glad to see these still teaching kids the ministry while growing and improving as an institution.

 

Hmm, I've been telling my kids that all I want them to do is study and make good grades the first two years. My daughter disagrees with me and wants to work! I want her to live at home and drive the one hour each way to the state university and I will pay for her needs. But she is in a program that gave 1 1/2 million dollars in scholarships to twenty students last year and is expecting to get other academic scholarships also; she says she wants to go to an "Ivy league" school and seems confident she will get her way. Too confident! :tear: She worked all summer on volunteer projects that she says will look good on her application which is two years away.

I'm not a kid (well not really) but I finished my first college semester experience last spring which consisted of only three classes. I spent waaay more hours studying than I did in class in order to make all A's (I felt I had to in order not to be hypocritical in demanding my children make all A's and telling them there is no excuse not to.) Of course, my biology class had a very tough intructor and only four people out of 48 who started managed to get an A. I was one of them but it was very challenging because I don't have high school experience.

I'm going tomorrow to see an advisor and plan to pretty much take a full load, which scares the heck out of me about how I can do that and continue to work. I've been saving over the summer so to start out ahead.

After this I will start a program that warns:

"...applicants are cautioned that the Program is a rigorous course of study. The program faculty recommends that work hours be kept to a minimum. Each student must make an individual decision about the number of work hours that he/she can accept while continuing to make acceptable academic progress in the program."

So you guys sound pretty tough to me. Make me feel like a whimp for worrying about it.

 

Every credit hour, is SUPPOSED to require 40 hours of study total. With an 18 hour semester, this should equal about 40 hours per week of study. But then, this is all theoretical.

72 hours is a bit excessive, for a 18 hour load.

 

The traditional calculation is 2 hours of outside study for every hour in class. I don't think I ever studied that much except for Greek, Hebrew, Literature, and my graduate history courses. Then again, I am a fast reader and learner.

 

It depends on the school and the program, I suppose. I started out in engineering at a primarily engineering school. We were told 3 hours per hour spent in class. So I got the 72 from 18 in class + 54 studying. There are many people who study that and more. Many schools have capstone projects in the senior year that take a great deal of extra time, also, beyond that.

When I was in graduate school, we were flatly told that 80 hours per week would barely get us by. And only 9-12 hours of that was in class.

Benjamin, I admire your hard work and your goals for your kids. But I disagree that nothing less than an A is ever acceptable. Don't put too much pressure on your kids. (No, for those wondering, I am not defending my having turned out deadbeats. My kids are all straight-A students, including in college. Well, one makes an occasional high B. But it is not the end of the world. And he obviously worked hard.)

 

If I had to study the hours many are mentioning here, I would never have completed seminary, or would have starved to death.

The hours in a day and supposed class and study hours just don't work out for me.

Cheers,

Jim

 

There are some good responses on this thread that highlight the variety of students, schools and programs.

I can tell you that when I was in engineering school the 3 to 1 ratio was about right. It took me 3 hours outside of class for each hour of classroom. For a 16 to 18 hour load that works out to 64 to 72 hours per week of school work. When you are a full time student going to school should be your full time job. Your work should then be part time. To me I would try to limit your work to 20 hours a week. That puts work and school at 90 hours or so, if you sleep 56 hours (and who sleeps 56 hours when your in college, I would guess I averaged half that) you still have 3 hours per day to party (or go to church of course).

The truth is that is not many more hours than you will be working after graduation. Since I graduated from Engineering school in 1989 I would guess that I have averaged at least 60 hours a week of work on my primary job. Right now I work 10 hours per day on weekdays and every other friday so it works out to 55 hours a week. That is less than I have worked on most other jobs since college. Once you are on salary you can kiss that 40 hour week goodbye. When we have to put our hourly employees on 40 hours they complaign about the loss of overtime. I don't know what the averages are nation wide but I would guess 55 hours a week is about average. How much do y'all work?

Now I have had multiple part time jobs while I work my primary engineering job. Part time student, bivocational pastor, volunteer fireman, sports official, scout leader, you know all the things we do.

I think most students should work, but their primary labor should be their studies. If their studies are failing then cut back on the work. I can tell you that when I started school I was working two part time jobs trying to pay for everything myself. I was probably working 40 hours a week and my grades were terrible. When I received a scholarship and was able to quit one job and scaled back the other. My grades improved and I was able to graduate.

 

This is very true. The traditional formula is a college-wide formula, not depending on a particular major. Phys Ed majors will likely study less than Physics majors.

 

Speaking from a Campus Security Officer's point of view I'd say yes students ought to work while in college. If they are busy going to class, studying, and working it will leave them much less time to sit around idol/bored, which generally results in them doing something stupid, against school rules, or illegal.

 

That's what I been hoping for. It did seem to be getting easier at the end.

 

Well, I worked like a dog throughout college, seminary, and now FT through an MBA program. It definitely takes away from your studies. I've had to alter academic schedules due to work schedules. And that's not counting pastoral responsibilities as well.

I had a couple of periods in college/seminary where I did not have a job for one reason or another. My educational experience improved drastically during that time. Grades were better, stress was better, family time better....you name it.

If a student wants to work, so be it. But a must? No. Can't be rigid in these areas.