Full time job with part time school vs full time school?

Question

Which is better? In any sense. Logically, time wise, monetary etc.
I'm talking 40-50 hour work weeks, labor intensive, with 8-12 credit hours at community college vs 16-20 credit hours at a university.

Answer 1

12 to 18 credit hours is full time. Anything over that is excessive and unnecessary if you're doing things right. Assuming it takes 120 hours to graduate, you should only need 15 hours every semester to graduate. Taking twenty hours is inadvisable for most students and you usually need some sort of special permission.



Now that that's cleared up, let's assume a 2:1 ratio of study time to credit hours. Even if you're only taking nine credit hours (about three classes), you're adding an additional 18 hours of work every week to accommodate studying, project work, and assignments. That doesn't include the 9 hours of actual class time. That 40-50 hour week suddenly becomes a 70+ hour week where you're extremely tired from your labor-intensive job. Let's say you're taking 15 credit hours as a full time student instead (five classes). That's fifteen hours a week of class, plus another 30 hours of studying. It's a far more manageable 45 hour week where you aren't physically exhausted. You could even go to the upper end of your listed spectrum (20 hours) and you'd still only be working about 60 hours a week.



Conclusion from the basic math: Being a full time student would probably be less tiring.



In terms of money, you'd have to calculate the price per credit hour if you're less than full time. There's generally more financial aid available for full time students, and you generally pay the same price for twelve credit hours as you would for eighteen. If you were to take eighteen credit hours every semester (the upper limit on full time at most schools), you'd add an additional three credit hours each semester. You'd probably be able to graduate a semester early, which saves quite a bit of money. The question is whether being a full time student is worth the sacrifice of the money you could be making while working full time. You'd need to figure that out for yourself.

Answer 2

If you're working 40 or more hours a week, more than six credit hours are going to be really difficult, particularly if you are expecting to get A's. Remember that, apart from the in-class time, you will need to read chapters, prepare homework, write papers, study for exams, work on projects, etc. I admit to being a perfectionist, but taking one 5-credit class (in addition to my full-time job), I ended up taking vacation time from work, on occasion, because I needed to study. As higher management, I could get away with that pretty easily, but it might be more difficult if I was a "regular" employee.



And while most professors at community college are sympathetic to the working student, some are totally clueless. I had one professor that would go off-syllabus, and schedule an exam on Wednesday, for example, for material that he just finished presenting on Monday. How do you study for that if you're working all day Tuesday and taking another class Tuesday night? I ended up having to withdraw from the class (with over a 100% average, unfortunately).



What happened to full-time school, part time job? That way you can get student loans since you are a full-time student, and devote most of your time to your studies, while bringing a bit of money in to cover expenses.



If you're willing to go away to school, there are a few full-tuition work study schools where if you work year round at the school, your tuition is entirely covered. The College of the Ozarks is one, but there is at least one other I can't remember the name of.

Answer 3

the two provide you journey. I even tend to lean in the direction of the area-time everlasting place. you might have a "actual" place with the college/district and have a leg-in for next 365 days. while you're taking the subbing place, the college will know which you're solid, although this is no longer as probably to bring about an eternal place the place the different is probably to bring about an entire-time place.

Answer 4

If you can work full time and have a good GPA, more power to you. But if your GPA suffers because of work, then I suggest a part time instead.