While studying some students take weekend or evening jobs to help with expenditure.How do you feel about this? What are the drawbacks and benefits of such a decision?

Part time jobs play an important role in student life. As a part of their financial management, students opt for jobs during weekend, evening and even in their vocations.

However, these jobs can effect students in many different ways and can be helpful and harmful at the same time.

If we consider the benefits, then doing part time jobs can be much more helpful than just meeting expenses. Some students can even afford a much better lifestyle. For example, in Australia, it is cheaper for international students to buy second-hand cars than using travel passes, as these passes costs much more for international students. This financial independence in turn releases the pressure off the students and their family members. Besides this, part time jobs also provide students an excellent chance for professional development, as some students are able to find jobs that align well with their career aspirations and education. Nonetheless, it also develops the personality of the students as students learn to manage their time and exercise precise communication skills.

However, on the flip side, working while studying can lead to uncontrollable situations causing more harm than benefits. Some students lose focus and start compromising study for money. Consequently, their academic performance deteriorates and this conflict of interested sometimes causes students to drop out from their studies all together. Even the students those manage to retain their focus, find it this a mentally and physically daunting task. For example, many students develop health issues like Insomnia, drastic weight gain or weight loss, due to working in night shifts while studying during the day. Which in turn leads to poor academic and personal performance causing frustration. In some extreme cases students turn to drug use to cope with these conditions.

To recapitulate, working while studying has both, benefits as well as drawbacks. A student must clearly understand the challenges and the need for careful planning and a balanced approach towards working while studying. In my opinion, the role of part time jobs should be limited to help students with financial management and professional development. Whereas, study completion should be the ultimate goal of a student.