The Forum

Students who go to college full time while working may find the task challenging. It was hard for me in the beginning because I was working 20 hours a week and my scholarship required me to attend school full time.

My advice for students who work is to balance your time. Having time management skills is important. I didn’t have a lot of free time when I was off because I had homework, and it was hard for me to balance the time since I’m somewhat of a procrastinator. I would sometimes wait until the last day to do the homework for class. To improve my grades, I learned to write out assignments on a post-it with the due date and stick it to a whiteboard calendar for the week to help me keep track. I would also set aside time to do homework.

Motivation is another aspect of success. I really didn’t have the motivation for my first semester of college because I had just graduated from high school. A lack of motivation made it hard for me to do my work for school, which led to me procrastinating. 

Sometimes you might struggle with an assignment because of the subject matter, or the type of work required to complete it. I don’t like reading or writing assignments. My advice would be if you are struggling with certain types of assignments is to get some help from the college. The writing center in the library helps students with any type of writing assignments.

To motivate myself I sometimes watch videos on YouTube about how to make studying more creative. That helps me get excited about studying and makes it more interesting. Effective time management skills and motivating yourself can lead to more success. If you fail a class you will have to retake it, pushing you further away from your graduation goal. These tips can improve can make your life easier while going to school and working.