Working part-time while in school has its benefits because you are getting real work experience but if you don’t want the headache of balancing an outside job and school, there is another option: work-study.

Work-study allows you work on campus but the employer works with your school schedule. They understand that your first priority is being a student; off-campus part-time jobs typically do not have this extra benefit and are not as flexible with your work schedule and school schedule as a work-study job can be. Some work-study programs even allow days off during midterms and finals so you can study, compose papers and have an overall lower stress level.

As for compensation, part-time job and work-study positions usually pay similarly because of the minimum wage laws observed in most states. The downfall with having a part-time job that is not located on campus and you have to drive back and forth to campus for class – with today’s gas prices, why drive to work when you can work from campus? – and once you secure a work-study position, it's likely you can keep it until you graduate. Talk about job security!

Now that you see why work-study can be more valuable than working a part time job, find out what the work-study options are at your school and check out this post from Kara Coleman, another Scholarships.com virtual intern, about finding the right place to work on campus.

Though she moved from Fremont, Calif., to Chicago at the age of 5, Brittni Fitzgerald will always remember the sun and fun of California life. She is the youngest of six children and is currently attending Chicago State University. There, Brittni is an accounting major and an active member of the Student Government Association but also a published poet (in 8th grade, her work was published with the Illinois’s 2004 “Celebrate! Young Poets Speak Out”). Brittni enjoys running, swimming, dancing, singing and shopping. Her motto is “Live Life Loud.”

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