Today is my last shift at The Duck Store (University of Oregon’s bookstore). It is a job I started in my first year out of college and hoped to continue on through seminary because even though it is only part-time, that little bit of income goes a long way. A job helps in answering the question of “Will I have enough?” Seminary is expensive and interest rates on loans are not dropping any time soon. Those 10-15 hours a week were really helpful. But there is another question I’ve been trying to ignore since starting at George Fox: Will I still be able to fully devote myself to my studies in order to flourish academically? Essentially, will I be able to do the work I came here to do and do it well?
Many seminarians are not in the same boat that I am. Many are dating or married, raising children, deeply involved with ministries unrelated to their seminary education, and/or working a full time job. Their purpose for attending seminary leans a little more toward the pastoral side. While that remains an option for me, it is not my current focus. I am not dating or married, raising children, deeply involved with any ministry (not even a part of a faith community, at the moment), and my purpose for attending seminary leans toward the academic side. Therefore, I find it essential to devote the overwhelming majority of my time and energy to my schoolwork. Yet, I know that financial resources are essential in order to even continue studying, so the job seems essential as well.
Another benefit to having a job is that is a regular, mandatory break from academic work. With my day-to-day so entrenched in classes, reading, writing, translating, etc., it has been refreshing to have a place to go where none of that matters. I can chat with my coworkers about sports or traveling to Europe or almost anything other than school. My job has almost been my Sabbath, in a way.
And yet it hasn’t been a Sabbath, a complete rest from obligations. It has only been a rest from academic obligations; any job has entire lists of obligations all their own. And while I’ve enjoyed the rest from academic work, I have felt exhausted by the obligations of a retail atmosphere (my job is also located in a mall). I’ve been reminded of the summer after my freshman year of college when I, for one month, worked four different jobs. I did so because I needed the money, but I would never do it again because it was so incredibly exhausting. Although the extremes aren’t the same here, it is still a similar feeling.
My best academic efforts have come when I wasn’t employed. I didn’t go out much and finances were always tight toward the end of each term (in between financial aid checks), but it produced a platform which gave me the best possibility at academic success. I may have lived off of Top Ramen and coffee, but I received the best grades possible.
Although working a part-time job while attending seminary is the wiser route, it may not work efficiently for everyone. I would recommend at least starting seminary while working a job and see if it’s something you are able to handle – again, though, it depends on your purpose for attending seminary in the first place. But what would you recommend? What has been your experience in balancing work and school? Was it best to treat each realm as a “Sabbath” of sorts to the other or, as was my case, did it make things worse? What’s your purpose for attending seminary (or school, if you’re not in seminary)?
the archives near Emmaus 
Good questions, Jeremy. I didn’t work the final two years of my undergraduate studies, but I did work through both my MA and ThM and I do a little work on the side as a doctoral student. So, it’s been a while since I’ve known what it is like to be a student utterly free from the need to earn my income, but I must say that my current state with minimal employment (thanks to my wife, our bread-winner….sorry Mark Driscoll) has been quite nice. It has allowed me to string days together where I can do my studies without having to go two or three days with minimal study because of work obligations. Some subjects, especially languages, need to be done a few hours a day as many days in a row as possible for most learners, myself included. I don’t know that I’d be able to do my current program if I had to work more.
That said, I don’t really regret working during my graduate student days. It was a nice break at time. During my MA I wasn’t married, but I was dating, then engaged. During my ThM I was newly married. It was nice to have a steady flow of income in those days and as much as I enjoy being a student I wouldn’t have traded the flexibility and opportunities that income provided for my studies. So, I guess it depends on one’s goals, what ratio of normal life to academic life one wants to have, whether one has other means of financial support like family, and whether one can even handle having their head buried in books eight hours a day.
I am a complete failure at work-life balance. I have tried various strategies, including taking Sundays off or just take Sundays off until nightfall. But then last fall I had a Mondays-only class that took a lot of work, so Sundays got absorbed for that. My current strategy going into spring quarter is an internet curfew: no screens past 10 PM.
As for work, I work two jobs. One is an internship in campus ministry, most event-planning and community-planning so very flexible hours. I also work in a library job with a lot of free time. Not to be too cynical, but perhaps you should see if you can find a campus job that gives you free time to work. Library circulation desk jobs – particularly early morning or late night shifts – are pretty quiet, which is why so many students want them at my uni.