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Original poster

1990s/2000s working while at uni?

209 replies

Sleepeatcrochetrepeat · 15/09/2025 17:22

Eldest niece has just gone off to uni, and the cost of it all really does seem astronomical now. DBIL was saying how they are planning to cut down on holidays, spending etc to fund her on top of loans. I made the mistake of saying oh, she can always get a part time job just like I did when I was a student. It turns out that none of DH family or their partners worked while at uni, parents all paid.
I know this was before tuition fees came in (for me at least) but most people I knew at uni also had a weekend or evening job.

DH and his siblings all went to RG uni’s and apparently couldn’t possibly have worked as well, due to all the sports clubs they were in.

I am now being looked down on because I ‘obviously’ don’t get it.
Surely students working alongside studying is hardly weird?! Even more so now given the cost.

If you were at uni in the late 90s/early 00s, did you also work? Make me feel less of a freak…

OP posts:
Dolamroth · 15/09/2025 17:23

Yes, always had a part time job. Was a chamber maid and then a shop assistant

PlanetOtter · 15/09/2025 17:23

It was quite rare in my cohort (early /mid 00s, RG). Lots of people worked in the holidays, but I can only think of one person who worked in term time and we were all in awe of her time management skills to juggle it.

Blanketenvy · 15/09/2025 17:23

Went to university in 2000 and always worked.

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Higher education
user9637 · 15/09/2025 17:24

I was just before uni fees. I think most did and many dropped out due to lack of funds. So you’re not a freak at all! If anything i felt privileged to not to have worked.

i think it says something if “you can’t ‘possibly’ work due to sports clubs” 🤣 SOME people had to work to stay in uni!!

BluePeril · 15/09/2025 17:25

Everyone worked. I was at Oxford for two of my degrees, and work in term isn’t possible or allowed, but I worked several jobs out of termtime, and when I was at another university I worked in and out of termtime. And had a social life and was auditor of a big student society and sang in choirs and was involved in Dau politics. And got a double first.

gianfrancogorgonzola · 15/09/2025 17:25

I only worked in the holidays but I did work in every holiday. To save money for the next year! Tbf they are right the costs have rocketed and even a pt job won’t fund the rent.

Doseofreality · 15/09/2025 17:25

I had a part time job but I also spent my entire student loan in Oasis and Warehouse on day one 😂

milkandblackspiders · 15/09/2025 17:26

I went to uni in 1999 and I did part time bar work / waitressing all the way through. Lots of my uni friends worked too, the ones who didn't work tended to be the ones with rich parents unsurprisingly.

boxofbuttons · 15/09/2025 17:26

I started uni mid-late 2000s (still the old fee system) but I worked all 3 years and I'd say about 50% of my friends did. On the other hand I had more than one friend whose parents bought a property in our uni town for them to live in and save on student rent, so.... there was a mix!

stargirl1701 · 15/09/2025 17:27

Yes, both DH and I worked. He spent the Summer at Harvest making a few thousand to see him through the year. I worked in Sports Division on a Thursday evening and the weekend.

Pineapplesunshine · 15/09/2025 17:28

Funnily, a friend and I were just talking about this over the weekend as I am shocked how few people seem to see it as normal to work during uni… I got a full grant (showing my age!) when I went to a RG uni in the late 90s and worked 2-3 jobs throughout and pretty much full time over the summer. I also worked every Saturday and 2-4 evenings during my a levels. Whilst I probably could have got better results if I’d worked less, I would have struggled financially (well, had a lot less fun!) and I think it helped me a lot when it came to finding work after uni. It was totally normal in my family.

Kuretake · 15/09/2025 17:28

I worked lots in all the holidays but not during term time. Loads of my mates did though it was definitely a thing.

Had a part time job in a shop all through my A-levels.

CameForAVacationStayedForTheRevolution · 15/09/2025 17:28

I worked in the mid 90s, did 2 days a week in a shop.

saying that it’s much harder to get a job these days, retail and hospitality jobs are hard to come by.

Chinyreckon · 15/09/2025 17:29

Yes. Worked 3 week night evenings and every other weekend in term time, then full time casual work in summer throughout degree (graduated 1993)

LividYosemite · 15/09/2025 17:29

Late 90s/early 2000s.

25 hours a week at Blockbuster 🍿

Russell Group. First in family to uni. No parental financial support at all. Tell a lie, mum bought me a set of saucepans before I went. I bought literally everything else I needed from the shop job I had in my A Levels. Didn't occur to me at the time that it wasn't actually a level playing field and that others were getting money from home.

Gretapenny · 15/09/2025 17:29

I went to uni in 1999 and most of the students from wealthier backgrounds didn't work, they spent a lot of time doing clubs and societies during term, and travelling and doing unpaid internships in holidays. Some friends of mine did but they came from "first in the family" type backgrounds and literally had to work as family had no money to help.

I didn't have to work as I had a young child before starting uni, and there wasn't an expectation that I needed to work.

Noelshighflyingturds · 15/09/2025 17:29

I worked full time alongside my admittedly English degree but still, I had a full-time job, but if I could get to lectures, I went rather than being the other way round

NerrSnerr · 15/09/2025 17:30

I went to The University of Birmingham in 2000 and I worked all the way through. Most of my friends did too. My brother was at the same uni and started 2 years earlier and told my parents that it wasn’t encouraged but that was a lie and he was just a lazy fucker.

Ohmygodthepain · 15/09/2025 17:30

I worked in a pub 3 evenings a week from the end of y1. Didn't have to pay tuition fees and I got an enhanced grant due to London uni.

Those were the days...

user892734543544 · 15/09/2025 17:31

I worked practically full-time as my degree was purely academic and so my work experience had to be separate so that I could get a job as soon as I graduated.

I came from a single parent family and paid my own way through uni and it was a luxury as my course was not vocational so did not train me for work.

If it's a vocational degree then usually you can get extra loans like a professional studies loan so that you don't have to work. The degree is a necessity for your chosen career so makes more sense to focus on it solely.

user2848502016 · 15/09/2025 17:31

I had a Saturday job in 1st and 2nd year, and a Christmas/summer job too. I would have struggled in 3rd year to work during term time

BananaPeels · 15/09/2025 17:32

I know a lot of students who did bar work during uni. I chose not to work as I had boyfriend on top of school and didn’t want to miss time with him as was so busy but I worked every single holiday from the moment I broke up to the moment I went back to uni.

bapples1 · 15/09/2025 17:32

I was at uni in the 00s and had a p/t job as did lots of my friends. However I still needed help from parents as my rent was more than my loan.
A lot of the jobs my friends and I did are either not around now or harder to get i.e they want you work more hours.

raisingthebarbell · 15/09/2025 17:32

Graduated 1999 worked in a bar for the 3 full years plus some ad hoc waitressing. Everyone I knew except medics and Oxbridge had a pt job.

ShanghaiDiva · 15/09/2025 17:32

I had a full grant back in the 1980s and it was extremely rare for anyone to work during term time. I don’t know anyone who did. I did work in the holidays and saved the money to supplement my grant.
my DCs only work in the university holidays.