1990s/2000s working while at uni?

[Sleepeatcrochetrepeat]

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…

I worked when I came home for the holidays - Easter / Christmas / Summer etc.

I gather there are a lot more firsts and 2:1s than there were back in the day though. In my year of over 200 there were 10 firsts. The rest were split 50/50 between 2:1 (incl me) and Desmonds.

I worked all through every holiday, first of all back at my old Saturday job then later in an office. I don’t remember even going on holiday which is a bit sad. I wish I had worked during term time to stay on top of things as I was terrible with money unless working (still am).

Yes, started ‘99 and worked from the second year of a 4 year course (Scotland). I should have worked the first year too, I was so skint I had to apply for a hardship loan to buy textbooks.

Studied law at a top RG uni, I graduated in 2017 and always had a PT job. I also did during my masters. It was hard but what I had to do! She absolutely can get a job, and it will be good for her CV

I worked in 2005 but it was very unusual. I went to a Russel group uni, the only people I knew with a job was at the other uni (old polytechnic).
I can't think of a single person in my halls who had a job.

I went mid 90s and didn't work term time, but did work in the holidays. It was very easy to pick up holiday temping work then though.

I worked full time in the extra long summer break. Mostly factory work through agencies. Then babysitting too.

Why is university still so popular and perceived as prestigious? How is the debt justified and why would people choose to be saddled with it?

I went to university in the late 90s. Very full on degree course with mandatory work placements. I didn’t work during term-time. But I worked full time all summer (we got about 12 weeks off!) and took out the full loan amount.

Most of my friends doing less full-on degrees did work some evenings & weekends, though - mostly bar work, waitressing etc.

I was at uni in the 1990s and I worked in the holidays but not during term time and none of my friends did either.

Now my son is at uni and he's doing the same.

You can make quite a lot of money just working in the holidays though.

Mid 90s. Didn’t know anyone with a job during term time. Holiday jobs were all of the bar/retail type. No-one had internships or was thinking about career focused work experience even. All that was for after graduation.

From my experience only the upper classes and working classes encourage their kids to work while at uni, everyone in the middle (or who aspire to it) tend not to encourage it.

Yes, I worked two jobs while at uni. I work at a college now and I’ve. Priced a lot of college students don’t work either

I went in 1999, so no grant, and minimum student loan. I couldn't work in term time, but worked every holidays, usually with a temp day job and then a separate evening job. Sometimes I worked weekends too. I was knackered!

Jeeze, I worked at least 20 hours a week during term time.

Worked part during term time (could often be 20+ hours per week) and full time in the holidays. Got a 1st

Yes. Mid 90s, RG uni, science, so about 32 hours of uni - taught - a week. I worked at uni and every holiday.

I was at Newcastle the second year of fees being brought in. I worked for the AA taking membership queries and recovery calls and then later for National Rail enquiries. Their office used to be just off one of the platforms in Newcastle train station!

This. People say ‘just get a part time job in a bar’ like it’s easy but all those jobs are inundated with applicants now. My kids have retail/hospitality experience and have been looking really hard for work to support themselves at university as I can’t afford to pay their rent etc but it is very difficult at the moment.

I've had a job since I was 15 😂 I don't understand how I would have afforded clothes, beer, nightclubs, cigarettes, CDs, basic food, some toiletries, music festivals, week long holidays abroad, interrailing around europe without a job.

At Uni I was usually doing a Fri and Sat night in a pub until 11/12pm. Might pick up the odd extra shift or work in one of sister night clubs until 3am. So it kind of was a social life at the same time. No idea how but you have the stamina at the time.

I went to a non RG for my undergraduate - I was part of Amnesty International but there wasn't a huge number of societies.

Contrast that with an RG where I went for my Masters, I practically cried there were so many clubs and yet I was only there for one intensive year to enjoy them (and had to work PT to fund living costs).

Worth looking at chain restaurants. I did well working at Pizza Express through Uni at various points. Long time ago but recommend them as an employer. They have branches everywhere so a good stop gap.

I went to Uni in the mid-2000s and worked every holiday, almost full time. However, I didn’t work in term time and none of my friends had jobs either.

My university had a ban on term time working but I had a year out before which I worked throughout and had savings from and I also worked all summer holidays in banks locally. One year was for HR and we had to throw out dead people's files. Another year was debt recovery, calculating interest owed and deciding what to do. I got one ladies written off and she told me I had saved her life as she was going to commit suicide over it. It was only a small amount for the bank too.

DD is currently at university and works around 8 weeks a year full time by home and has a job at university too. She rows everyday.

I worked (late 2000s), not a well-known uni and not a well off student body so I'd say 50% worked, 20% inheritance from grandparents or working prior to uni, 10% bank of mum and dad and the remaining 20% were also bank of mum and dad, but people who lied and told their parents that it was advised not to work with certain degrees. Honestly, it was rife. And was still rife when my sibling and my friends siblings were going to uni in the early/middle 2010's. Couldn't get away with it in arts, but in maths/science it was rife (and given that arts was mostly female and maths/science was mostly male... take from that what you will)