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 went to uni in the late 80s / early 90s and didn't work during term time. I did work in the hols though - christmas, Easter, summer.

I can only remember one girl having a term time bar job. No one else did.
I think it was easy to pick up short term jobs then.

I worked full time in the summer holidays and did odds and ends, mostly at the uni in term time - eg bar work, library.
Our local uni certainly pays its own students to attend open days, do campus and city tours etc.
I definitely look for work experience when I'm recruiting. DS is trying to get a job, no luck so far but is doing some volunteering in a hospitality environment which is definitely worth it.
Parkinsons Law : Work expands to fit the time available - if you're not working, other stuff (probably screen time) will just fill the gaps.

Uni (ex-poly) around the millennium. Loans but no grants.
Worked in holidays from end of A-levels. First job was a shop on (the new) minimum wage (many 6th form friends had Saturday jobs through A-levels, often from y11 work experience) then got a better paid administrative job.

Housemates tended to have a mix of evening/ holiday jobs. Some worked for chains like Sainsbury's where they worked in uni and home branch.

It was good life experience and helpful for starting my career despite being a different profession.

I worked far too many hours when studying at my RG University, DH ran a cocktail bar for a while he was a PG at Cambridge. He only worked in the holidays when an UG.

Yet we're also told that retail and hospitality can't get people to work for them.

DP used to work in a bike shop and there were also students working there but they'd be very reluctant to work weekends when the shop needed staff and they were supposedly available because it interrupted their social life. If the shop was lucky they might commit to working during the week if they had a day free of lectures.

But I don't understand why people think there's no time to work a few hours and study to get good grades. I got a first in a STEM subject in the 1990s when only around 10% of students got that grade while working 30 hours a week because l was a part time student so only did one very long day a week, 9 until 7 or 8 pm with no free periods. Until exam season half the full time students on the same course didn't turn up anyway.

Worked part time in a bar in the 2000s at uni for 1st through 3rd year. I was very fortunate I didn’t need to for money, uni was free and parents paid housing, but it gave me extra financial freedom, taught me how to save for extras like a car, a holiday, nights out etc. I also think it really helped with interviews and employability post uni as I had done something vs nothing. I’m friends with people I met there 20+ years later and I’m so glad I worked. I’d expect the same of my children.

I went to uni in the 2010s and out of a block of 40 people only me and one other had jobs. The one other didn’t need the job as her parents paid her rent etc but she had it as she liked expensive clothes so needed to fund those.

I was the first year who had to pay fees and always worked. I wasn't in Uni everyday so I worked at least 2 days per week (worked in a clothes shop). Worked almost full time in the holidays.

I stayed at home - I lived in London and went to a London university. I had a student loan so technically didn't need to work but I quite enjoyed it and the extra money was very appreciated.

Wasn't at an RG uni and the course wasn't too challenging. Managed a 2:1 alongside working for the whole 3 years.

I was a student in the mid-90s. I had a full grant with a few small loans. Non of my friends worked in term time at all. We all worked in the holidays. We were from varied backgrounds, some well off some not at all. My housemate lived on cereal and never went out as she wouldn’t get a loan or an overdraft, but still didn’t try for a term time job as it just wasn’t a thing at that place and time. Odd, really!