Graduating from college and completing their degree is truly a great achievement for every student. After achieving this milestone in their life looms another challenging part, which is job hunting and career choices. Most students will immediately try to secure jobs after graduating from college to pay off student debts and other loans that they took to complete their education, while other people will need jobs to sustain their daily needs.

Most graduates will try to find jobs in fields and sectors related to their degrees to maximize their opportunities for job searches. Still, a college degree will not always get you a full-time position in your field. There are many factors that hinder career opportunities and most people will try to settle for low-paying jobs that are more accessible and more convenient for their current living situations. These jobs can be part-time positions or freelance work, which are more accessible and have more open positions but still, it pays less and has little to no benefits compared to full-time work.

 

Pursuing Graduate Studies

 

Another career choice made by college graduates is to pursue graduate studies. Graduate studies are academic degrees that may be taken after the completion of an undergraduate degree and these graduate degree programs offer more specialized studies and expertise in the student’s chosen field. A graduate degree is a surefire way of securing a high-level job in a student’s chosen career but there are opportunity costs that students will encounter when taking this path. Obviously, graduate studies will cost more time and money, and for an individual who has just graduated college, money can be a bit of an issue especially if they are unemployed.

Fortunately, there are many websites on the internet today that can help graduate students who are struggling with their limited budgets. There are websites and graduate schools that offer online graduate degree programs that cost much less compared to other on-site learning graduate schools and there are also websites that can help students earn money through part-time and freelance work. Here are some of the most affordable sites you can pursue a graduate degree:

 

1. University of the People - It is a non-profit, tuition-free online university that offers various degree programs to students globally with the aim of expanding the access of people to higher education. This online university offers a one-year program for a Master's Degree in Business Administration and a Master's Degree in Education (Advanced Teaching).

 

1. Purdue University - It is one of the top public universities with online and hybrid graduate programs. The university offers 54 online master’s degrees, with the same curriculum as their on-campus counterparts.

 

1. University of Florida - The university offers 85 online master’s degree programs. It 170 online degree and certificate programs available. Another helpful feature for students is the e-learning help desk and e-learning library system of the university.

 

1. University of Washington - The university offers 25 online master’s degree programs. Online students also have similar access to the UW libraries and many other resources and services offered by the university.

Online Graduate and Prep Schools: Advantages and Benefits

 

Online schooling is more convenient for students that are balancing their time for work and their graduate studies. This type of learning is done through online classes and the learning materials can be accessed through the internet, which means this setup significantly reduces the costs for hard copies of learning materials and transportation costs to commute to and from the campus. Online schools also offer flexible learning times so that students can choose when to take classes and complete requirements, thus giving them more time for work and other personal matters.

 Graduate students can choose from different graduate schools depending on the online courses offered by that school. Among the best choices for online schools for graduate students is the University of California San Diego. This school offers a wide variety of online degree programs and it also offers prep courses for GRE (Graduate Record Examination) takers which are composed of undergraduate students. If you want to learn more about online courses at the University of California San Diego, check out their review of UCSD GRE.

 Most prep schools also offer online classes since these prep courses for GRE examinations will most likely interfere with the schedules of undergraduate students. Online learning setups also allow undergraduate students to take prep courses at their leisure. The GRE is an important examination for students who are aspiring to get into good grad schools since their GRE scores will heavily factor into their applications and most graduate schools use this system to determine the eligibility of graduate school applicants. At the University of California San Diego, the GRE prep courses are offered for free for their resident students while for non-residents, the GRE prep courses may be accessed by paying a sum of $500 and these courses can be taken online or at the campus. If you are interested in GRE prep courses, learn more on this page.

 

How to Balance Graduate Studies and Work?

 

Pursuing graduate studies will still cost some money and being unemployed while taking graduate school will most likely lead to more student loans and debts. To avoid being overwhelmed by debts, most graduate students have considered taking part-time or freelance work to sustain their daily needs and other miscellaneous expenses. Compared to undergraduate classes and lectures, graduate school classes take less time and there are fewer subjects taken per semester since the goal of graduate school is to specialize in a chosen field of study. This will give the students ample time to take jobs that are flexible in schedule and have fewer commitments.

Balancing graduate studies and work may be difficult at first but always remember to prioritize your studies first before taking time to work since the graduate school curriculum demands more effort and dedication from the students. Find time to work when you have finished all your requirements for the day so that you can completely focus on the task at hand.

Also, there are many websites that offer freelance work for students and these jobs have flexible work periods that allow the employees to work whenever they are free. These jobs can include article writing, search engine management, transcribing, online tutoring, and many more. It is easy enough to look for these jobs online through the numerous advertisements on different websites and social media platforms. These jobs are the perfect fit for graduate students due to the flexibility in time management and its level of difficulty is not too hard.