Supporting Myself Financially at University

LOptimistic Goat on 19/07/2018 - 02:36

I'm appealing to the wonderful OzBargain community to hopefully scavange some morsels of valuable information.
Background: 2nd year Finance and Economics student

I find myself in the uncomfortable position of a broke student, but I hope this does not appear as a pity party. I work to support myself in the music industry (wedding singer mostly) and I suppose I've been living 'week to week' to some degree, but I've been happy.

As I progress through University, my lack of industry experience is becoming more and more apparent. My question to you wonderful humans at OzBargain is how did you support yourself through studies while obtaining industry experience? From the surface at least, it seems like I must choose between working to support myself or working for career development (unpaid internships)

Any advice for me would be very much appreciated, as I desperately want to get a toehold in the finance industry.

Education & Work

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 19/07/2018 - 02:45
    +8

    Sex for money.

    [Deactivated] on 19/07/2018 - 02:45 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
  • stwongy on 19/07/2018 - 04:25

    Well, you also have the choice of doing work that pays (unrelated to degree) and doing an internship that is related to your degree. That is what one of my classmates is doing. I'm not too sure myself what I am going to do yet but I do have savings. But for me i'd preferably keep my unrelated job for moneys sake.

  • Quantumcat on 19/07/2018 - 06:40
    -2

    You should be on Youth Allowance or Austudy depending on your age. It is possible to live on this alone (if you have a very cheap room and you only eat cheap food and never waste any), but you are allowed to work as well. It is pretty generous how much you're allowed to work compared to other types of payments, before you start losing some of your allowance.

    Don't worry too much about having industry experience. You can do a grad program when you finish and gain loads of experience that way, but to get into one, you have to have decent marks (minimum credit average, better is better of course). There's no sense working hard at an unpaid internship, then have that not help you get a job later, and having your marks suffer in the meantime, cutting you out of grad programs.

    I don't know how competitive finance grad programs are, but if they're too competitive (you won't be able to get good enough marks and/or you think you may fail at the interviews) you can go for a less competitive stream, and then apply for regular finance jobs after completing it. Your finance degree will still be relevant 2 years after you graduate and you'll have solid work experience and good references by then.

    • HighAndDry on 19/07/2018 - 09:48
      +4

      Don't worry too much about having industry experience.

      Hard disagree. That experience, and the connections you make, is arguably more important than your degree. Companies who like you enough will send you to get degrees you need but don't have. No one is going to pick you out of the crowd if all you have is that degree though.

      • Quantumcat on 19/07/2018 - 10:56

        Is it worth failing classes and getting bad marks to get questionable experience?

        • HighAndDry on 19/07/2018 - 10:59
          +1

          That's a false dilemma. It's possible to get experience and also not fail your classes.

          If you had to choose though - yes absolutely. When I said that the degree matters less, that definitely also includes having bad grades on that degree so long as you're over a minimum threshold.

        • Quantumcat on 19/07/2018 - 11:15

          @HighAndDry: if you have bad grades you can't get into a grad program. Then all you've got is your degree and it will be harder to find a job. Grad programs don't expect any work experience, so should be #1 priority applying for them in your final year, since they're "easier" to get into than a real job (no need to prove experience).
          It is way easier to concentrate on getting good grades than it is to try and guess what sort of casual jobs or internships might help in job hunting.

        • HighAndDry on 19/07/2018 - 11:20

          @Quantumcat: Why are you so preoccupied with 'grad program'? OP hasn't even mentioned nor do they seem interested in it. The great majority of finance/econ students go into work straight after graduating. And even that aside - if you can't juggle work while studying, good luck with any grad program.

        • rover100 on 19/07/2018 - 11:53

          I think it depends on the field but I feel related work experience is more important than marks.

        • Doggiie on 19/07/2018 - 19:53
          +1

          @HighAndDry: I agree with you. I believe you can work and study and not get 'bad' marks. Grad programs don't expect work experience, but they expect people experience. And the best way to get people experience is by working, or finding ways to network better.

          Getting the foot through the door is really hard. But you must not give up OP. Good grades are one part of the spectrum, and so is work experience. One thing to know is that crappy finance jobs still give you good experience, while people with degrees are saturating the market. Degrees matter less these days, but not worthless.

          Sorry if it sounds contradictory, but that is what the life of a uni student is. I am one too (secured grad role and working while studying)

        • Quantumcat on 19/07/2018 - 23:44

          @Doggiie: and HighandDry:

          I guess we will agree to disagree - I really think there's not a single job OP could get that would give them any worthwhile experience unless it is a summer internship or other program designed for uni students. You don't just hire people off the street for finance jobs - he has no way to get into any kind of job that would provide any experience. Even an unpaid internship fetching coffee for executives is hardly going to help him get a serious job later, and that's really the closest he can expect. Why would you waste your time on something that can't possibly help, and throw away the one thing you have control over that has an influence on your future?

          He should just find a job he doesn't mind, that pays OK, and has sufficient hours, concentrate on making the team happy so he'll have good references later, and just worry about having enough money to live and focus the rest of his energy on grades, and applying for summer internships, and then grad positions in his final year

  • whooah1979 on 19/07/2018 - 06:45

    Background: 2nd year Finance and Economics student

    is it not a potential banker's wheelhouse to make money out of nothing?

  • sahh on 19/07/2018 - 07:30
    +2

    Is this your second last year of study? A lot of companies offer paid internships over summer (big 4 accounting firms, banks etc). Try apply for one of those.

    • Optimistic Goat on 19/07/2018 - 16:25

      4 year degree, so I have 1 year before I need to start applying for those penultimate internships. In the mean time, I need to get that beautiful industry experience

  • myusername on 19/07/2018 - 08:08

    grow herbs in your roof and or cook up rocks in your lab/kitchen

  • Ocker on 19/07/2018 - 08:31
    +2

    The Youth Allowance while living at home is just on $150 pw - more if you live away from home.
    You are also allowed to earn about $220 pw without it affecting your YA.
    Go for an IBL placement, these pay a "scholarship" payment of about $17,000 for 6 months

    • Optimistic Goat on 19/07/2018 - 16:27

      Could you tell me more about IBL? I've never heard of it

      • Ocker on 19/07/2018 - 17:16
        +1

        IBL is Industry Based Learning. Uni's run sessions whereby prospective employers make presentations and will typically offer a placement to selected students that last for 6 months and fits in with your uni. timetable.
        My son did 2 placements; the first in the last six months of his second last year, and the next placement for the fist 6 months of his final year. The latter offered to continue his employment for the last of his uni. on a part time employee basis, and convert to a full time job when he finished uni.

  • Godric on 19/07/2018 - 08:50
    +2

    Migoreng Breakfast lunch and dinner.

  • Randxyz123 on 19/07/2018 - 09:19
    +1

    Don’t worry too much about experience. Support yourself with a part time job along with Centerlink.

    Look at paid internships this/next summer and apply for grad programs.

  • Succulent Synth on 19/07/2018 - 09:20

    Start your own business related to your field of study.

    It doesn't need to be anything too sophisticated, maybe you just pick up occasional work on airtasker helping small businesses with something finance related. At the very least it shows future employers that you are proactive when it comes to gaining industry experience.

  • HighAndDry on 19/07/2018 - 09:50

    Work weekends - though I'd find something that pays better, and more consistently, than wedding singer (that sounds like an unstable income). Then work internships through the week on your days off uni.

    I can't imagine you do much wedding singing on weekdays anyway, so really the two already shouldn't clash.

    • Optimistic Goat on 19/07/2018 - 16:50

      You are right about wedding singing. Too much work in summer, not enough in winter. I would appreciate it if more people got married in winter thanks. Weddings generally aren't on weekdays either, but due to the prior mentioned inconsistencies, I often need to supplement it with other work.

  • toniyellow on 19/07/2018 - 10:21

    When competing with people who have parents supporting them both financially and with industry connections sometimes you have to choose where to compromise. Grades? Extracurriculars? Money? One option is time. You could slow your degree down – unless your degree has very restricted subject availability, you could enrol in 3 subjects a semester instead of 4 (3 is "full time" for youth allowance purposes) to give yourself more free time to work, and to make sure you keep your grades high.

    Scenario A - 3 year degree in 3 years, not getting a job on graduation for lack of experience, and working an unpaid internship for 6 months to become competitive.
    Scenario B – 3 year degree in 3.5 years including internships/ relevant work experience.

    These are basically the same, but A can look better on paper. Later graduation date also keeps the person eligible for graduate programs for longer. It could even be good to stretch out to four years and go on exchange or get some international experience.

    • Optimistic Goat on 19/07/2018 - 16:47

      I've never thought about extending/slowing down my degree, but you raise some valid arguments for it. I have actually just finished an exchange semester, so I do have that at least.

  • brian77 on 19/07/2018 - 10:23

    I did tutoring for 7 years while at university, both private and for a small company. There’s always demand for tutoring. Later on, I applied for youth allowance, which helped a lot. As many commenters have suggested, industry experience is likely to be beneficial, so perhaps a part-time or casual job in an area relevant to your field would be good. There are many paid summer internships or grad jobs out there (some that pay very handsomely, surprisingly). The best of luck to you and enjoy your time at university. On a side note, try to get involved in university activities and truly cherish your time there; many of my friends regret NOT doing the things at uni that they later weren’t able to do due to time and other commitments (sports, clubs etc.).

    • Optimistic Goat on 19/07/2018 - 16:45

      I actually do a lot of tutoring for 1st year university subjects. It keeps the content I learned last year at the forefront of my mind

  • mattythecapybara on 19/07/2018 - 10:58

    Try out for The Voice?

  • tsunamisurfer on 19/07/2018 - 11:50

    You don't really need to do an internship to get into the Finance industry, this industry is so diverse that there are many opportunities for entry level jobs which gives the worker many options to move.

    I started as an entry level office admin guy in wealth management, it was lowly paid but you learned a lot about investments, super, taxation, and Australian standards for finance. From there I was able to launch into Banking, IT.

    But for now your dilemma is the same as others, how to support yourself.

    Of course the government helps, go to Centrelink and see how they can help you with some support.

    And having a part time job also is great as you can work as well as have the gov top you up.

    There is potentially work in the gig economy?

  • Shiny Mew on 20/07/2018 - 12:47

    Drop out and become a tradie. It's a no-brainer.

  • Icecold5000 on 20/07/2018 - 21:00

    Not enough info to advise you. 'Finance' is a open term which can mean anything from being a bank teller to investment banking. The former requires a pulse while the latter requires an honours degrees from a G8 uni. Given the complete lack of relevant information (like your wedding singer gig makes any difference) no one can provide with any advice.

    • Optimistic Goat on 23/07/2018 - 14:16

      I'm studying an Bachelor of applied finance and a Bachelor of economics. It's the name of the degree… The purpose of the post was to gain information about routes that can add to critical experience while simultaneously offering a financial return. You simultaneously ask for more specificity and disregard when I provide my current employment. As for no one being able to provide advice. I now have two potential routes to follow up on. Industry based learning, as explained by Ocker, along with applying for Centrelink (student allowance) and pursuing unpaid internships.

      • Icecold5000 on 23/07/2018 - 21:12

        You realise that any internship worth anything PwC/JPM/KPMG etc will pay you during the break? These opportunities lead to full time jobs. Focus on grades and getting into a summer internship program.

        If you are 2nd year + and have no clue then you are way behind your cohort and will most likely fail since many have been preparing themselves for these opportunities from the beginning of their study.

        While this may sound unkind you should have taken notice of what your classmates were doing instead of doing whatever you were doing.

        • Optimistic Goat on 25/07/2018 - 18:21

          I appreciate you taking the time to comment, but what you've said isn't actually relevant to myself. Thanks for playing though!

        • Icecold5000 on 26/07/2018 - 11:59

          @drone lives matter:

          OK. Good luck with getting lower tier finance jobs. The competition is less fierce for these so you may be ok.

  • hotdog679 on 23/07/2018 - 15:56
    +1

    There's no reason you are limited to unpaid internships. Most of my friends doing similar degrees to you are making 30/hr working 2-3 days 9-5 at proper firms. Some started in 1st year, some in 2nd.

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