For Rachel Seidle, going to school is about much more than just hitting the books.

Like many students, she has to work to pay for tuition and living expenses. Mom and Dad aren’t covering the cost of her education.

Rachel Seidle, a 2001 Kansas University graduate now taking pre-nursing courses at Johnson County Community College, works 32 hours a week at Wheatfields Bakery and Caf904 Vt., to help pay for college expenses.

Seidle, 22, is a 2001 graduate of Kansas University who worked at a variety of jobs throughout her years as a college student.

Now the Tulsa, Okla., native is taking pre-nursing courses at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, in preparation to study nursing this fall at Washburn University in Topeka.

And along the way, Seidle is working 32 hours per week at Wheatfields Bakery and Caf904 Vt. She’s scheduled to work eight-hour shifts on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, helping to serve customers.

Then from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, she’s busy taking courses in anatomy and statistics at the community college.

Seidle paid her own way through her last two years at KU, working at different jobs on campus, such as at Watson Library. Most of those jobs were part-time during the school year, and she’d find full-time employment in the summer.

“The time commitment is the hardest part of it. You have to balance studying and working,” she says.

Not that having a job while she was at KU hurt her academically.

She managed to graduate with honors from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology. She played on the women’s rugby team, too and still does.

Seidle recommends that students work while they’re in college, believing it offers advantages.

“Having a job makes you better at time management. I also think I value my education a lot more because I’m having to earn the money to pay for it, and it makes me want to be more successful,” she says.

Taking a job at KU as an undergraduate helped Seidle to better juggle all the demands on her time.

“Campus jobs were especially good, because they were willing to work with your schedule, they were flexible and sometimes I could get my homework done while I worked,” she said.

No time to relax

Katie Kirsch, a 21-year-old Lenexa native, is another student who works, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve always had a job since I was 15. My parents didn’t want me to work (during college); they wanted me to focus on school. But then I got my job here,” Kirsch says.

She has been a waitress at Jefferson’s Restaurant, 743 Mass., for the past 18 months.

Kirsch attended KU for two years and is transferring in the fall to Univerity of Missouri-Kansas City to study communications or public relations. She will be a junior.

Kirsch has taken out loans to pay for tuition, but she needs to have a job in order to pay for her living expenses.

During fall semester last year, Kirsch had classes at KU on Tuesday and Thursday and then worked five-hour shifts on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. (She took spring semester off at KU.)

Being a student and holding down a demanding job is a big challenge.

“The hardest part is having to come to work knowing that you’ve got a test or a paper due in the morning. You’ve worked all evening, and you still have to go home to study or write,” Kirsch says.

“By the end of the week, you’re like, ‘God, just give me Sunday to relax. But you adapt. I try to study on the nights I’m off or on weekends.”

Resume builder

Richard Rose is another KU student who’s learned how to balance his life between studies and work. Rose, 24, is a senior who’ll finish up his studies as an English major this summer.

By August, he will have worked two years at Borders, 700 N.H., where he is an inventory supervisor. He has worked full time for the last seven months, and before that, he was scheduled for 30 hours per week.

He also spent two years at Schlotzky’s Sandwich Shop, 2233 La.

“My parents send me money during school to pay for things like rent and a portion of my tuition,” Rose says.

But the rest is up to him.

As far as jobs go, he’s happy to work at Borders.

“It’s great,” he says. “The people who work here are friendly and laid back, but everybody is motivated.”