Oh student life! We sleep all day, party all night and only study the night before our exams begin, right?
Well actually, I don’t do that. And neither do the majority of the people in my degree. In fact, most university students don’t have that lifestyle and for those who do (as fun as it sounds), it’s damn difficult to maintain.
It’s easy to think that uni life is all about cheap drinks on a Wednesday night and ‘when I grow up’ parties at Rafters Bar, especially if you’re about to become an on campus student. While uni does give you the freedom to live a little and encourages you to maintain a social life, there are a lot more students who don’t fill this stereotype than ones who do.
Postgraduate students
First of all, there are post-grad students, Masters students, Honours students and those students completing their PhD. These students often have jobs in their industries, children and a family. But they’re still studying, still attending uni and are therefore still uni students.
Online students
Now let’s talk online students. Online students are just that – online. They communicate online, study online, and ‘meet’ their classmates and lecturers online too. This means getting together with people in their degree for drinks isn’t as easy as it sounds. That is unless you’re willing to travel halfway across the country, bring your kids along or join via Skype from your workplace. Online students often don’t have that stereotypical ‘uni social life’ because they aren’t actually attending on campus classes or events.
Off campus
Then there are off-campus students. Although they attend classes on campus, these students might have their own place, some might live with friends or some with their significant other. So what does that mean? Rent, bills and more bills. A lot of students work part-time or casual jobs while studying full-time. This means they definitely can’t sleep all day and party all night.
Travelling students
What about the students who live in a different town or city and travel to uni? They have to plan their days – no spontaneous Thursday night happy hour if they know they need to get behind the wheel the next morning!
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for any university student, so let’s forget the stereotypes and embrace the diversity of students at CSU.
At the end of the day, we all have one thing in common – we’re here to finish our degree (sleepless nights or not!).
