How to Balance Work and Family While Earning an Online MPH Degree

Returning to pursue an undergraduate or graduate degree is no small undertaking. It requires a significant investment of your time and energy. For those who also have jobs and families, the very idea of returning to school can seem like an impossible dream. Thankfully, there are some simple strategies you can implement that will allow you to balance your life and earn a Bachelors or Master’s degree at the same time. Let’s take a look then at the strategies you can use to make your higher education dream a reality.

Tips for Managing Family and Work Life while Earning an Online MPH Degree

Consider Earning Your Degree Online

We live in an amazing age of technology. We can now go online for all of our shopping needs, to connect with long-lost friends and relatives through social media, check our bank account statements, watch videos, listen to music, and so much more. It should not be a surprise that it is now possible to take college courses online, and even complete an entire degree online, without having to visit the college campus. Earning a degree online is now very common, and most schools offer a variety of online programs for various career opportunities.

There are several advantages of earning your degree online that you should consider. First, and perhaps most important is the fact that online courses typically do not require you to be logged on at any specific time. Most professors of online courses post a list of objectives that need to be completed each week. As long as all of these objectives are met by their due dates, regardless of when you work on them, you receive full credit. This allows you to work on your courses during times that are convenient for you instead of having to schedule your work, family and other commitments around your classes.

The incredible flexibility online degree programs afford would be reason enough to pursue your studies this way, but the benefits do not end there. You also get to skip the hassles of commuting to class, dealing with finding a parking spot, or having to miss meals to get to class on time after work.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

If you are someone who has a family responsibilities, don’t be afraid to ask for help. It’s important to accept that you aren’t Superman or Wonder Woman going into a degree program and that at some point you may need a little assistance. There’s nothing wrong with asking for a little help on occasion and you should not feel bad in any way for doing so. If you are married, perhaps your spouse could pitch in on occasion to take the kids to an event you that’s normally on your to-do list. Maybe your parents could watch the kids for an evening while you study for an important exam. You could possibly arrange a play date where another parent watches your children for a while to give you a little break. Just don’t forget to return the favor so you can arrange more play dates in the future.

Manage Your Time Wisely

One of the keys to balancing school, work and raising a family is to use your time wisely. For some, this may mean cutting back on some non-essential things that you currently spend time on, like watching television or checking social media. If you enjoy watching a certain show, consider recording it on a DVR and watching it when you have some free time. Alternatively, consider skipping the show altogether while you are working on your degree. You can always catch up at a later date to treat yourself after you’ve finished your assigned course work.

If social media currently takes up a lot of your time, you may have to limit your time to checking Facebook, Twitter, and others to just a few minutes a day – force yourself to stick to it. Better yet, just close down your social media accounts during the time it takes you to complete your degree. Your friends and family will still be there after your degree is completed.

Work on Your Online MPH Courses During Your Downtime

“What downtime?” you may ask. “I barely have time to breathe as it is!”

Everyone has some downtime in his or her life. It is a matter of recognizing and taking advantage of that time to maximize your productivity. Why not catch up on your reading for a course you are taking during your lunch breaks at work? You could wake up a little earlier of the mornings to do a little homework while the house is still quiet. If you are not a morning person, why not take advantage of the quiet time of the evenings after the kids have gone to bed for the night to work on your courses? If you are taking all of your courses online, you get to call the shots on when you do the work.

Schedule Some Downtime for Yourself!

In addition to the above, one of the most important aspects of maintaining balance in your life while working on your college degree is to schedule some downtime for yourself.

Both your body and your mind need rest so that you do not experience burnout or stress-related illnesses that could set you back even more.

While it may not always be possible every week to schedule some free time for yourself, be sure that you do so often enough so that you can recuperate and to reach your goal of degree completion. Then reward yourself with a nice week long vacation somewhere after you graduate. You will have earned it.