Yes- students can still thrive academically despite financial struggles, but it takes strategy, not just willpower.
Hardship doesn’t automatically kill performance. It changes the conditions you have to work in. The students who make it through are usually the ones who treat their time, energy, and money like limited resources and build systems around that.
How it can be achieved:
Structure over stress: Financial pressure eats focus. The ones who thrive block out “money stress time” separately from “study time.” If you’re constantly thinking about fees or rent while reading, you won’t retain anything. Use weekends to solve money problems, weekdays to study.
Textbooks, notes, and past questions don’t need to be bought by everyone. Study groups cut costs and improve understanding. Financially stressed students often excel because they’re forced to collaborate instead of competing.
They should be encouraged to take up side gigs- but not any gig. A student who spends 6 hours daily driving a bike or doing night shifts will crash academically. The goal is income that doesn’t destroy your main asset: brainpower.
Gigs that work for students:
Online/remote work: Writing, graphic design, tutoring, content moderation. You control hours and can do it between lectures.
Campus-based: Selling snacks, printing services, helping lecturers with data entry. Low commute, flexible.
Skills-based: If you’re a CS student, do freelance coding. If you’re a mass comm student, run social media for small shops. It pays and builds your CV.
The rule: If the gig takes more than 10–15 hours/week or cuts into sleep/lecture time, it’s costing you more than it earns. Academics is still the long-term leverage point.
Should they focus solely on studies? Only if they have a reliable support system - family, scholarship, or savings. For the majority who don’t, “focus solely” means dropping out eventually due to fees. The best answer is “hybrid focus”: studies first, gigs second, and both done intentionally.
The real key: Community Students don’t thrive alone. Mentors, alumni, and even classmates who share info about grants or gigs make the difference. Hardship isolates.
Its another hangout, Take the mic 🎤
RE: Sam’s Hangout #110 - “HARDSHIP IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS”