As a hardworking professional, you are committed to learning and growing. There are many ways to accomplish this, but a college degree offers a proven path to higher earnings, greater job security, and new career opportunities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, full-time workers whose highest degree was a bachelor’s earned a median of $1,578 per week in 2025, about 63% more than the $966 earned by those with only a high school diploma. They also had a lower unemployment rate, at 2.8% versus 4.3%.
At this point, then, the question is not necessarily whether to invest in college-based professional development but, rather, when and how to build college into your busy schedule. With support and a strong plan, it is possible to earn your degree as you remain active in the workforce.
Yes — Plenty of People Are Already Doing It
The working student experience is an increasingly popular pathway, favored by ambitious professionals spanning various industries and backgrounds. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) paints a promising picture of adult learning, showing that it is the norm to remain employed while enrolled full time. Per 2020 data, this is the reality for 55% of full-time students aged 30–39, and the trend grows more pronounced with age: 58% of students aged 40–49 are employed, as are 61% of those aged 50–64.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) echoes this reality. In the report The Economics Daily, per 2024 data, the BLS shows that 69.6% of students aged 20–29 who earned bachelor’s degrees (and 74.7% of those who earned master’s degrees) remained employed. Dual employment and academic commitments persisted while progressing toward increasingly advanced degrees; according to the BLS, 71% of recent associate degree recipients remained employed while still enrolled in college.
These statistics suggest that, if you commit to both full-time employment and full-time coursework, you’ll be in good company. In other words, if you are wondering, “Can I get a degree while working full time?” the answer is a definitive yes.
How Many Classes Should You Take While Working Full Time?
For many working students, the decision of whether to combine work and college may seem like a no-brainer. The real challenge is knowing how many classes to take and how to find balance. Fortunately, you don’t have to figure this out alone. At JWU Online, you have a dedicated academic advisor throughout your program who can help you find the right balance of courses and an appropriate course load.
Jeffrey Adams ’24, B.S. – Business Studies, took one class at a time while balancing his job and family. Advisor Jessica Rounds helped him decide which courses to take and in what order, such as taking Excel before analytics. “Her recommendations have kept me engaged throughout my program,” he said.
Advisors can also work with your financial planner if your circumstances change. After leaving the employer that had been paying her tuition, Mikala Schimke ’26, B.S. – Fashion Merchandising & Retailing, planned her courses with advisor Maureen Coutu. She then shared that plan with financial planner Marybeth Dempsey so they could map out her tuition payments. “Marybeth partnered with my academic advisor to look at my class load,” Schimke says.
You can go all in with full-time coursework, but your busy academic schedule may leave less time for work or family.
Keep in mind that, as a working student, you won’t be able to set your own deadlines once the term or semester begins, so you’ll need to plan your work and family commitments around your course schedule. If balance is a priority, work to establish it from the get-go. This means planning a course load that feels realistic based on your existing professional obligations.
- Part time – If you’re nervous about balancing full-time work with college assignments, a part-time schedule lets you ramp up slowly. There are multiple ways to navigate a part-time college schedule. For example, you could take one 7-week course at a time, for a total of two courses in a semester. Or you could pair a 15-week course with a 7-week course, so you’d focus on one course for half of the semester and two courses for the other half. Either approach gets you back into the routine of college life but also provides plenty of leeway during busy periods at work. After a few terms, you can always add to your course load. The main downside to a part-time schedule is that it extends your overall college timeline — a problem if you need college credentials to secure a specific role or certification. Many master’s students prefer this arrangement, as graduate-level coursework is more rigorous and may require more dedicated focus for each individual class.
- Full time – If you have a clear vision for when you want to complete your degree, full-time coursework may be preferable. This might complicate your schedule, but fortunately, today’s flexible online programs are designed to accommodate busy working students. Remember that full-time status is defined differently depending on whether you pursue your bachelor’s or master’s
Whichever option you choose, talk to your academic advisor about your scheduling needs and graduation requirements. Not all classes run every semester, so your advisor can help you stay on track to finish within your desired time frame.
Choosing a Program Format That Fits Your Job
Your course load determines when and how often you study, but format is just as important. This clarifies how and where you attend class (online, in-person, or a combination of the two). These arrangements play heavily into your college experience and your ability to find balance.
In fact, format might prove even more influential than your course load. The right format can make a packed schedule feel a lot easier to manage. This is why online and hybrid models are now the go-to for so many working students. When some (or all) classes are accessed virtually, college becomes a matter of fitting courses around work, not vice versa.
Asynchronous Online Programs
Online learning doesn’t automatically translate to maximum flexibility. Much depends on how (and when) you attend those classes. Live sessions look similar to the traditional, on-campus experience but allow for virtual access. These offerings might seem helpful but could still prove difficult to build around work hours.
At Johnson & Wales University (JWU) Online, for instance, asynchronous online courses eliminate the need for commuting and offer maximum control over your academic schedule. Instead of rushing to campus or back home to attend a live session at a specific time, you can access learning materials and experiences when your schedule allows. For 9-to-5 professionals, this often means logging in before work or committing to evening study sessions. Asynchronous courses accommodate workers with unpredictable hours, too, including rotating schedules or even night shifts.
Career-Focused Options
Career-focused, 90-91 credit programs condense standard college curricula into shorter timeframes. As a working student, the core advantage is that you master new concepts and develop new skills at a faster pace. This, in turn, allows you to promptly apply those newfound abilities in the workforce. While this route cannot guarantee faster career advancement, it can help you quickly build credibility and even satisfy requirements for industry-specific licensure or certification. JWU Online offers a realistic pathway with the 90-91 credit bachelor’s degree, which can be completed in just three years.
Beyond timing, consider educational focus and confirm that your program promotes skills that you will actually use in your day-to-day work. Any program can potentially fulfill this factor if its curriculum covers the right topics, but career-focused options make alignment easier to verify.
After all, these programs are intentionally structured to accommodate students in targeted fields. Examples include programs dedicated to Healthcare Administration or Culinary Arts. All are closely tied to focused career paths and prioritize industry-relevant curricula alongside experiential learning.
Turn Your Work Experience Into College Credit
Accelerated programs fast-track the college experience, but there are other ways to expedite the path to graduation. Many colleges honor prior learning in its numerous forms, using assessments and other structured processes to confirm that students have covered the topics necessary to be deemed competent in their respective fields.
Options for leveraging prior learning or work experience include:
- Portfolio assessments – You’ve built valuable skills through your time in the workforce or even volunteering. Turn that experience into college credit by submitting a portfolio. This should include evidence of non-college experiences and accomplishments, along with written details about relevant learning outcomes.
- CLEP exams – The College Board uses the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) to replace standard courses with exams. A passing score can lead to college credits without actually needing to take certain courses. This is a solid option for fulfilling general education requirements.
- Departmental challenge examinations – Test directly out of targeted courses with exams closely tied to college-specific courses and curricula. These are similar to CLEP exams but cover a broader range of topics.
- Military experience – As you served your country, you completed rigorous training and gained valuable skills. That experience may now translate into academic credit. Keep in mind that this is evaluated via the Joint Services Transcript against American Council on Education (ACE) recommendations.
Some JWU Online students earn credit for prior learning by completing CLEP exams, challenge exams, or portfolios. However, these options aren’t available for all courses. Connect with your academic advisor to find out which options, if any, are available based on your degree program and remaining required courses.
Harnessing your previous college and work experiences, you get the chance to focus on new skills and topics — as opposed to rehashing content you have already covered elsewhere. This accelerates your path to graduation. Promising findings from the nonprofit CAEL (Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) suggest that students who secure credits for prior learning are 17% more likely to graduate. CAEL data also shows that prior learning credits accelerate the path to graduation, saving those with 12 or more credits up to 14 months (and up to $10,200 in tuition).
Savings vary based on your unique experience and may be reduced somewhat by per-credit fees for challenge exams and portfolio assessments. Clarify these expenses before using testing services and pursuing prior learning credits.
Let Your Employer Help Pay for It
Before you enroll, discuss your plans with your employer’s human resources (HR) and confirm their policies support your academic plans. This can be advantageous to both you and your employer: As you gain skills that improve your workplace performance, they score a tax deduction under the IRS Section 127 rule.
Section 127 educational assistance programs allow for $5,250per year in tax-free benefits. Inquire about Section 127 offerings to confirm that your employer offers a qualifying educational assistance program. If this program is available, examine it to determine what is covered and to verify your ability to meet relevant requirements.
What It Actually Looks Like — Working Students Who’ve Done It
The data shows that many adult learners continue to hold down full-time jobs while also committing to higher education — yet those numbers don’t tell us what it’s actually like to juggle full-time work with a packed course load. That’s where student stories make all the difference.
Many graduates are thrilled about their decision to continue working, even if they acknowledge that their life as a working student was busy and occasionally stressful. Some also view online programs and asynchronous arrangements as the secret to success. Take the following for instance:
- Stephen Taylor (A.S. Hospitality Management) recalls worrying about finding balance but adds that he discovered a real sense of accomplishment as he completed assignments from the comfort of his couch. He credits his online program with helping him take the “next step toward leadership roles in private clubs and general management by approaching [his] day more strategically and thinking like a manager.”
- For Ashani Ranathunga (B.S. Hospitality Management), online coursework was a must for remaining present as a parent while also working full-time and even documenting her cooking and baking journey on social media. She reminds aspiring students that online coursework demands a great deal of self-discipline but elaborates that, through careful planning, she’s managed to “maintain a healthy balance and continue progressing toward [her] goals.”
- Family challenges played into Direka Gordon’s (B.S. Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship) journey, too, but online courses made what would have once seemed impossible realistic: taking classes while moving from Georgia to Texas. She even wrote papers during the 16-hour drive. Her creative strategies (like using Speechify to download textbooks and harness her auditory learning style) helped her overcome academic challenges, but she also appreciated support from JWU Online staff and even mascot Wildcat Willie.
- McKenzie Thibeault (MBA Event Leadership) exemplifies that, with the right program and right mindset, anyone can come to love online learning. She’d previously struggled with online courses as an undergrad, but her Master of Business Administration (MBA) experience with JWU Online was completely different. For her, the main difference is exploring topics she is genuinely passionate about. As an online MBA student, she has the freedom to build her interests into class projects. She says, “Being given permission to engage my imagination in developing my own scenarios for assignments has felt liberating.”
Tips for Making It Work Week to Week
If the words of JWU Online students and graduates are any indication, online programs feel more manageable and more enjoyable when they involve flexible coursework, passion-driven topics, and strong planning. Here are a few final tips to find balance as you embrace the joy of higher learning:
- Set a consistent weekly study block. The idea of leveraging leftover time may seem compelling, but it’s best to be realistic; when you have a few spare minutes, will you actually commit to studying? If the answer is “maybe,” opt for structure instead. This means setting aside specific times each week to focus on coursework.
- Provide a heads-up about major deadlines. Your manager and colleagues may support your academic efforts, but they also deserve to know when college classes impact your day-to-day work routines. Even if your schedule may be manageable at the outset, if you give your team a heads-up, they may be more understanding when you need to carve out time or mental bandwidth for important projects or exams.
- Get ahead on coursework during predictable weeks. Some weeks may go exactly as planned, complete with scheduled study sessions and everyday workplace obligations. Other times will feel chaotic, and if unexpected work obstacles pop up, you may struggle to set aside time for studying. These situations can feel less stressful if you have worked ahead on key readings or assignments.
- Create a dedicated space for schoolwork. After a long day on the job, you may be prone to distraction. Create a comfortable yet inspiring environment that puts you in the right mindset. Look to Rasheeda Brooks-Johnson for inspiration in how she “set up a designated location for work with a different desk for school.” While she appreciates the mental switch, the real value lies in the signal to her family: “Hey, mommy is dedicating this hour-and-a-half to studying, so maybe I can’t interrupt her unless it’s an emergency.”
Find the Degree Program That Fits Your Life
Higher education introduces skills and ideas that enrich your life and career. It can also be essential for moving into management, leadership, and executive-level positions. For example, even with 20 years of banking experience, Carlos Coronado Cordova ’27, B.S. – Finance, sees earning his bachelor’s degree as key to advancing his career. He expects to pursue either a regional leadership role or a national support role. Embrace the joy of learning as you invest in your professional future. It all begins with finding the right college, the right degree, and the right format. Look to JWU Online for support so you can earn a degree while working full time. Check out our degree programs, and take the next step toward a balanced and rewarding college experience.
For more information about completing your degree online, complete the Request Info form, call 855-JWU-1881, or email [email protected].