You have an essay due for Contemporary American Fiction, and there’s an upcoming exam for Environmental Biology. Plus, you are on the schedule for work three days this week, and your co-worker asked you to cover their weekend shift. Then, your roommate begs you to go with them to a concert, and you haven’t done anything besides school or work in months. Thinking about it all, you feel like screaming — or maybe giving up on everything and going to sleep.

Balancing school, work, and social life during college isn’t easy, and most college students are feeling the strain on their mental health. In fact, the rates of mental illness on college campuses are so high that many experts have suggested that American universities are experiencing a mental health crisis.

Whether you are already recognizing symptoms of mental illness or you are eager to avoid concerns like anxiety and depression during your college years, here are a few strategies you can use to find a better balance between work, school, and life during higher education.

Become a Time Management Expert

Effective time management is one of the most valuable skills you can develop during your college years. By taking control of how you spend your time, you can maintain a balance between your responsibilities and achieve all your goals. You should take advantage of time management tools, like digital calendars and schedulers, which can help you visualize and track your time. You should also ditch time-wasting habits like procrastinating, scrolling social media, or multitasking.

Enroll in More Online Courses

Online courses are increasingly popular, even among traditional college students. Most online university courses are asynchronous, meaning you can engage with lectures and complete assignments when you have the time, as long as you meet deadlines outlined in the course syllabus. If a larger portion of your courses are online, you have more flexibility in how you spend your days, which means you can entertain a wider variety of work options to meet your financial needs.

Of course, it is a mistake to believe that online courses are easier than courses in traditional classrooms. In choosing to study online, you will assume more responsibility for ingesting and understanding information and staying on top of assignments and exams. However, for most students, the advantages of online classes far outweigh the disadvantages.

Understand Your Work Needs

Many college students must work during the semester to cover the costs associated with school, like tuition, books, and room and board. You might spend some time calculating how much money you require per month, so you can pursue jobs that cover your needs without infringing on your study time. Ideally, you will look for work that can be flexible to your schedule, like temp jobs, and you should prioritize positions that pay well per hour, so you can devote as much time as possible to your schoolwork.

If you are fortunate enough that you do not need to work to support yourself financially during your college years, you don’t need to worry so much about how a job pays. Instead, you should focus on how any work you take on can augment your studies and improve your prospects after graduation. You might apply for internships in your field, look for work-study opportunities, or consider other unpaid or poorly paid positions that could provide valuable experience.

Schedule Time for Self-Care

All work and no play… you know how the saying goes. While you shouldn’t squander your time in higher education, you should try to make the most of your college experience and give yourself time to blow off steam. Set a routine for self-care, which may involve a few minutes of exercise, meditation or journaling, socializing, or some other satisfying activity every day. You might also commit to talking to a mental health expert every week or two, so you can identify and manage any symptoms of mental illness as they emerge.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Perhaps the most important advice for avoiding mental illness while balancing work and school at university is that you must become adept at communication. Because your time and energy will be so limited by your full schedule, it is vital that you communicate effectively with everyone in your life regarding your responsibilities, your needs, and your experience. For example, you will need to:

• Communicate with your employer about your commitment to schoolwork. Because you need to arrange your work hours around your courses, you need to be able to talk to your employer about your schedule every semester.
• Communicate with your professors about your need to work to support your studies. Even strict professors can be more forgiving of class tardiness, absences, and late work if they already know of the extra demands on your time.
• Communicate with your loved ones about your health and well-being. Friends and family can help pick up the slack when it comes to cleaning the house or preparing meals, and they can provide emotional support when you are feeling overwhelmed.

You can avoid adding to the distressing statistics regarding mental health at college campuses. With the right strategies for balancing school and work, you can survive and thrive as a college student.