Whether you’re attending grad school right out of college or returning to campus after being out in the work world, you’ve probably reached a point in your life where it’s up to you to pay for your education and living expenses. Even with scholarships, grants and loans, you’ll probably still need to come up with enough money to cover gas, electric and phone bills—not to mention movies, pizza and Doc Martens.

Which is why landing a job as a teaching or research assistant while in graduate school allows you to kill the proverbial two birds with one stone—it pays your bills while allowing you to gain valuable work and school experience. Fortunately, most universities abroad offer this part-time work as part of their financial package for incoming graduate students.

And there are several other ways to combine work and school without taking away from your ultimate goal-an advanced degree. But whether you decide to work on campus or off, it’s important that you manage your time effectively to get the most out of the experience.

Rewards of teaching assignments:

Working as a teaching assistant is expected of most graduate students. Being a teaching assistant can be a very rewarding experience. While sharing your knowledge of a subject with undergrad students, you’ll have the opportunity to polish your communication skills, as well as enhance your mastery of the subject.

After all, you can’t teach a subject unless you have a firm grasp of the topic, and there’s nothing like a lab or discussion section with a group of students for learning the material.

For those pursuing academic careers, the experience of a teaching assistantship is invaluable. In most disciplines, it is impossible to obtain a position as a professor without some teaching background—which for most students means a teaching assistantship.

Research Assistant Positions:

Most graduate students in the sciences, whether ultimately interested in a career in academia or industry, are delighted to receive a research assistantship. And for good reason—the majority of graduate student research positions in the sciences allow you to earn money while conducting your own research and working toward your degree.

This is in marked contrast to the humanities and social sciences, where teaching is the mainstay of support for most students since funding is comparatively sparse for research positions. Even when research positions are available in the social sciences and humanities, they are almost always for work on someone else’s research project.

Other Work Opportunities:

An often-overlooked employment opportunity is the internship. Many graduate students mistakenly believe that internships are only for undergraduate students—not so. Many employers are eager to hire interns seeking advanced degrees. And for the student, an internship offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to tryout a position that you may be considering. Finally, some students embark upon their graduate career with a job already in hand. Often these students are pursuing an advanced degree as a way to ascend the corporate ladder with their current employer.

Finally, have the next important step waiting for you—your career. It’s important to line up a position before you finish graduate school. You’ll find it’s easier to finish school in a timely manner when you know you are about to embark on the next exciting stage of your career but harder to use time wisely when there appears to be no final deadline. However, don’t start your new position until you are finished with graduate school. Many students, who do this, often with the best of intentions, never find time to complete their degree once they are catapulted into the working world.