Be realistic about how much money you are going to need. Being a student is often much more expensive than you might expect, even considering just day to day living expenses. It can be much more expensive if you want to go out socialising to restaurants, bars, and clubs. Students often do a poor job of estimating how much money they will need.

Keep in mind the following expenses:

Domestic students can likely access student loans or student allowances to pay some of their expenses. Check carefully how much you can potentially receive and what the eligibility criteria are. In both Australia and New Zealand the rules are complex and constantly changing, so we do not attempt to break them down in detail, and instead direct you to the relevant government website.

For Australian students, look into Austudy (25 years and older) and Youth Allowance (24 years and under). Keep in mind that you need to be studying full time to get these payments. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, Abstudy is the equivalent payment. If you are enrolled in a commonwealth supported place (subsidised by the government), as opposed to a full fee-paying place, you can access a HECS-HELP loan (also known as HECS) to pay the tuition fees. There is an equivalent loan for full fee-paying courses known as FEE-HELP. Any loans are later paid back through the tax system, with repayments starting once a certain threshold is reached.

New Zealand has similar rules with a student loan scheme available that will cover tuition and living costs. Note though that the maximum living cost payment is capped and may be inadequate to pay all weekly costs. New Zealand also has a student allowance system that doesn’t need to be paid back, but it can be difficult to access as it is dependent on parents' income in most cases.

The amount of money that can be received from the government is often dependent on parental income with the expectation that they will help in some way. Discuss with your parents well ahead of time how expensive it will be going to university, and how much support they are able to provide.

Realistically not all parents are able, or willing, to provide support. If this is the case, given current financial realities, it might be very hard to be a student. This could mean finding a full-time job, and just studying part-time, or finding some other practical balance between work and study. Combining full-time work with full-time study is sometimes discussed, but for most people it isn’t realistic.

Keep in mind that it’s not uncommon for parents to say that yes they will help, but when the time comes suddenly some reason arises as to why they can’t help out. If your parents don’t have much money, or have a history of frequently changing their mind, be aware of this possibility.

Another mistake is overestimating how easy it is to find a part-time job, what the hourly rate will be, as well as how many hours can reasonably be worked. The number of students that descend on major cities at the beginning of each semester is huge. This can mean hot competition for jobs. Students commonly look for jobs in retail, hospitality, food delivery, cleaning, ride-sharing services, and other forms of casual employment. There may also be employment available on campus, although jobs like tutor or lab demonstrator are often reserved for post graduate students.

One problem with working too much is that grades can be impacted. This is especially the case when it comes to academically demanding subjects. It’s true that grades aren’t everything, and later in your career nobody will care about what grades you got at university. However early in your career bad grades can mean a struggle to get a good quality graduate role. A bad career start can lead to a bad career trajectory.

Keep in mind that while some employers are honest, there are many dodgy employers that are looking to exploit students. Students' general lack of experience and lack of familiarity with labour laws can leave them in a disadvantaged position. Also some students are desperate for any work, which can force them to accept substandard employment. Unfortunately for many student jobs it’s a race to the bottom. If one student won’t take the job due to the poor pay and conditions, someone else more desperate will. On average small businesses are worse than larger companies, which at least have some sort of proper human-resource department that ensures compliance with legal minimums. Also the manager of a large company isn’t personally paying your wages, whereas with a small owner operated business any wages paid are coming out of their own pocket. At a larger company you might have a bad manager, but at least you get paid on time.

Think about what part-time jobs might suit you and what steps you can take to prepare for the role. For instance someone who wants a job in hospitality in Australia may look to get a Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) certificate. Such a certificate is mandatory if you work in a position that requires you to serve alcohol.

Ask the older generation how to find a job and you might hear something along these lines, "Go to a business and ask to see the manager. Hand them your CV, look them in the eye, and give them a firm handshake. You will have a job in no time. There’s plenty of jobs available". Unfortunately this is boomer logic and not realistic for many roles. The manager on duty may not even be responsible for hiring decisions, and even if they are they probably don’t have any vacancies. Do you think he or she really wants to be dealing with a stream of people handing out their CVs every day? It’s a huge distraction from the tasks they are trying to get done. This is also an inefficient use of your own time as well as demoralising.

That doesn’t mean you should completely discount the walk-in strategy, but it needs to be used carefully. For example, you could consider applying in person if they have a sign in front of their business asking you to do so, if you’ve seen something online that instructs you to do that, or if someone has told you they are looking for staff.

Most medium to large businesses will have proper processes they want you to follow. Failing to follow this process won’t help you, and instead will make you look like a person who can’t follow instructions. If the business has an online portal they want you to apply though, that is what you should do. Don’t try the walk-in strategy at big businesses like Bunnings or Woolworths.

Another way to find jobs is to ask your friends and contacts. Your friends may be able to alert you to a role before it is actually advertised.

Students can be reluctant to work at times like Friday or Saturday night because that is when they want to socialise with their friends, but those times are also when peak demand occurs in the hospitality industry. If you don’t want to work at those times, you are also limiting your chance of finding a job.

Some students think that their lecturer or even teaching assistant is a source of jobs. This normally isn’t true. Usually teaching staff have no special connections to outside employers. Certainly not enough to allocate a job to every student who wants one. Asking them for a job will make you look a bit silly. If the university itself has jobs available, they will normally be advertised on the university’s website.

An effective job search strategy is one that is multi-pronged: