Instructions
Overview
Total Time Budget is a student success tool that will allow you to customize your approach to time-management based on the courses you are taking and your personal interests. We call this a budget, because like money, time is something that you want to make sure you are spending wisely.
Directions
As you fill out the form below, customized advice and tips will display on the screen. Slow down and read these for maximum results. The advice included helps you to prevent common missteps when it comes to how you spend your time.
All students regardless of life stage need to spend some time at the each semester working through the time considerations for each class and balance it with their other responsibilities and obligations. The balancing act is made more complex for adult learners who often have time commitments that include work, family, household, and other commitments which are unable to be cast aside.
This tool is designed to help you inventory your obligations and budget your time for academic success. It is important for you to be reflective and honest with yourself as you embark upon this task. It is also important for you to have frank conversations with your “support team” to make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to your newly designed time budget.
Directions
For each consideration, read the description, and then determine the amount of time you will spend each week for each area. While the sheet does calculations for you, it might be helpful to have a calculator on hand!
About Your Time Budget
Congratulations on completing the Total Time Budget Tool. Keep a copy of this printable for you to reference.
Pro tip: Successful students will complete the Total Time Budget Success Tool at the start of each semester.
Time breakdown recommendations
We recommend that students time budgets to include the following elements:
| Activity |
Hours per day |
Hours per week |
| Time spent in class |
varies |
|
| Time spent preparing for class / doing homework / studying |
4.5 |
32 |
| Self-care |
0.5 |
3.5 |
| Extracurriculars |
4 |
30 |
| Sleep |
6 |
56 |
| Eating |
2 |
15 |
| Free time |
2 |
15.5 |
| Total |
varies |
168 |
Keep in mind
Time management is a skill that you learn over time, and we designed this tool to help you think about how you should be spending your time/structuring your life as a student. At different points of the semester, your workload will vary. The purpose of this tool is to allow you to plan (and think).
Weekends
Another thing to keep in mind is that this tool focuses on the week as seven days because students should be spending time doing academic and extra-curricular activities on the weekend as well as during the school week. Trips home can become significant time commitments, especially if it takes you 2 hours to travel to and from Northwood. If you are planning on going home for the weekend, remember that you may have budgeted time to study on the weekend, so you need to do that while you are off campus!
How do I know if my time budget is working?
You will know if your time budget is working if you are meeting your targets and goals. If you are finishing your homework, doing well on tests and quizzes, showing up to class (on time and prepared), you are doing it right! If, at any time, you start to struggle academically, ask yourself, “Am I spending enough time on the right things to be successful?” If the answer is no, then you need to revisit your time budget.
Your Info
Time Budget Breakdown
Academic Commitment
Your academic commitment refers to the activities associated with your courses. It combines the amount of time you need to spend in-class (in a classroom or virtually) with the recommended study time.
Whether you are a BBA-MBA student taking an overload, or a student taking a 4-credit math class, your higher workload means balancing your time will potentially be challenging. You must take steps to protect the time you set aside for studying, and seek help as soon as you start to feel overwhelmed or like you are falling behind.
When it comes to allowing time for academic prep, students need to plan to spend 2 hours per credit hour outside of the classroom on work for the class. This is not just about the assigned homework. This time should be spent doing the assigned readings, homework, studying for exams, and preparing papers and other larger projects.
Remember that the “Study Time” estimate is just a ball-park of the amount of time you will need to spend on work outside of the classroom to be successful. You may need to adjust this at key times during the semester (like mid-terms and finals). It is most important to pay attention to the grades you are earning and add more time when you are not meeting your targets.
Students entering Northwood with average grades tend to struggle with the transition to college. You may need to add more time to your academic commitment to make the transition to college-level work successful.
Depending on the distance you travel during your commute, your drive to campus has the potential to be a sizeable added time commitment. Make sure you make the most of your time on campus. Try sticking around after classes to study, interacting with your peers, and getting the most out of college.
Basic Needs
Your basic needs include your sleep, self-care/hygiene and eating. Sometimes we forget that these basics take up time, but they need to be added to your budget!
Sleep is important. Learning to set your own sleep schedule is a student success skill that many students struggle with. As a young person, your mind and body are still developing. The advice we could share here could fill many books, so the abbreviated version is this: the current recommendation by the experts at Sleep Foundation is between 7-9 hours for young adults aged 18-25. They warn against getting less than six and more than 11 hours of sleep. For best results, get this sleep at night, consistently with a set sleep and wake time. Naps and staying up late binging on anything (including cramming for exams) become a pattern that disrupts your biological rhythm. Results: When students mess with their sleep time, their in-seat attendance, or the amount they learn in class suffers. (Learn more about sleep for students)
It is important to budget time for self-care. By self-care, we don’t mean massages and getting your nails done! Instead, we are talking about taking the time each day to shower, groom, tidy your spacey and do laundry. This is one area that students simultaneously neglect and spend too much time on. Long showers can add up, as can having to do all of your laundry and cleaning at once if you procrastinate in these areas. Thirty minutes a day is the recommended time for this type of self-care.
Meal time is an important time. It is time to nourish your body and give it the fuel you need to live and learn. In addition to making good choices for your meals on and off campus, it is essential to set aside time to eat. Your mealtime can also be a double-dip as you can spend it socializing and doing other activities you enjoy. It is recommended that you set aside 14-16 hours per week for meals. This breaks down to 30 for breakfast and lunch and an hour for dinner.
Extracurriculars
Extracurricular activities will enrich your experience as a Northwood student. If you are able to, alongside your academic commitment, you may want to consider participating in some.
When your sport is in season, the time budget tool adds 30 hours per week to your total.
When your sport is out of season, your time commitment is a little less we added 20 hours per week to your total.
Being a student-athlete is a significant time commitment. The sport – especially if you are in-season and traveling – can add to the amount of time you need to set aside for sports. Keep in mind that in addition to practice, there is extra time you spend showering, in the training room, bonding with your teammates, and walking back and forth between the athletic complex. This all can add up fast and eat up all the time you have for extracurricular activities. At the same time, we want you to have a well-rounded experience on campus, so be selective about the “other” things you do, and try to get involved with activities and clubs during your off time.
Establishing healthy habits is fundamental for all first-year students. Time spent on personal fitness is a good investment! Remember that there is a little hiding time cost to working out that includes additional showering and walking two and from the athletic complex.
It is wonderful that you want to join a Fraternity or Sorority. Greek life is one of the many ways students can build a strong social and professional network on campus. Keep in mind your rush period will be an additional time commitment. You will need to be super-efficient to balance your time.
During your first semester of Greek life, you need to budget 10 hours per week.
Your intention to join a club is excellent. Many students at Northwood are part of social or business-related Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). It is important to remain conscious of your time commitments and not overcommit to too many activities. Remember, the average time budget has less than 30 hours to spend on extracurricular activities.
For each club you want to join you need to budget 5 hours per week. This will be more if you intend to be on the E-board (president, treasurer, etc.)
Working while in college is a great way to earn money and build your professional skills. We recommend that as you look for work, you consider an on-campus job. Student employment on campus tends to be more flexible than off-campus and working on campus is linked with higher persistence and graduation rates.
Grand Total
You have selected too many things on here, and have over-committed yourself. There are only so many hours in the week, and it is important to be realistic now about what you will have time for and what you will not. Re-think some of the elements that will take up the most time and which activities help you reach your academic and personal goals.
After you selected your items, you have ended up with less than five free hours. This means you have a lot of commitments, but still a little wiggle room. Remember, we did not budget time for walking, waiting, and transitioning from class to class, so your number may be even lower. The lower your extra time number is, the more you will need to be disciplined and intentional about how you spend your time. Any additional commitment could push you out of alignment.
Your time commitments – based on the combination of items you selected – appears to be optimal. Think of this extra time line as “flex time” and realize that some of it will be spent, walking, waiting, and transitioning between other time commitments.
If you have more than 15 hours remaining, you may not have selected many structured extracurricular activities. Structured activities are better than unstructured leisure when it comes to student success.
- Most structured extracurricular activities have a set beginning and end, which helps you move on to the next thing you need to.
- Filling your leisure time with structured activities usually means you are doing something that will result in you becoming a better person. Filling your life with meaningless activities is the same as filling your plate with empty calories. Your mind needs nourishment just as your body does.
- Watch out for binge-potential activities like video games, social media, Netflix, and endless hangouts or napping during the day. These things can snowball into a general lack of productivity. Binging = bad. Binging does not lend itself to success in a college career.
Your time allotments leave you with a little bit of additional time. You may want to consider working out a few times a week, especially if you were a student athlete in high school, but are not on a sport here. Establishing healthy habits is fundamental for all first-year students. Time spent on personal fitness is a good investment! Just remember to keep your extracurricular time allotments under 30 hours.
Your time allotments leave you with a little bit of additional time. Consider joining a registered student organization (RSO) while on campus. Make it a goal for your first semester to join one. There are many to choose from and will help you make connections with your classmates. Better yet, students who join clubs tend to have higher graduation rates. Just remember to keep your extracurricular time allotments under 30 hours.
Your time allotments leave you with a little bit of additional time. Consider getting an on-campus job. This will allow you to earn money and grow your professional skills. Student employment on campus tends to be more flexible than off-campus and working on campus is linked with higher persistence and graduation rates.
You have selected too many activities for the amount of credit hours you are enrolled in. There are only 168 hours in a week, so you will need to remove something before proceeding.
ADP Time Budget Breakdown
Consideration 1: Family
If you have a familial responsibilities which could include care of your own children, aging parents or grandparents, or maintaining a relationship with a spouse or other partner, you need to set aside some time for family. For many adult students, this is where a big chunk of time goes.
Tips: Remember that school is temporary. If you are able to hire or otherwise acquire help from family members, friends, or established care providers, it is better to set these structures up in advance. In other words, do whatever you can to enlist partners to help with your familial responsibilities.
Consideration 2: Career
If you work (full-time or part-time) you need to make block off time for your job.
Tip: If your work schedule varies, do what you can to stabilize/standardize your time commitment, or plan for the max number of hours. If you are able to, (financially and if you have the support of your employer) see if you can cut back on your hours, or flex your time to optimize your schedule.
Be realistic about your workload. If there are times of the year when you take on more work professionally, it is a good idea to reduce your course load during these peak times. Talk to your Program Center Manager about ways to work with your schedule!
Consideration 3: Education
Northwood University’s Adult Degree Program is structured in a way that allows you to embark on your bachelor’s degree while juggling all these other areas. We know that you have commitments. That said, to be successful, you need to carve out time to do the work to get your degree. Learning takes time, so you have to allocate some time for learning.
We recommend an average of at least 12-15 hours per week for three-credit hour course you are taking. This includes in-person or online instruction, plus the time needed to complete coursework, discussion boards, and reading assignments. Remember this is an average. Some weeks you will have more or less work in your courses.
Consideration 4: Sleep
In order to function, learn, and thrive, we need sleep. According to the Mayo Clinc’s sleep experts, adults should aim for about 7 hours of sleep per night. This comes to 49 hours per week. You might be able to survive on less, but be careful. It will be tempting to cut into this area, but brain function will be reduced if you are cutting out too much sleep.
Consideration 5: Household
It is important to block out time each week for the care of your household. This area includes your chores like cleaning, shopping, food prep and other necessities.
Tip: This is another area where it is important to remember that school is temporary. You may need to reduce your time spent in this area, ask for help, and let things go. For some of us, this is hard to do, but it is healthier to sacrifice a pristine home vs. a good night’s sleep or finishing your Econ homework. Talk to your friends and family about the support you need in this area, and remember when you finish your degree or have semester break you can deep clean your house (or pay someone else to!).
Consideration 6: Driving
Until we learn to teleport we need to recognize that we will be spending some time in our cars. Your commute needs to be considered!
If you run a shuttle service for aspiring gymnasts or hockey stars, you may want to see if you can have a fellow parent take on this task until you are finished with school.
Consideration 7: Other Commitments
We can’t predict all your commitments, so if you have others you should account for them here. You also should evaluate if your “other commitments” can be reduced. Be strategic here. Try to concentrate these other commitments to time between semesters or cut them all together.
Consideration 8: Spirituality/Religious Obligation
It is important to set aside time for your spirituality and other religious obligations, however you also should reduce any responsibilities you have when it comes to serving on boards, teaching Sunday school, or other “extras.” You can pick back where you left off when your degree is completed. You may have more to offer your spiritual community when you have your degree in your hand.
Consideration 9: Self-care, Stress Reduction, Recreation
You may need to do some things for you. This is important to block time for. You may also come to realize that the thing you are doing for you is your schoolwork. Still, it is smart to work in fitness or some other activities to reduce stress at least once or twice a week.
Tip: If you like to read or listen to pod casts, you can sometimes “double-dip” by listening to a good book while on the treadmill, or as you drive to work! Think of how you can maximize your enjoyment of these activities.
Oh no! You have gone over the 168 hours in a given week. This means you will need to cut back on something. The tricky part is to figure out where/what you can cut and perform at the level you wish to in all of your pursuits (Education, Career, Family, etc.)
Your schedule is tight, but if you can stick to it you will be in good shape. Try to work ahead whenever you can to prepare for unexpected time considerations.
Your schedule is well balanced-with even a little buffer time added in. Make sure you stay on top of your classwork before you add in any extras.
It looks like you have a little extra free time you might want to go back and add time to some of your areas. Or if you have a lot of free time, this might be a good time to think about adding in an extra class.
Even though this feels like a lot, this is do-able! Factor that influence how you push through your degree is your personal grit and maintaining motivation. Coming up with a strong plan will help with both. Remember you have support from your faculty, ADP staff, and others in your life. Make sure you are engaging your entire success network. We are here for you.
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