For 21-year old Katie Harrington, being a student is only a small fragment of her day.

Harrington also works a six-hour shift at the Java House, 2111⁄2 E. Washington St., before stepping foot in a classroom. After school obligations are over, she runs off to SCOPE meetings, and only at 10:30 p.m. is she able to fully unwind.

“It’s kind of tough,” said Harrington, a journalism and graphic-design major. “I don’t have a lot of free time, and I’m always tired. It’s tough, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Life in college is an intricate balancing act for many University of Iowa students. In addition to the course workload, students often work jobs to help finance their education.

Earn While You Learn, a need-based scholarship open to all full-time students, is being offered to help students lighten the load. And although this isn’t the first year the scholarship is offered, officials plan to re-evaluate the program at the end of the year and said they hope to offer either more awards or bigger scholarships.

Applications can be viewed and printed through the UI Student Government website, and they will be accepted until Nov. 19 in the Student Financial Aid Office.

The scholarship is financed through a collaborative effort between UISG and the Executive Council of Graduate Professional Students.

While the student governments endow the scholarship, the money is housed in the UI Foundation.

“A lot of the time the financial process can really make college life hard,” said UISG public-relations officer Claudia Taylor, who has been a recipient of need-based scholarships and knows their worth.

To be eligible students must work a minimum of 15 hours a week.

The $500 award will be given to seven undergraduate and five graduate students to be chosen by the Student Financial Aid Office.

Students will be selected based on the need for financial aid. Other criteria for the scholarship includes good academic standing at the UI, as well as a minimum of $500 of financial need.

“[The scholarship] is very important,” said Director of Student Life Bill Nelson. “It allows those students who work to be eligible to receive funds, and that certainly helps.”

Earn While You Learn has been available for students for many years, he said. The scholarship is given on a yearly basis each spring, and students can reapply again the following year.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity … [for] students to give back to students,” said Lyndsay Harshman, the president of the Executive Council.