Abstract

Academic burnout threatens working students, especially student assistants at Bestlink College of the Philippines balancing on-campus jobs with studies. Dual roles impose time pressures, fatigue, and emotional strain, risking performance and well-being declines. While studies address student or employee burnout separately, a gap exists for those in the same institution. This research fills it by probing work-study demands as burnout drivers and coping strategies as buffers, vital for targeted institutional support. A quantitative descriptive design examined 50 purposively sampled student assistants (2025–2026 academic year). A customized survey captured demographics, burnout subscales (depersonalization, lack of efficacy, exhaustion), and coping types (problem-focused like planning; emotion-focused like support-seeking; stress-focused like breaks). Data underwent frequency, percentage, weighted mean, and ranking analysis. Overall burnout was low (mean: 1.8/5). Depersonalization (1.6) and exhaustion (1.7) were minimal; efficacy (2.4) suffered from schedule clashes, e.g., late shifts before exams. Coping proved high (4.1/5): stress-focused led (4.3), followed by emotion-focused (4.0) and problem-focused (3.8 ). Strong coping linked to low burnout. Findings affirm resilience via adaptive coping, echoing Lazarus and Folkman’s theory. Limitations: single-site, small sample, self-reports. Future work should scale up longitudinally. Recommend flexible schedules, wellness programs to safeguard well-being.