A majority (78%) of undergraduates work an average of nearly 30 hours a week while enrolled in college, making work likely the most common activity among the diverse undergraduate population in this country, according to Working Their Way Through College: Student Employment and Its Impact on the College Experience, an issue brief from the American Council on Education (ACE).
"Students are more likely to work than they are to live on campus, to study full time, to attend a four-year college or university, or to apply for or receive financial aid," writes the report's author Jacqueline King, director of the ACE Center for Policy Analysis.
The issue brief uses data from the Department of Education's 2003-04 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) to explore which students work and for how many hours, why and at what types of jobs they work, how working affects them, and what role work plays in financing college.
The Department has been tracking work habits of undergraduates since the mid 1990's and there has been little change in the percentage of students who work or the average amount they work over the past decade.
Who Works
The report finds that differences in backgrounds have little effect on whether a student works
"Regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, dependency or marital status, enrollment status, type of institution attended, or even income, 70% - 80% of students work while they are enrolled," the paper states. "It is remarkable for its lack of variation."
There are some minor variations. A smaller percentage (68%) of Asian Americans work while roughly 78% of white, African American and Hispanic students do. Not surprisingly, a greater percentage (80%) of independent students work while 75% of dependent students work. Similarly, 83.5% of part-time students work compared to 73% of full-time student.
How Much Do Students Work?
There are other instances where results are what one might expect.
- Students at two-year and for-profit institutions - who are more likely to be older and part-time students - are more likely to work full time than students at four-year institutions.
- Full-time students were more likely to work 20 hours or less a week than part-time students, however 23% of full-time students work 35 hours or more a week.
- Dependent students whose families make $60,000 or more are most likely to work 20 hours or less a week
- Independent students with incomes of $25,000 or more are the most likely to work 35 hours or more a week
- White and Asian-American students - who are more likely to be traditional college age and come from upper- and middle-income families - work less than African-American, Hispanic and Native American students
More surprisingly, a relatively large portion (33%) of dependent students from families making $90,000 or more worked 21 hours or more a week. This is not much less than the percentage (41%) of dependent students from families making $30,000 or less who work at least 21 hours a week.
"The need or desire to work seems to be driven by more than just family income," King writes.
Why Do Students Work?
To investigate this question, the report divides students into two categories: those who view themselves as employees first and students second, and those who see themselves in the opposite order.
It is easy to understand why the first group works. More than 85% of these "employees who study" are independent and work an average 38 hours a week. The reasons the second group work is much more diverse.
While upper-income "students who work" are just as likely to work as lower-income students, the reasons they work vary based on dependency status and income. A larger percentage (77%) of independent students work to pay tuition and fees or living expenses compared to 56% of dependent students.
Among dependent students, 66% of the lower-income dependent students say they work to pay tuition and fees or living expenses, compared to 41% of the higher-income students. Higher-income students are more likely to work to earn spending money or to gain work experience.
Types of Jobs
Although a part-time job on campus (preferably one related to the student's area of study) improves student persistence and degree completion, most undergraduates do not work at these jobs.
Only 9% of students work at a job on campus and 38% say their job is related to their academic major. Nearly 55% of student who consider themselves employees first say their job is related to their academic major, compared to 31% of those who consider themselves students first.
How Work Affects Students
Overall the report found that "most students do not find work to be overly burdensome."
To assess how working affects students, the report looked at how employment affected GPAs, if work limits a student's class schedule, access to facilities, choice of classes or the number of classes taken, and if the job helped prepare them for a career or helped them with coursework.
At four-year institutions, students that worked one to 20 hours had higher GPAs, on average, than students who did not work, but students who worked more had lower GPAs. At community colleges, students who do not work perform better than students who work and GPAs modestly decline, on average, the more hours a student works.
In general, employee-students who study have a higher GPA than student-employees and students who don't work. This suggests that "maturity, type of program, or a host of other factors may have more influence on academic performance than hours spent at work."
The majority of students believe that working does not limit their academic experience, but 48% said that work limits their class schedule, 40% said it limits the number of classes they take, 34% said it affects their class choices, and 31% said it limits access to facilities. The likelihood that working limits academic experience increases the more hours a student works.
Only one in three students who work said their work helps prepare them for a career and only 14% say work helps with their coursework.
The Role of Work in College Financing
The role of work in college financing differs greatly between independent and dependent students.
For independent students, there is a clear connection between the amount they work and their income. Those who work less generally make less. However the amount they work does not seem to be effected by the cost of their education.
"It appears that most independent students work about as much as they can, regardless of their educational expenses," the report states.
Dependent students from families making $90,000 and more, and from families making less than $30,000, are less likely to work than students from families making between $30,000 and $90,000.
Dependent students with the highest educational costs work and earn the least.
"This pattern suggests that many dependent students may make a trade-off between work and full-time attendance," the report states.
The report says that the overall picture of work's role in financing independent students' education is a matter of conjecture.
"We don't understand why those who seem to have significant financial need work less than others," the report states. "Further, how students who earn less than they appear to need are able to make ends meet is also a mystery."
Without detailed income and spending data from students these question will remain a mystery, according to the report.
By Haley Chitty
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications
Posted May 15, 2006 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
Copyright 2006. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited
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