Milana Albakova Albakova 1

English 101
Holly Batty

Working College Students: Are They Reaching Their Full Potential?

For a lot of college students being unemployed is not an option but having a job can

negatively impact your grades. This is easy to believe because school requires a lot of your time

but having as little as 20 hours of work every week can take a lot of your energy that could be

spent on studying and other social activities.

A lot of people can argue that having a job and going to college is a piece of cake on its own

because some students have kids that have to be taken care of, a lot of family events, and have to

work enough hours to make sure all the bills are paid but still manage to maintain a good GPA.

An article written by Walden University states that “Researchers have learned that students who

work upward of 20 hours a week suffer from reduced academic performance” (“Should Students

Hold Jobs While in High School?,” n.d., para.8) This could be for many reasons. Even a 20 hour

per week job takes a lot of time out of a person's hands. This could result in college students

having a lot of trouble keeping a good sleeping schedule, nutrition, and social life. All these

factors are important for a student to reach their full potential in school. Having a job can take

away a students goodnights rest which will affect their performance in school. A study done by

Harvard Medical School states that “Without adequate sleep and rest, overwhelmed neurons can

no longer function to coordinate information properly, and we lose our ability to access

previously learned information” (Sleep Learning and memory, p9) Because of this, overworked

college students who need rest will find it harder to recall important information that they

attempted to study the night before. Getting a good nutrition is also very important but a lot of
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Holly Batty

college students overlook this issue. An article published by Extension.org expresses this

concern saying “Deficiencies in other vitamins and minerals, specifically thiamine, vitamin E,

vitamin B, iodine, and zinc, are shown to inhibit cognitive abilities and mental

concentration.”(Extension.org p3). Having to juggle school and work leaves a student with very

little time to put effort into healthy eating habits. That in turn can make them gravitate towards

fast food and energy drinks in order to sustain themselves. Some people would say that having a

job would mean you have more money to spend on healthier food. This is not a credible

argument because a lot of students have a job simply to put themselves through school. That in

addition to choosing the faster option students will ultimately end up eating unhealthy foods.

Flora-ala.net mentions this issue in one of their articles. “According to boundless.org and their

campus culture survey it is estimated college students eat an average of six to eight fast food

meals a week.”(Students rely more on convenience, price when considering food options p1).

This article backs up my statement on how college students will prefer to eat unhealthy foods

while being occupied with a job and school. Ideology and reality are two different things and the

reality of this situation is that college students prefer to go for meals with a lower cost and those

meals do not give the students the nutrition that they need. It is possible that working a job might

hold a college student from reaching their full potential and their grades would be better if they

only worked part-time. However Rajeev Dorolia conducted a study in which he tried to see

whether the number of hours worked per week had an affect on credit completion. The outcome

was that “some students take fewer credits due to work commitments. Part-time and full-time

students tend to spend less time studying” (Dorolia, 2014). This can result in graduating at a
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English 101
Holly Batty

slower pace because less time will be spent focussing on school and studying. Another issue with

this is that taking longer to graduate can result in higher student loan debt. Mental and physical

health are both very important and too much stress could take a toll on a students health. School

on its own is takes time and effort and can be stressful. When you add work on top of school it

will exacerbate stress on a students mental well being and becomes a major issue when it begins

to affect their academic performance. “Taking a survey of 225 participants of students, it showed

that stress was a main cause for these students which caused emotional and physical exhaustion.”

(“Optimism and Risk for Job Burnout”p.6). This type of stress will inhibit the ability to learn.

This exhaustion caused by stress could easily lead to loss in motivation and even affect a

students sanity. Having little to no time to spend on social interactions due to work and school

related stress can throw many students into a range of mental illnesses such as depression,

anxiety, and emotional distress. According to John Hopkins University “mood is strongly

correlated to motivation, concentration, and energy levels. Prolonged dips in mood can greatly

impact a students ability to study and perform.(“Depression Anxiety and Emotional Stress”p4).

The outcome of this is almost always low mood, social isolation, feelings of hopelessness,

thoughts of self harm, sleeping and eating disturbances, and difficulty concentrating. All these

factors can make a student start avoiding school assignments and not dedicate enough time to

studying. Bouts of anxiety over not being able to perform well in the work and school

environment can be detrimental for not only your well being but also the ability to meet the

standards required for both. Although it is hard, there are options available to cope with with

these types of situations. Many schools offer counseling to aid students who are suffering from a
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mental illness. It can be hard to balance school and work and sometimes you might prioritize

work over school even though school should be the priority. Being consumed by the thought of

making more money can make you forget about the long term ambition of finishing school. It is

easy to get caught up in making money to have the lifestyle that you want now, however it can

easily get in the way of building your future career. When push comes to shove students may

choose their job over school and end up dropping out. “The number one reason for leaving

college is money. It’s not high tuition bills though… 54% said they dropped out because they

couldn’t balance school and work”(23 College Dropout statistics that Will Surprise you p.11)

This is from a study that was conducted by public agenda and it brings to light the staggering

amount of students that would rather make the money that they are making now instead of

completing school and building their career. Establishing a relationship with the faculty in your

college is an important step to your success in school. An article written by Susan R. Elling and

Theodore W. Elling goes over how unemployed students were able to find ways to stay in school

by creating relationships with the faculty. “Students who did not work indicated that they had

more frequent interactions with faculty and were more likely to establish an important

relationships with faculty. These relationships were evaluated as important in helping the student

remain at this college.”(The Influence of Work on College Student Development). This quote

shows how students who work part-time or full-time jobs don’t have the time to access help and

information from the faculty that could help them succeed in school unlike their unemployed

counterparts.
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Although not all working college students suffer academically, there is no denying that

the stress of a job will at some point get in the way of them reaching their full potential. All the

research points to the fact that being a working student can get in the way of spending more time

on studying, homework, and overall getting a better GPA. Not only that but it isn’t worth

balancing both the stress of school and work because it can lead to serious mental issues, lack of

physical health, and a decreased overall ambition to succeed in school.

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Holly Batty

“Should Students Hold Jobs While in High School? | Walden University. n.d. Web. Mar.12

2019.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.waldenu.edu/online-doctoral-programs/doctor-of-educatio

n/resource/pros-and-cons-of-working-a-job-in-high-school%3fv=amp

Evan King Staff Writer. “Students Rely More on Convenience, Price when Considering

Food Options”.The Flor-Ala, Feb 17, 2011. Web. Mar.26 2019.

https://www.florala.net/news/students-rely-more-on-convenience-price-when-considering-food-o

ptions/article_1574daf4-3a21-11e0-8bc5-00127992bc8b.html

“Sleep, Learning, and Memory”. Healthy Sleep. N.d. Web. Mar.26 2019

http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory

“3 Ways Nutrition Influences Student Learning Potential and School Performance” Extension.

Jun.26, 2014. Web. Mar.26

https://articles.extension.org/pages/68774/3-ways-nutrition-influences-student-learning-potential

-and-school-performance

“Depression, Anxiety, & Emotional Distress”| John Hopkins University. N.d. Web. Mar.26,

2019.http://jhsap.org/self_help_resources/depression_anxiety_emotional_distress/index.html

“The Effects for Working While in School”.n.d. Web. Mar.26, 2019.

http://sites.psu.edu/workingstudents/background-2/
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Kim P. “23 College Dropout Statistics That Will Surprise You”. CreditDonkey, Nov.21, 2017.

Web. Mar.26, 2019.

https://www.creditdonkey.com/college-dropout-statistics.html