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Theoretical Framework

The environment that college students face today is unique and demanding in ways that are much
different from those that older generations have experienced. Additionally, there is more pressure
on young people to attend college and grow into fully independent, contributing members of society
because having a college degree becomes a requirement for participation in today’s society.

The Effects of Working While in School

A study on the correlation between work and academic performance

One of the disadvantages of being a student while holding a job is that they are often short

on time and commonly find themselves with limited time to study, sleep, and maintain

healthy eating habits. In a study conducted by Gorgulho, et al., one of the main complaints

among working students is that they find themselves without enough time to eat right

(Gorgulho, et al., 2012). Instead of consuming healthy foods, such as fruit and whole grains,

working students often grab a quick meal comprised of low-quality foods that contain sugar

and high sodium (Gorgulho, et al., 2012). This is not to say that students should feel

discouraged and not work while in college, but instead be mindful of the commitment and

plan accordingly. For example, students who work every day might benefit from a 7-day

food preparation technique at the beginning of every week.

If poor eating habits continue over an extended period of time, this will increase the risk of

obesity and the development of lifestyle-related chronic diseases (Huang, et al., 2003).

Huang’s study on obesity, diet and physical activity among college students indicates that an

estimated 35% of college students are at risk of being overweight (Huang, et al., 2003). Low

levels of physical activity and poor nutrition are common reasons for this high incidence

rate. While it may not seem of importance to working students while in college, the negative

outcomes will prove to be a growing concern as they get older. Quality of diet is a matter of

lifestyle change and can be easily improved, while managing diseases and major health

concerns later in life may not easily improve one’s health.

Many researchers focus on working after higher education but little research the effects of

working while in higher education. Recently, higher education has been increasing tuition

and other costs that go into attending college. This has had an effect on students. Mainly,

they are looking for jobs while in school to help cushion some of those costs and everyday
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expenses. In Moris Triventi’s study, he looked into the effect of working in higher education.

He found that working at low-intensity had positive effects but higher-intensity jobs, 35

hours or more per week, tended to have negative effects. Some of the positive effects are

increased independence, ability to budget, managing a schedule, and gaining soft

skills, such as communication and problem-solving skills. Some of the negative effects are a

higher risk of dropping out, delayed graduation rates, and negative effects on academic

performance. He found that full-time workers tend to have less time for academic studies

and school activities. Non-workers average 17.0 hours of studying per week and part-time

and full-time workers study 15.7 hours a week. Full-time workers also attend class less time

per week. Part-time workers in this study were able to deal with the effects of working while

in school (Triventi, 2014).

In Rajeev Darolia’s study, there was a correlation between number of credits completed and

number of hours worked per week. This study states that 80 percent of students work at

some point in their undergraduate program and numbers of hours worked per week

increases each year. Some students take fewer credits due to work commitments. Part-time

and full-time students tend to spend less time studying (Darolia, 2014). This can lead to

delayed graduation dates and more debt from more years of schooling. The time-to-degree

ratio is higher, which in turn costs the students less future earnings. The study points out

the negative effect of working to be lack of time for school-based activities and leisure

activities, which can help with overall health (Darolia, 2014).

These articles helped by guiding us to ask questions about how many hours the participants

work per week and how many credits they were taking. Then, we can correlate their hours

of work to their grade point average, (GPA). This is to see if lower intensity work would aid or

hinder academic performance.

Money is the main key in college in which students acquire tremendous amount of debt to

pay off. Many college students work while attending school which in return has an affect. A

recent article has shown that there is a psychological and physical toll that takes upon

student who try to juggle both. From working and attending school, stress becomes the

main setback in which affects their academic performances. Taking a survey of 225

participants of student, it showed that stress was a main cause for these student which
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caused emotional and physical exhaustion. Our survey tries to study how students deal with

stress when they work or not work while attending school. Stress plays the main role in all

factors for these students attending a university (“Optimism and Risk for Job Burnout”,2015).

Sleep is one constant that college students lack. A recent article shows that 50% of student

surveyed at a university is sleep deprived. An average amount of students has a range of

from difficultly falling asleep to difficulty staying asleep. This lack of sleep syndrome is

known has sleep phase syndrome is an important problem students face at school which

affects them from a range of academic performance. Sleep is a necessity but the life style

college students acquire from coming into universities affects them severely. Our survey

shows how lack of sleep can affect student from grades to their diet (“Delayed Sleep and

Sleep Loss in University Students”,2015).

https://sites.psu.edu/workingstudents/background-2/

Time Dedicated to Academics Time management among college students is a broad topic that
encompasses a wide range of activities and trade-offs. The issue of how much time students are
allocating for academic work is a complicated area to analyze because of the variations in academic
assignments across different colleges and disciplines, as well as the differences in course work from
wee k to week and semester to semester, but it has been proven that, across the board, the number
of hours that students spend on academics fell from 40 hours a week in 1961 to about 27 hours a
week in 2003 (Babcock & Marks 2011). Babcock and Marks posit that this reflects that enrolling in
college has less of an opportunity cost in today’s world, as a result of advances in technology
allowing for easier access to academic information. It has not yet been determined how continued
technological improvements have affected this downward trend in study time since 2003. This
technology, aside from aiding access to information, also presents a competing share in students’
time that can take away from academics, according to Hanson et al (2011). Students’ academic
success is aided by and impaired by their reliance on technology, because it provides “short cuts” for
students with a time budget, but decreases their overall retention rates and, with them, their human
capital, which is a conclusion that Babcock and Marks share. The issue of distractions from
academics tied to technology, such as social media, has become more of a problem in recent years.
Panek (2014) argued that this is an issue, not because time with social media is negatively associated
with time on homework, but because of the strain it puts on students mentally. The students with
the lowest self-control experience feelings of guilt and stress because of their lack of productivity, a
point that Reynolds (2013) confirms. Reynolds 10 presents the issues that student affairs
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administrators across the country see the most often as stressors and concerns for students, with
stress management, time management, and academic difficulties ranking high on the list.
Throughout each semester, students have to make compromises about how they utilize their time,
and exactly how much of it they will spend on academic work (Galbraith & Merrill 2012). Galbraith
and Merrill (2012) explain that in order to manage “burn-out” over the semester, as well as their
efficacy, students have to make a trade-off between work and academics because of the competing
time demands of each field, which results in an overall dramatic increase in cynicism by the end of
each semester. Aside from exhaustion and cynicism, the strain of how much time students allocate
to academics has a significant negative impact on their final grades (Svanum & Bigatti 2006). These
researchers all are in consensus that greater amounts of time spent on academics aid students’
course success, as well as their overall retention rates, leading to their improved satisfaction with
their college experience and an increase in their human capital (Galbraith & Merrill 2012, Reynolds
2013, Svanum & Bigatti 2006). The changing atmosphere of colleges today, with many online and
commuting students, and students who have to work to pay their way through college, has created a
dynamic environment that challenges each student’s time management skills. Students attending
college for the first time are faced with an unfamiliar situation that, for many, gives them sole
responsibility for their academic success, their financial commitments, and their time use, with little
accountability or guidance, but with harsh consequences if they fail to rise to the challenge. To
better understand this generation of college 11 students, it would be beneficial to look at the break
down of how different groups use their time, and what factors impact how much of it that they
spend on academics

https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1087&context=honors_proj

Working while studying

Newsletter articles

1 Feb 2014 Employment Studies Issue 19

Matthew Williams, Research Fellow

Work during study is a common experience for around half of all students. Recent IES research
examines this issue in some detail, looking at what motivates students to do this, the kind of work
they do, and what they gain from this.

Why do students work while studying, and what do they get out of it? These were among the key
questions IES and our research partners at NatCen asked of 59 of the respondents to the Student
Income and Expenditure Survey (SIES) 2011/121 in a qualitative follow-up research study. Working
alongside studying is common, with at least half of all students taking on paid work at some point
during their studies; this new work builds on findings from the SIES to gain a deeper understanding
of the motivations to work, the nature of work undertaken, and the challenges and benefits of
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working alongside studying in higher education (HE). The individuals sampled for the study were full-
time students in the 2011/12 academic year and were known to have undertaken paid work. They
were drawn from a range of backgrounds, including those studying in English and Welsh institutions,
in higher education and further education institutions, those who received grant-based financial
support and those who did not. Approximately half of those interviewed were still studying (current
students) at the time of the interview in spring 2013, and half had graduated and were in the labour
market (new graduates).

What jobs do students do, and why do they do them?

The research provided a detailed insight into the nature, timing and drivers to work and thus
enabled the identification of four types of student work activity:

paid work (‘student work’) which tends to be part-time, generally unrelated to the course, and not
regarded by the students themselves as a career job. This is the most prevalent type of work;

university-based work, working with or for universities, this tends to be paid, aimed at students, yet
is sporadic and typically involves only a few hours;

voluntary work, which is unpaid, and tends to involve a regular commitment and to be organised by
the student themselves; and

work placements, usually unpaid, but these tend to be a compulsory part of a course and facilitated
by the university or college.

Student work driven mostly by financial need, flexibility and convenience

Student work, which is the most common type of work, is driven primarily by financial need: to meet
an immediate or critical need; to cover a shortfall in other forms of student support; to top up
income to provide a better student experience; or to help towards future goals. It also enables
students to share the responsibility for meeting the costs of their study, provides them with a sense
of financial independence, and develops skills in managing finances.

Many students undertake paid work as shop assistants and customer service assistants, bar and
waiting staff, and care workers – jobs that are towards the lower end of the non-manual
occupational spectrum. However, these jobs meet many of the needs that students have for
flexibility and convenience. Students are often able to change shifts to fit in with their timetables, or
around deadlines and exams, and may be able to move the location of their jobs between term time
and vacations. The importance of flexibility is illustrated by this student, who was working in
supermarket:

‘… the job right now is really flexible. Like if I need a day off to go to university, they'll give it to me,
or if my lectures have changed times then they'll change my shifts and stuff like that…. if I have exam
dates and then I need to be able to change my shifts to go to my exams or if I need some time off
'cause I've got an assignment due in, they're generally quite good with that.’

This type of work also gives students some variety from university life – time out from their studies;
the opportunity to meet new people, and also different people from those they encounter in
university social circles; opportunities for new experiences; and a means of alleviating boredom
(particularly during vacations).

Employability the key factor in unpaid work placements

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Employability considerations are part of the mix of reasons for undertaking paid student work, but
for most students this is a secondary if not tertiary reason. However, employability considerations
are key when taking on unpaid work placements, particularly if students have to give up paid work
or juggle placements alongside paid work.

Generally, students appreciate the opportunity to undertake a work placement but not all students
do this. Some are not offered the opportunity, whereas others may decline placements because they
feel that this would extend their course unnecessarily and delay graduation, that placements are not
appropriate for their career goals, or that they already have sufficient work experience.

The quality of paid student work is judged very differently to the quality of placements, and that of
graduate work. Good student work is about flexibility (in terms of hours), convenience (in terms of
location), and ease (easy to do and easy to acquire). Large supermarkets, retail firms and restaurant
and bar chains with branches around the country appear to understand the needs of students and
can offer roles with the characteristics that students are looking for. Good placement work,
however, is about relevance to course and career aims, making a useful contribution, and having the
ability to practice skills and knowledge in a safe environment.

Working after graduation

Good quality graduate jobs are those roles that are related to one's study discipline or intended
career, and tend to be fulltime, better paid and offer more challenge, responsibility and opportunity
to use and further develop graduate skills. However, not all graduates move straight into these jobs,
and the research identified two other types of work that new graduates undertake: stop-gap work,
which mirrors or is a continuation of student work, and provides graduates with an income whilst
they look for something more aligned to their career goals or save up to continue with further study;
and transition work, which tends to be full-time, offer networking and/or training opportunities and
may evolve into a graduate job over time or lead to better opportunities.

An overview of the work journey of students during and after graduation is shown in Figure 1.
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What do students gain from working?

Despite the fact that students may have different motivations for taking on paid and unpaid work
while studying, the perceived benefits are similar in terms of improved longer-term employability
and improved opportunities for graduate employment.

Students believe that employers want more than just academic qualifications: work experience,
regardless of relevance to course or career goals, shows them to be ‘well rounded individuals’ with a
range of life and work experiences and interests, labour market insight and familiarity with work
routines, able to cope in different situations and interact with people from a variety of backgrounds,
fit into organisations quickly and signal to employers that they are motivated, resilient and reliable.
All work provides benefits but relevant work (to the programme of study or intended career
direction) may help to ease the transition between studying and graduate work after leaving higher
education.

Work is perceived to develop and demonstrate a number of attributes and transferable skills that
students feel employers will value, such as the ability to work in a team, communication and
interpersonal skills, independence and self-confidence. For an overview of these, see Table 1.

Student work can also provide a number of practical outputs: prepared CVs; experience of
application and selection processes; experience to draw on in job interviews; opportunities to
develop networks and contacts; and employer references.

1The Student Income and Expenditure Survey (SIES) is a series of surveys that provide the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Welsh Assembly Government with the
most detailed, comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the financial position of students in
higher education in England and Wales. These surveys have been undertaken at regular intervals
since the mid-1980s and enable the government to measure the impact of changes in funding and
support for students over time, and to develop appropriate student financial support policies and
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mechanisms. IES, in partnership with NatCen, has undertaken the past three waves of SIES. The most
recent wave is SIES 2011/12 and can be accessed here.

https://www.employment-studies.co.uk/news/working-while-studying