Document Tag: employment

Is Working in College Worth It? How Hours on the Job Affect Postsecondary Outcomes (2023)

Many students work during college to offset rising costs, but significant time on the job affects postsecondary outcomes. Analyzing the High School Longitudinal Study (N = 4,418), this article estimates the effects of hours worked on grades, credits earned, persistence, stopping out (i.e., unenrolling for 5 months before reenrolling), and dropping out. The polynomial regression analysis shows that after adjusting for background characteristics, prior academic achievement, institution types, and family obligations, “traditional” undergraduate students begin seeing deleterious effects at 20 hours, which becomes even more severe for those working 28+ hours (and the worst for Pell Grant recipients working long hours). While some work was good for students, on average, financial and family circumstances help explain the curvilinear relationships.

Putting College First: How Social and Financial Capital Impact Labor Market Participation Among Low‐Income Undergraduates (2011)

Most undergraduates work despite evidence that working while in college is associated with lower
rates of degree completion. Prior research indicates that the propensity to work varies by both family
income and education, suggesting that both financial and social capital operate to reduce work and
preserve educational advantage. We test that hypothesis with a sample of 3,000 low‐income
Wisconsin undergraduates enrolled in the state’s 42 public two‐year and four‐year colleges and
universities. Leveraging an experiment that distributes financial aid via lottery, we identify effects of
financial capital on labor force participation that are comparable in magnitude to the positive benefits
of social capital obtained through parental education. Specifically, the allocation of additional financial
aid reduces the hours worked by low‐income students with high school‐educated parents to the point
that it nearly fully offsets the socioeconomic advantage (in terms of fewer hours worked) that accrues
to students from college‐educated families. Need‐based financial aid, it appears, may be an equalizer
that promises to reduce labor force participation and enhance college attainment.

Working for College: The Causal Impacts of Financial Grants on Undergraduate Employment (2016)

One way in which financial aid is thought to promote college success is by minimizing the time students
spend working. Yet, little research has examined if this intended first-order effect occurs, and results
are mixed. We leverage a randomized experiment and find that students from low-income families in
Wisconsin offered additional grant aid were 5.88 percentage points less likely to work and worked 1.69
fewer hours per week than similar peers, an 8.56% and 14.35% reduction, respectively. Students
offered the grant also improved qualitative aspects of their work experiences; they were less likely to
work extensively, during the morning hours, or overnight. Grant aid thus appears to partially offset
student employment, possibly improving prospects for academic achievement and attainment.