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Academics and Employment 1

Running Head: EFFECTS OF ACHIEVEMENT WITH EMPLOYMENT

The Effects of a Student’s Academics While Being Employed

Mackenzie Kemp

Salt Lake Community College


Abstract

This study is to determine and describe whether if going to school while working has an

effect on a student’s academic performance. The study design was a Qualitative based study and

was based off the Community College Study of Student Engagement (CCSSE) done in 2010.

The study was done to help the college improve the institution based on the student’s results of

the CCSSE.


A Student’s Effect on Academics While Being Employed

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to describe if a student’s academics are affected while

working during any individual college semester. The study will determine whether or not a

student’s academics are affected by how many hours a student works. There does not seem to be

any controversy whether or not a student should be a full time student and not work, this day in

age.

The importance of this research study is to determine whether or not working students

during any given semester has an effect on their academic performance. This is an important

topic due to the fact that a student’s academics and GPA can be at risk due to how many hours

they might be working.

The evidence that will be discussed in this research paper is; what effects working part-

time and full-time have on a student’s academic career. It will also examine the financial burden

of being employed might have on a student and the reliance students now have on being able to

support themselves and also pay for school. It will discuss the attributes, work experience and

negative effects being employed has on a student’s academics. Lastly this study will discuss if

there is a relation and effect on being employed while going to school, and if the evidence would

be any different if the study was not self-reported.

This study is beneficial evidence to any student who might attend a community college or

four-year college, or any current students. It could also pertain to faculty of students and what

effects it could be having on a students’ academic performance in that professor’s class.

Examining this evidence can help any student who might work and if it actually affects the


student’s academic performance to help them determine whether being employed has an effect

on their academics and if they want to obtain that risk.

This study will examine the effects of being employed has on a student’s academic

career. It will try to determine if being employed is the best situation for a student and their

academic career. It will also determine if just being a full-time student without work is beneficial

to a student’s academic career and also if having work experience helps students in the future of

their career post college.

Literature Review

Working is an important factor in academic performance

Working and being employed is an important part of college student life in this day in

age. Majority of students are now working and supporting themselves, which is now considered

the norm. It has been shown that an employed student can have a positive effect on a student’s

academics.

The National Associations of Student Personnel Administrators, (2008) said “Students

working for pay while attending college is the norm in American higher education. The most

recent national data indicate that 68% of all college students work for pay during the academic

year, and one-third of these students work more than 20 hours per week.”(Pike, Kuh, & Massa-

McKinley, 2008)

It has been shown that students who worked twenty hours or less on campus have not

shown a large significance, whereas students who worked more than twenty hours per week

showed that grades had been affected. “Students who worked 20 or fewer hours on campus had

higher grades than students who did not work, worked more than 20 hours per week, or worked


off campus. It appears that working more than 20 hours per week is directly related to students’

grades, and working 20 hours or less on campus may be indirectly related to grades.” (Pike, Kuh,

& Massa-McKinley, 2008)

Although it was shown that there was not a large significance of students who worked on

campus or off campus and less that twenty hours a week, it has been show that students who

worked more than twenty hours a week had a lower GPA than students who did not work at all

while attending college. “Thus the grades of students who work 20 hours or less on campus and

the grades of the students who work 20 hours or less are not significantly different from the

grades of students who do not work. The significant negative relationship between working more

than 20 hours indicates that students who work more than 20 hours per week have significantly

lower grades than students who do not work.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

First year college students have a significant decrease in grades when working twenty or

more hours per week. Studies also show that first year college students who worked twenty hours

or less during one of the first year semesters can have a positive impression on a student’s

academic success. “Whether or not grades are synonymous with success in college, it is the case

that grades are related to persistence of first-year students. As a result, student affairs

professionals and other higher education who are committed to student success need to be

mindful of the factors that influence grades in college. Working for pay full time, or nearly full

time (i.e., more than 20 hours per week), clearly appears to be detrimental to the academic

success of first-year students. Conversely, working 20 hours or fewer can be positively related to

student success because it is related to greater levels of participation in active and collaborative

learning activities and positive interactions between students and faculty members.” (Pike, Kuh,

& Massa-McKinley, 2008)


“Regarding students’ GPA , it is increased by 0.39 point if students take part-time jobs in

order to acquire work experience, by 0.27 point if the part-time job is related to their fields of

study and by 0.30 point if the part-time job provides opportunities for them to acquire knowledge

and develop skills. Students’ GPA is reduced by 0.01 point for each additional hour worked.”

(Wang, Kong, Shan, & Vong, 2010)

“Considerable controversy exists over the use of community college graduation rates to

measure institutional effectiveness. Graduation rates at community colleges are far lower than

those typically found at four-year institutions. In part, this is an artifact of the multiple missions

of community colleges, some of which do not necessitate graduation to indicate student success.

Additionally, community colleges are often open-admission institutions whose nontraditional

students test to be less prepared relative to those admitted to four- year schools.” (Jacoby, 2006)

“The mean GPA was 3.07, and the mean hours worked was 14.4. 49% of students in the

sample engaged in term-time employment. On average, students who worked carried a 3.12

GPA, while non-workers carried a 3.03 GPA. The average student reported studying 15 hours

per week, with workers reporting 15.2 hours and non-workers reporting 14.9 hours. There are

very few differences in the characteristics of workers versus non-workers. Workers are

somewhat more likely to be liberal arts majors, and somewhat less likely to be education

majors.” (Wenz, & Yu, 2010)

“The labor-market variables had significant impacts on academic performance. Off-

campus employment was associated with a 0.07 point increase in GPA and on-campus

employment was associated with a 0.20 point increase in GPA.” (Wenz, & Yu, 2010)

The importance of a student’s background and financial situation


Students and their background and financial situation can have different effects on a

student’s academic success. Students feel strain of having to support themselves and pay the

bulk, if not all of their schooling. Depending on the strain of having financial obligations and

having to work more hours during a college semester, can effect a student’s academics.

“Levels of student engagement, in turn, are directly related to students’ background

characteristics and work experiences. Students’ background characteristics are also directly

related to their work experiences, and both background characteristics and work experiences are

indirectly related to college grades through students’ levels of engagement.” (Pike, Kuh, &

Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“The direct relationships between three work measures and grades, net the effects of

background characteristics and engagement measures, provided the evidence needed to answer

the first research question and identify possible moderating roles for hours spent working and

where students worked.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“Students’ background and work experiences combine to account for 1-3% of the

variance in the student-engagement measures. The relationships between students’ background

characteristics and work experience also are relatively weak.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley,

2008)

“The relationships between work experiences and students’ background characteristics

provide additional information about who works and how much they work. Being female is

positively related to working 20 hours or less on campus and working 20 hours or less of

campus. Entering ability is positively related to working 20 hours or less on campus, but

negatively related to the other two work measures. Being a first-generation student is positively


related to working 20 hours or less on campus. At the same time, first-generation status is

positively related to working 20 hours a week on or off campus. Living on campus is positively

related to working on campus 20 hours or less per week and negatively related to the remaining

work measures.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“At the same time, males and lower ability students are less likely than females and

higher-ability students to work 20 hours or less either on or off campus. Lower ability students

are much more likely than higher-ability counterparts to work more than 20 hours per week.”

(Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“The proportion of college students doing part time jobs has been increasing over time in

Great Britain (Bradley 2006; Broadbridge and Swanson 2006) and it has become the norm for

full time students to combine study and work during the term time (McInnis and Hartley 2002).

Some scholars attributed this dramatic increase in the number of students taking term-time part-

time jobs to the fundamental change in the responsibility for funding college education shifting

from the states to families.” (Wang, Kong, Shan, & Vong, 2010)

“Financial necessity, supporting a lifestyle and accumulating work experience have been

cited as the most important underlying reasons for taking part-time jobs by many students.”

(Wang, Kong, Shan, & Vong, 2010)

Curtis and Callender (2008) said, “In western societies, more than half of the students

work because their families cannot support them financially. As well as what Humprhey (2006)

said, Availability of family financial support is a major predictor of whether or not students will

seek part-time employment in western societies The number of students doing part-time jobs has

been increasing greatly since governments in most western societies shifted the financial burden


of financial higher education from states to individuals and their families.” (Wang, Kong, Shan,

& Vong, 2010)

Callender (2008) said, “Economically disadvantaged students are most likely to take part-

time jobs (Purcell et al. 2005) and work longer hours in western societies.” (Wang, Kong, Shan,

& Vong, 2010)

“The tendency for students in full-time employment to work long hours during the week

as well as at weekends cannot, according to Hodgeson and Spours (2001), simply be explained to

be a function of employer demand. They suggest that it is easy for students to be ‘sucked into’

working longer hours as they become ever-more dependent on money earned to fund their

lifestyle choices. This desire to increase income, coupled with the fact that students tend to work

in relatively low paid roles, means that students have to work relatively long hours to earn a

reasonable salary. “(Richardson, Mark, Evans, Carl & Gbadamosi, Gbolahan, 2009)

“Not only are more students engaging in term-time work, but also they have become

increasingly reliant on their wages.” (Callender, Claire, 2008)

“Term-time work has become an important strategy to help meet the costs of Higher

Education (HE) and to minimize that accumulation of debt. In turn, this is associated with the

inadequacies of the student finding system at the time of this survey and especially the

limitations of student loans. Three problems with student loans help, in part, to explain the

increasing propensity for students to engage in term-time employment. These are their

inadequate level, their regressive nature and fear of debt. Together they bring into question the

assumptions underpinning government thinking on student term-time employment and the role

of student earnings.” (Callender, Claire, 2008)


Callender and Kemp, (2008) said, “Students worked to reduce the amount of money they

borrowed from the Student Loans Company and to avoid taking out a student loan altogether. In

turn, this reflects the variable take-up of student loans. Specifically, the students in our study

most likely to claim they were working to avoid debt are the same student groups who nationally

are least likely to take out a student loan. Their reasons for working illustrate the links between

the student financial support system and term-time working, and how in these cases earning were

a substitute for borrowing, often because of fear of debt.” (Callender, 2008)

Attributes that effect a student’s academics

There are many attributes to a student’s grades. Social aspects while be in college can

have an effect on students grades with the combination of being employed give the student less

time to study resulting in a student’s grades to drop.

“Rather than time spent working directly influencing grades, working more hours can

reduce the amount of time available for students to study and be engaged in other educational

activities. Studying less and not being engaged in educational activities can, in turn, lead to lower

grades.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“In addition, many of the studies that reported significant associations between work and

grades also found significant relationships between hours spent working and student

engagement.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“Helping first-year students become engaged in activities that encourage active and

collaborative learning and foster positive interactions between students and faculty members can

be very beneficial to students’ academic success.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)


“The impact of part-time jobs on student academic performance has been well established

in western literature, but few works have ever studied the effects of doing part-time jobs on

student social life.” (Wang, Kong, Shan, & Vong, 2010)

“Time spent working may lead to reduced time spent on studying, school activities and

gathering with family members and friends. As a result, doing part-time jobs may exert negative

effects on student academic performance and social life.” (Wang, Kong, Shan, & Vong, 2010)

A student’s work experience

“It is clear that work experience can help students sharpen their key transferable skills,

such as team working, leadership skills and negotiating skills. Indeed, according to Targetjobs

(2008), 89% of recruiters say that they consider relevant work experience as an important factor

in assessing an individual’s curriculum vitae, and 13% of recruiters claim that they will not

interview a candidate who does not have some relevant work experience, presumably reflecting

(to some extent) the perceived value of skills developed during previous employment.”

(Richardson, Evans, & Gbadamosi, 2009)

The negative effects of working while being a student

Some studies have shown that being employed while being a student has had the

possibility of distracting a student from their academics, thus resulting in a lower GPA.

“Students who begin postsecondary schooling at community colleges have a 15-20%

reduced probability of completing a bachelor’s degree.” (Jacoby, 2006)


“We then examine the impact of work on academic achievement and find that

employment has modest negative effects on student grades, with a grade point average (GPA)

falling by 0.007 points per work hour.” (Wenz, & Yu, 2010)

“Term-time employment offsets some of the opportunity cost associated with attending

college and may provide additional human capital in the form of on-the-job training, but it also

may distract students from their studies, leading to lower levels of learning, longer time to

degree, lover graduation probability, and less attractive GPA to present to potential employers

upon graduation.” (Wenz, & Yu, 2010)

“The concern is that students who see themselves as having a low probability of

graduation or a low motivation to earn good grades will find it more important to engage in term-

time employment, or perhaps that able students who can sufficiently take care of their study will

engage in term-time employment.” (Wenz, & Yu, 2010)

The lack of relation of employed student has on their academics

Reliance on self-reported survey is an inaccurate source. It has also been seen in previous

studies that you cannot base a person’s academic success, not only on a self-reported survey, but

as well as you cannot base it off just a student’s employment. There are many attributes to a

student’s academic success that can make the student’s grades lower.

“Despite the fact that many in higher education believe that working for pay hinders

student success, research has failed to find a consistent relationship between work and grades.”

(Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)


“There is not a simple linear relationship between working for pay and academic

performance….grades will actually improve if students work part time and then decline as the

number of hours worked approaches full-time employment.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley,

2008)

“One possible explanation for the findings regarding the relationship between work and

grades is that the relationship is not linear. Hay and Lindsay (1969), for example, found that

there was significant negative relationship between the number of hours worked and grade point

averages for students who worked more than 15 hours per week. A significant relationship was

not found between working for pay and grade point average for those students who worked 15

hours or less per week.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“Reliance on grades as the sole measure of academic achievement is another limitation of

this research. As Dundes and Marx (2006) noted, grades can mean very different things across

institutions. At the very last, differences in grading practices across institutions may have

attenuated the relationships reported in this study.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“The threshold model suggests that the effect of the number of working hours on students

outcome is not linear given that there is a threshold which negative effects will occur and below

which positive effect will ensue.” (Wang, Kong, Shan, & Vong, 2010)

“Findings on the impact of part-time jobs on student academic performance are

inconsistent in previous studies.” (Wang, Kong, Shan, & Vong, 2010)

The negative effects of self-reported survey studies


Self-reported survey’s result in a measure that is an indirect result of what a student’s

grades might actually be. When grades are self-reported the analysis and the accurateness is

found to be inaccurate research in this case study.

“The fact that self-reported grades represented ordered categories, rather than a true

interval measure, created more serious challenges for the analysis of the direct and indirect effect

of students’ work experiences.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

“Using self-reported grades as the dependent variable is a limitation while studies show

high correlations between actual and reported grades, it is not possible to say with certainty that

the reports used in this research are completely accurate representations or a students’ academic

performance.” (Pike, Kuh, & Massa-McKinley, 2008)

Question(s)

The question was asked: How many hours can a student work before the student’s

grades are affected? Statistical types, data analysis and literature review in this research study is

a fact is one that cannot be determined an absolute statistical fact.

The hypothesis of this research study was that, there will be a statistically

significant difference in college student’s academic success who are employed during a given

college semester as opposed to a student’s academic success who are not employed or are not

often working during a college semester. It is obvious as shown in Table 1 that this hypothesis is

incorrect.

The null hypothesis is that a college student’s academic success will not be affected by

how many hours a student works per week.


Methods

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to examine and study what effects being employed part-time

or full-time has on a student’s academic career. This study was to determine whether or not

working more hours per week would affect a student’s academics.

This research was to determine the effects of a student’s academics while being

employed and while also being a student at a community college or university. The methods used

were in a quantative type designed study and multiple methods were used.

This specific study was based off a survey done at Salt Lake Community College during

the spring semester in the year 2010. The survey instrument is The Community College Survey

of Student Engagement (CCSSE). The survey was given to randomly selected students. The

survey was given to get feedback from current students to determine the level of satisfaction and

to determine each student’s engagement within the college.

Participants

The participants included in the study were randomly selected students who were

enrolled in the spring 2010 semester at Salt Lake Community College. There were one thousand

and four hundred and twenty students randomly selected. Those students were students that were

taking credited classes. The students were selected at all different times of the day; morning,

afternoon and evening.

The surveyors were students with all different characteristic backgrounds. The student

surveyors were of different genders, races, ages and had different enrollment status; having

either full or part-time enrollment. “This report on a three-pronged collection of studies validates


the relationships between student engagement and a variety of student outcomes in community

colleges -- including academic performance, persistence, and attainment.” (The University of

Texas at Austin)

Data Analysis

The instrument used, CCSSE, is a viable method for this research, “The findings from

this validation research confirm that CCSSE results provide a valuable yardstick for assessing

the quality of colleges’ educational practices and identifying ways they can produce more

successful results — more students across all subgroups learning at higher levels and attaining

their academic goals.” (McClenney, Marti & Adkins)

The data used in this research are a reliable source. Sources in the literature review are

academically based research and have been peer reviewed, academically studied and the studies

have also been researched by other academically acclaimed persons.

The independent variable in this study is an employed student. The independent variable

would be a student who is working many hours during a given college semester. The dependent

variable in this study is how the student’s academics are affected.

Nominal variables can only be measured in terms of whether the individual items belong

to a distinct category. As in research it was found that there is not a significant reliable attribute

to whether or not a student’s academic success might be falling due to the students hours spent at

their place of employment. The nominal variable in this case is whether the student is coming

prepared to class. .


Nominal and ordinal research was chosen in this study by a survey based off of a study

done at Salt Lake Community College. It was based off a study called CCSSE, talked about

earlier in this in this research. The analysis selected was from randomly surveyed college

students at Salt Lake Community College.

The null hypothesis is that a college student’s academic success will not be affected by

how many hours a student works per week. In this study the hypothesis is that there will be a

statistically significant difference in college student’s academic success who are employed

during a given college semester as opposed to a student’s academic success who are not

employed or are not often working during a college semester.

Summary

The hypothesis in this study is that is that there will be a statistically significant

difference in college student’s academic success who are employed during a given college

semester as opposed to a student’s academic success who are not employed or are not often

working during a college semester. We have found in the data analysis that there can be many

attributes to a student’s academic success and cannot rely on how many hours a student works

during the week.

Whether the student works or not can be one attribute to a student’s academic success but

not necessarily the main attribute. The research and data analysis in this study has shown that

there can be many attributes to a student’s academic success. Some other attributes talked about

in this research are; a student’s economical background, social participation and educational

activities.


Another factor in the inaccuracy of this study is that the survey was a self-administered

survey done by college student participants. This means we cannot determine if the answers that

were provided by the college students were an accurate answer or a just a guess upon the

students will to be accurate with one’s own self.

Results

When determining through the CCSSE if the hypothesis would be correct or incorrect,

Table 1 showed that a student working thirty or more hours a week still maintained an A- to B+

grade point average at Salt Lake Community College. Although these results cannot give us an

absolute answer we can assume that these results are somewhat accurate.

In Table 2, it shows how prepared a student is due to how many hours they work or lack

of work compared to the hours spent studying during the week. In this table there is no

significance in this table applying to this study. We cannot consider if a student is coming to


class prepared or unprepared based off of how many hours a student works throughout the week.

There are many attributes to a college student that might manipulate this research.

The significant data found was significance in grades from students who only worked one

to five hours a week compared to students who worked thirty of more hours a week, the alpha.

(t= 1,5; a ≤ .20)

The mean, or the average, of the research done in the survey, CCSSE, specifically a

students GPA was found and the results was an average of 6.30, which is about a B grade

average. The mean for a students pay for work had an average of 3.15, an average of working

eleven to twenty hours a week. The mode when GPA is in comparison to paywork is: GPA mode

is, 7. The mode for paywork is 5. The median of the survey instrument, CCSSE, for GPA is 7.

The median for paywork is 4.


Conclusion

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to describe if a student’s academics are affected while

working during any individual college semester. The hypothesis of this study is; There will be a

statistically significant difference in college student’s academic success who are employed

during a given college semester as opposed to a student’s academic success who are not

employed or are not often working during a college semester. The study will determine whether

or not a student’s academics are affected by how many hours a student works. There does not

seem to be any controversy whether or not a student should be a full time student and not work,

this day in age. The research question that will be discovered in this research study is: How many

hours can a student work per week before it starts to affect a student’s academics?

The importance of this research study is to determine whether or not working students

during any given semester has an effect on their academic performance. This is an important

topic due to the fact that a student’s academics and GPA can be at risk due to how many hours

they might be working.

Interpretation of Results

When comparing the results to the literature in this study it has been found that each have

similar results. The literature review shows the significant attributes to a student’s academic

success when compared to how much a student works per week. The hypothesis in this research

was not supported and was proven to have a different theory. The theory that was discovered was

that there are many attributes to a student’s academic success and it cannot be pinned on how

many hours a student works.


Implications

When determining the implications of this research there is not one set result that we can

determine how the results influence a student’s academic success. The literature along with the

results shows how many attributes can be factors in a student’s academic success.

When determining the hypothesis for this research study the importance seemed

significant. But as found in the research, the research determined that there was no significance

in the literature review or data analysis that made this research question or hypothesis of any

importance. The hypothesis was proven to be incorrect after the research of the literature review

and data analysis.

Limitations

Limitations found in this research study are that the survey, CCSSE, done at Salt Lake

Community College was a self-administered and self-reported survey. This is a limitation to this

research study due to the fact that a student can answer untruthfully or inaccurate. When a

student takes a self-reported study it was shown that the grades of the students were higher than a

student’s actual grades were higher when self-reported.

Another limitation found during the research of this study is that there were many

attributes that could affect a student’s grades. The hypothesis stated that there would be an effect

on a student’s academics by the more hours they worked per week. The hypothesis in this study

was proven inaccurate due to the fact that there can be many attributes to a student’s academic

success.

Limitations of this study are that beginning researchers were the ones that determined if

the results and hypothesis were inaccurate or not. It can also be a limitation of this research study


that there was inadequate time given to research and analyze the hypothesis of this research. The

limitations in this study also play a significant role in determining whether or not the hypothesis

was accurate or inaccurate.

Summary

The hypothesis, there will be a statistically significant difference in college student’s

academic success who are employed during a given college semester as opposed to a student’s

academic success who are not employed or are not often working during a college semester, in

this research study was thought to be of significance but it was determined by the literature

review and data analysis was proven to have little or no significance.

Due to the many attributes that can affect a student’s academic success, determined from

the literature review and data analysis were significant factors in proving the hypothesis

incorrect.


References

Callender, C., (2008). The impact of term-time employment on higher education students' academic attainment and achievement. Journal of Education Policy, 23(4), 20.

Jacoby, D. , (2006). Effects of part-time faculty employment on community college graduation rates. The Journal of Higher Education, 77(6), 24

McClenney, K., Marti, C., & Adkins, C. (n.d.). Student engagement and student outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.ccsse.org/aboutsurvey/docs/CCSSE Validation Summary.pdf

Pike, G., Kuh, G., & Massa-McKinley, R.,(2008). First-year students' employment, engagement, and academic achievement: Intangling the relationship between work and grades. NASPA, 45(4), 24

Richardson, M., Evans, C., & Gbadamosi, G., (2009). Funding full-time study through part-time work. Journal of Education and Work, 22(4), 17.

The University of Texas at Austin. (n.d.). About the ccsse survey. Retrieved from http://www.ccsse.org/aboutsurvey/aboutsurvey.cfm

Wang, H., Kong, M., Shan, W., & Vong, S., (2010). The effects of doing part-time jobs on college student academic performance and social life in a chinese society. Journal of Education and Work, 23(1), 17.

.Wenz, M., & Yu, W., (2010). Term-time employment and the academic performance of undergraduates. Journal of Education Finance, 35(4), 17.


Appendix

Table 1: CCSSE results for student’s GPA in correlation with how many hours for paid work.

Table 2: CCSSE results for a student’s academic performance in correlation with the number of hours for paid work.

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