As the cost of higher education has risen, so has the number of students who generate their own income to pay for tuition, fees, and related expenses. A Fall 2023 survey from Trellis Strategies found that 68 percent of students worked for pay while enrolled, and 41 percent of working students worked 40 or more hours in a typical week.

Previous research has found that there are benefits for students who work while enrolled in college, but educational outcomes (including grades, credits earned, persistence, dropping out, and dropping out) suffer among students who work more than 20 hours per week and are even more severe for students who work more than 28 hours per week. Historical data shows that students from low-income backgrounds are more likely to rely on their own income to support themselves through college, demonstrating the equity differences in who can focus solely on school while enrolled.

New research from two Emmanuel College faculty members explores why students work while enrolled in college, the barriers they face in juggling work and education, and ways higher education institutions and practitioners can better support students who works

Background: Katrin Križ, professor of sociology, and Janese Free, associate professor of criminology and criminal justice, are two researchers who typically focus on equity and social justice issues for youth outside of the classroom. But recently, instructors have noticed that the number of students in their classes working has increased and the way they engage in the classroom has changed as well.

“Kati (Križ) talks about a student she had in her class who fell asleep and eventually found out that the student was working the night shift as a security officer,” explains Free. “I had an experience during the pandemic where a student met me (online) in the back room of a Starbucks for office hours.”

The professors decided to investigate how working while enrolled puts students at risk for negative outcomes and what they need from their institutions to be successful.

The study: The research captures the experiences of students who work more than 20 hours per week and are enrolled full-time (at least 12 credits per semester) at a two- or four-year college or university in the US

Križ and Free, supported by a team of student research assistants, conducted interviews in 2020 and 2023 with 94 students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We did this really through an equity, inclusion, social justice lens because it struck us that many of the students who work 20 or more hours a week also come from marginalized populations and therefore , they’re already dealing with other obstacles and hardships in life, and then this (work) is on top of that,” says Free.

The results: Interviews revealed that students work for a variety of reasons, with some earning discretionary funds or saving for later in life, and others needing immediate support for themselves and their families.

Many students have worked since high school, sometimes to pay for college, showing how the cost of higher education affects students even before they enroll.

“I wasn’t surprised by the hardships — I knew they were there, I see them in the classrooms — but the depth of them and the ripple effect of those hardships in their lives (was surprising),” Free says.

Students spoke of panic attacks, deep depression and migraines due to stress. “It was amazing to me how powerfully these hardships translate into life consequences for them; even if they do manage to work and study, they have a huge fee to do so and a disproportionate fee than other students do,” says Free.

Križ notes that their research focuses on students who are currently enrolled in college, which highlights the care and coping mechanisms required to continue juggling competing priorities.

“And yet (these coping mechanisms) are not enough, because the time deficit is so great,” says Križ. “There are only so many hours in a day and there are only so many hours in a week.”

In interviews, students also talked about the benefits of work, including their personal growth, social support at work, and the increased knowledge and skills they gained.

Creating a Compassionate College: Through interviews, Križ and Free identified five key themes of support that working students want from their professors and others working in higher education.

1. Access to information. Institutions are often unaware of students’ financial circumstances and the struggles they may face. Trellis’ survey found that 31 percent of students experiencing financial hardship believed their institution was unaware of their monetary struggles.

Colleges can gather information about student work situations and the socioeconomic aspects of their students to share with the wider campus, helping to create an accurate picture of who is enrolled and what difficulties they may face.

Career centers can also play a role in supporting working students by sharing during orientation the benefits or pitfalls of working while studying or highlighting jobs with student-friendly employers in the area.

Within courses, faculty could also collect data among their students about how personal circumstances may affect their learning. Free hands out note cards to students on the first day of class and asks them to share circumstances that may hinder their learning, such as whether they commute, the number of hours they work and what shifts they work, so she can support them more good

2. Empathy. The students interviewed said they wanted a change in mindset towards working students, having more understanding and empathy towards their circumstances.

Often, students who work are viewed from a deficit mindset as the students who can’t get by, but rather, they’re the ones with the most resilience, Free says. “The deck is so stacked against them that it can seem like they can’t make it.”

“I think we can learn a lesson from COVID… because within a week, we turned to a completely different system and changed our attitude,” says Križ. “We’ve become much more compassionate, much more forgiving, much more flexible.”

3. Flexibility. Trellis’ survey found that 25% of working students missed at least one day of class due to work conflicts in the past year. Providing students with flexible attendance policies or deadlines can accommodate students who also need to prioritize work.

Office hours or student support hours are another area working students need flexibility in, as their shifts can put them out of alignment with the availability of services like advising.

4. Predictability. The two teachers were impressed by how savvy the students were with their schedules, working ahead on assignments and maintaining digital calendars so they could meet all the deadlines. But this was only possible when teachers were proactive in sharing deadlines or assignments, emphasizing the role of predictability in the classroom.

“Honestly, as a faculty member, I never thought about it,” says Križ.

In addition to providing a roadmap of course content at the beginning of the term, professors can build a useful structure for students by standardizing deadlines, such as midnight on Tuesdays, so that there is less confusion and student workers can build their program around it. . Similarly, pop quizzes or last-minute assignments can disadvantage students who are short on time, so avoiding that when possible is also important.

One change Free made in her classroom was estimating how long each assignment should take students to help them budget their time. If students are assigned to answer four discussion questions, Free will describe how much time students should spend writing or note the length of the video they will watch as homework.

This adjustment has helped more than just working students because it sets expectations for everyone to designate appropriate time to complete their homework.

5. Student participation. Young people are often underrepresented in institutional decision-making structures such as the Board of Trustees or administration, says Križ, which leaves them out of the process. Colleges and universities should consider ways to listen to and elevate the voices of working students to better support them.

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