Managing Study and Work

Executive Summary

More full-time undergraduate students now rely on paid work as their main or sole source of income. They work an average of around 15 hours per week, but almost four out of every ten work 16 hours or more, and 18 per cent work 21 hours or more per week. The extent to which full-time undergraduate students combine full-time enrolment with substantial hours of paid work emerged as an issue for Australian universities in the last few years. Our title, Managing study and work, is directed to both students and universities. It reflects a belief that the new realities of study and engagement with university are not just matters for individual students but also present universities with a set of circumstances that require strategic management. This investigation—based on a survey of 1 563 full-time enrolled working students—explores the impacts of paid work on full-time students’ experience of university life and their academic performance. It also briefly reviews how universities are responding to these challenges.

Students work to provide the basic necessities of life and support themselves, to get experience for post graduation employment, for reasons of independence, to supplement Youth Allowance or Austudy, to support a lifestyle, or a combination of these. Whatever the primary reason, however, there are other strong imperatives for students enrolled full-time to work, especially younger students. Employers expect that graduates can provide evidence of consistent paid work experience; economic and social pressures increasingly encourage combining study and work at all ages.

The picture we have from our investigation of how full-time students are coping with study and paid work is mixed and often complex. This should not be surprising, given individual and institutional variations, the very different circumstances students find themselves in, and variation in their levels of resources.

From this study, there is evidence of high levels of commitment to university. We found that four out of every five respondents surveyed had a strong desire to do well in their course and seven out of every ten agreed that university study ranks at the top of their priorities. Two-thirds were enjoying their course. Average weekly hours worked varied significantly according to field of study and the age at which they enter university.

Substantial proportions acknowledge money worries and stress from studying and working; 40 per cent agree that their paid work gets in the way of their academic work; 34 per cent that worrying about money makes it difficult for them to concentrate on their studies; and a high 63 per cent, significantly more women than men, say they are often overwhelmed by all they have to do.

Nevertheless, overall levels of conflict between study and work, reported from our investigation, are not as high as we might expect. Those who cope well are using some well-established and some newer strategies to deal with competing pressures on their time. They work long hours, juggle commitments, are well organised, concentrate on assessment tasks rather than wide reading, and sometimes increase or decrease their paid work hours as study demands change. Others who do not cope so well opt to merely pass, scale down their expectations, frequently miss lectures, work on only some of the subjects they are enrolled in, or formally shift between full-time and part-time enrolment.

We did not find that substantial proportions of working students were frequently missing lectures because of their employment (only 13 per cent said they did so). Somewhat more than a third of the respondents were certainly prepared to miss lectures, but it appears that this is largely because they can get what they want from other sources, either online or from other students.

Somewhat surprisingly, we found that high or low weekly hours of paid work did not have a significant impact on average grades. Important determinants of grades are academic commitment and involvement, and study motivation and management; and for younger students only, ENTER or equivalent score, being prepared to miss lectures and classes, study and work conflict, and having 21 or more course contact hours.

Many of the jobs students have are relatively low paid and are not directly related to their study. There are strong incentives to hang on to well paid jobs that do relate to their study, and students in professional courses especially, try to juggle full-time work and full-time study in the final year of their course.

Overall, the majority of students are making rational decisions about the hours of work they can cope with. They recognise and worry about the competing demands of study and work. When the two clash, most prefer study to have priority but the investigation revealed that a substantial proportion (more women than men) find it difficult to say no to employers if they are asked to work more hours. In addition, their own financial needs and desires for a reasonable income sometimes take over. Irregularity of hours of work presents great difficulties for students and they often opt for regular hours and less income if they have the chance. The critical point in juggling competing demands often comes at exam time. Some do not recognise their need for help until it is too late.

The on-campus experience of full-time enrolled working students clearly suffers. Many have little sense of the richness that a campus-based experience can offer. University is only a small part of their lives and they spend only the hours they have to on campus. The rational decisions they make to get through a course while working sometimes excessive hours means losing opportunities for close engagement with the learning process.

An increasing number of services at universities are being offered out of business hours, such as counselling and financial services. We listed a range of responses from libraries and information services that involve major shifts in infrastructure commitments.

We conclude that the sheer diversity inherent in the patterns of paid work amongst students makes this an issue of considerable complexity for universities. This calls for a more comprehensive analysis at the institutional level of student populations, and the changing patterns of student engagement. Institutional responses need to address, in the context of changing student expectations and realities, the question of how the educational experiences of students can be structured to enhance the learning outcomes that universities value.

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This page was last updated on Tuesday, 26 August 2008
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