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Gopal Singh

Professor Julien

English 1

October 30, 2008

Working Hard or Hardly Working? The Effect of Working on College Students

As college tuition is rising, the number of college students that have jobs is

increasing. Many of these students may have jobs so they can finance their

education. University professors are concerned that their students are increasingly

participating in non-academic activities (Applegate & Daly, 2006). A survey

conducted by McInnis, James and Hartley of freshman students found that the

percentage of full-time students enrolling in paid employment had grown from forty-

two percent to fifty-one percent between the years of 1994 and 1999. By the year

of 2001, the percentage of freshman enrolled in paid employment had risen to

seventy-percent (Applegate & Daly, 2002).

The cost of attending of attendingboth private and public colleges rose thirty-

eight percent in the past decade (Cramer & Kulm, 2006). The increase in college

costs has also affected student loan debt. Recent college graduates who took on

debt is eighty-five percent higherthan among college graduates who graduated a

decade ago. Sixty-eight percent of graduating seniors in 1999-2000 borrowed

money for their undergraduate degree. Also, loans have increased from about one-

fifth to more than fifty percent of student aid since the 1970’s (Cramer & Kulm,

2006).

The number of students who are employed and the number of hours they

work has also increased dramatically. Many students expect themselves to have a

job when they enter college. 41.1 % of entering freshman expected to get a job to
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help pay college expenses compared to 34.7% in 1989 (Cramer & Kulm, 2006).

About one in every five full-time students worked about thirty-five or more hours a

week (Horn & Maw, 1994).

Data collected from the 1989-90 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study

reported thatundergraduates from private colleges were less likely to work while in

college (sixty-one percent) than undergraduates in public universities (seventy-eight

percent). It was also reported that undergraduates who worked while in college

were employed for the rest of their time at college (Horn & Maw, 1994). The study

also reported some gender, ethnic and age differences found in the employment

status among undergraduates. Women were less likely to work full-time than men.

Forty-seven percent of undergraduate men worked full-time compared to only thirty-

five percent of undergraduate women (Horn & Maw, 1994). Younger

undergraduates were less likely to work than undergraduates who were older (24 or

older). Undergraduates that are Asian were less likely to work while in college than

Hispanic and white undergraduates. About sixty-seven percent of Asian

undergraduates had a job compared to seventy-six percent of Hispanic

undergraduates and seventy-nine percent of white undergraduates (Horn & Maw,

1994).