Students who work part-time ‘more likely to graduate’

Students with modest work commitments are more likely to graduate than their unemployed and overemployed peers, and a post-Covid spike in working rates has not changed that equation, New Zealand research suggests.

An analysis of Kiwi tertiary students’ working patterns over eight years has found that those who undertook paid work at low or moderate levels had higher completion rates, on average, than those with high-intensity jobs or no jobs at all.

The relationship held steady despite a general increase in students’ employment as living costs rose from 2022. It also persisted within different demographics.

The study, by Ministry of Education economist Asaad Ali, found generally higher completion rates among female students compared with male students, full-time students compared with part-time students, bachelor’s students compared with sub-bachelor’s students, and students of European or Asian heritage compared with Māori or Pasifika students. But in almost all cases, the rates were better for students who worked a little rather than a lot or not at all.

“This pattern suggests a non‑linear relationship between work intensity and completion,” Ali writes. “Rather than declining immediately with increased work, completion outcomes are strongest at low to moderate levels of employment.”

Ali cautioned against drawing “causal conclusions”, stressing that his research only revealed associations. The associations run counter to findings elsewhere.

A 2017 Universities Australia survey found that one in two employed students believed their work adversely affected their studies. A 2023 analysis by Studiosity found that almost nine in 10 students had paid jobs, with many experiencing negative impacts on their results.

Research by Swinburne University in 2019 found that more than three-quarters of employed students felt their work disrupted their academic efforts, with one in six risking failure as a result. A 2008 US study equated each additional weekly work hour with a 0.011-point reduction in grade point averages.

But other studies reveal a more nuanced picture. English researchers last year found a correlation between “meaningful” work and academic success. A 2019 Dutch study concluded that paid work adversely affected students’ resolve to continue studying, but had less effect on their exam scores. And Australian research in 2022 found that students with jobs or work experience were more confident about their post-study employability.

Ian Li, co-author of the Australian study, said there were several reasons why low levels of paid work could benefit study outcomes. Students who take on “manageable” part-time jobs tend to be more organised and “better at juggling competing demands”, he said.

“[It] isn’t [that] working a bit makes you better at study,” said Li, director of research and policy at the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success. “It’s that the kind of student who works a bit was probably already a bit more on top of things.”

Working also provides structure, Li said. “Unstructured time gets lost to procrastination just as easily as it gets used productively. A part-time job gives students a fixed block of hours they have to work around, which pushes them to…plan their week instead of drifting through it.”

But the benefit “flips” when students work too many hours and start cutting back on course load “just to cope”, Li said. “Past a certain point, the job stops adding useful structure and starts directly eating into study time.”

Research in the US in 2015 and New Zealand in 2019 suggests the “tipping point” is “somewhere around 20 hours a week”, he said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com