Economic crisis causes an increase in students who work and study

02/05/2017

In the past decade and coinciding with the economic crisis, the traditional profile of a student dedicating 100% of their time to studying has decreased and given way to an increase in students who combine work and studies, particularly those from less favourable social backgrounds. This demonstrates that students adapt their strategies to be able to attend university in the current context, but this is something that may be generating new mechanisms of internal inequality.

This is the conclusion reached by researchers of the Labor and Education Research Group (GRET) of the Department of Sociology at the UAB, who recently published a study in the European Journal of Education in which they analysed the experience of combining studies and work among university graduates.

The research focuses on the evolution of the phenomenon happening between 2005 and 2014 related to academic performance and future entrance to the labour market, in terms of occupational quality as well as effects of the economic crisis. The influence of the education level of parents was also evaluated, as a factor related to the social and economic origin of young university students.

The data analysed, taken from surveys conducted by the Quality Assurance Agency for the University System in Catalonia, indicate that students combining work and studies rose from 59% in 2008 to 67% in 2014.

This increase was generalised among all student profiles - and especially among the profiles with a middle or high origin. However, only the group of socially more vulnerable students was there a large increase in the percentage of both students working part-time and full-time, passing from 38% to 47%.

Studying and working makes students suffer academically since their marks are not as high as those who do not work. For example, coinciding with the crisis those who worked full-time were the ones to receive the worst marks, probably due to the need to focus on maintaining their job in difficult economic times.

The results were especially negative for students from families with a lower education level, since many worked full-time in jobs completely unrelated to their studies and this led to lower occupational quality when they later entered the job market. The data reveals that life conditions for these students at university worsened, taking into account that although they were already a minority among students, they were also obliged to contribute to the family's income.

“Access, life conditions and participation at university could become new sources of inequality for students with economic needs who are forced to work while they study. This could become a barrier for their education, given that their lower marks must compete with higher ones when applying for grants or graduate programmes”, says Albert Sànchez-Gelabert, who led the study together with Marina Elias.

Therefore, according to researchers, there is a need for interventions at institutional level, with the introduction of specific support mechanisms for these students. Some proposals include expanding the number of subjects with blended learning, provide more virtual support platforms, improve accessibility and flexibility of staff and introduce mechanisms to minimise the academic sanctions caused by studying and working.

Importance of Social Capital

Researchers also confirmed that according to the level of education of relatives, students also showed differences in occupational levels during the crisis period: the sons and daughters of parents with higher levels of education found more and better jobs, probably due to the ability to mobilise their social capital - network of relationships of friends and family members.

In general terms, combining work and studies has a positive effect on students once they finish their studies, especially in the case of students working on something related to their studies.

“The results are in line with other studies we have conducted, which indicate that between 2008 and 2014 the internal stratification at universities seems to have increased. For example, pre- and post-crisis enrolment data shows that more students enrolled in disciplines with greater professional demand, probably because students already combined their studies with work before graduating. There are also students from families with less resources who prefer degrees in which jobs are later guaranteed, but which are cheaper and easier to complete", says Marina Elias.

The study does not analyse the effects of the implementation of the Bologna Process, given that students in 2014 had not undergone the change in studies, but there are many signs pointing to the fact that students now find it harder to study and work due to fact that they are required to be more present at university and this makes combining other activities more difficult.

Original article: Albert Sanchez-Gelabert, Mijail Figueroa, Marina Elias. Working whilst studying in higher education: The impact of the economic crisis on academic and labour market success. European Journal of Education. DOI 10.1111/ejed.12212.