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Time Management Essay Study: â€Å"Working to live: Why university students balance full-time study and employment According to Valerie Holmes, within this group 83 per cent of students worked at some point during term-time of their degree programmed. In total 58 per cent of those students who worked did so to either cover or contribute to basic costs of living. While the majority of students felt they could balance work and study, half of all students questioned felt that working could have a negative impact on their degree classification. Valerie Holmes, (2008) Working to live: Why university students balance full-time study and employment, Education + Training, Vol. 50 Iss: 4, pp.305 – 314 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1728331 | The work–study relationship: experiences of full†time university students undertaking part†time employment Journal of Education and Work Volume 23, Issue 5, 2010 Ralph Halla* Pages 439-449 Publishing models and article dates explained Received: 21 Apr 2010 Accepted: 14 Jul 2010 Version of record first published: 29 Nov 2010 Abstract Work and study commitments of full†time undergraduate students at the University of New South Wales were investigated in four surveys conducted in 1994, 1999, 2006 and 2009. Respondents to the surveys reported the amount of time they spent during term time in paid employment, studying outside of formal class hours and in leisure activities (1999 and 2006 only). Fifty full†time students in 2006 and 37 in 2009 who were identified through the survey as working in excess of 10 hours per week were interviewed about their work and study relationships. Findings are consistent with UK studies showing an increase in part†time work by full†time students. In addition, a steady decrease was found in hours of study outside normal class time and in time spent in leisure activities. Reasons for working offered by interviewees were predominantly financial although many reported that gaining work experience, even in areas not related to their studies, was an important consideration. While some of the students interviewed felt that the government should provide more support for full†time students, the majority thought that the university should cater more for the needs of working students by providing more online facilities for assignment submission and communication and more flexible timetables and submission requirements. In the absence of any likely moves by governments to provide financial support to students, universities need to recognize the increasing demands placed on full†time students by part†time work and to implement procedures to assist working students. http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjew20 Literature: More students balance school with jobs By Jacob Serebrin | January 25th, 2012 | More than half of full-time university students in Quebec work while attending school and more than 40 per cent of all undergraduates work more than 20 hours weekly says a new study by the Fà ©dà ©ration à ©tudiante universitaire du Quà ©bec, a provincial lobby group that wants lower tuition. On top of that, more than twice as many full-time students aged 20 to 24 in the province work part-time jobs than students did in the 1970s. The workloads are hurting their educations: 43 per cent of full-time undergraduates say that their jobs have negatively affected their studies and 30 per cent say their jobs mean they’ll take longer to finish. It’s worst for PhD students—six in 10 say work forced them to prolong their studies. It’s not just students in Quebec who are putting in long hours between classes. According to the 2011 Canadian University Survey Consortium study 56 per cent of undergraduates in Canada work. The average number of hours is 18 per week. Nearly a fifth (18 per cent) work more than 30 hours weekly. One third of working students report â€Å"a negative impact on their academic performance.† The latest research also builds on a November 2010 report put out by FÉUQ that said employment income accounts for more than 50 per cent of the average full-time student’s income in Quebec. Predictably, FÉUQ is using the results of both studies to argue against a tuition increase that will take effect this fall. The hike will see tuition for in-province student’s rise by $325 a year to $3,793 in 2016. It’s easy to dismiss FÉUQ’s concerns–the province has the lowest fees in the country. But the fact that so many students are working so much suggests many are already at the breaking point. It also rebuts the claim by Quebec politicians that the increase would return tuition to 1968-9 levels, adjusted for inflation, which is what finance minister Raymond Backhand told the National Assembly. The claim that today’s students are paying less than past students has also been a favorite of the Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities, which represents administrators. Perhaps tuition was indeed more expensive in the 1968-9s. But in the 1970s, students could afford to work less in coffee shops and clothing stores—and more on their studies—than students of today. http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2012/01/25/more-students-balancing-school-and-part-time-jobs/ Vol. 1, Issue 1 spring 2005 The Effects of College Student Employment on Academic Achievement By: Lauren E Watanabe Mentor: Jana Jasinski Review of Literature As money and resources become more scarce for college students, jobs become more of a necessity rather than an after school activity. Any changes to students routines will lead to changes in academics, whether they are positive or negative. Employment among college students has been increasing rapidly. Its effect on the academic performance of students has been questioned by many researchers (Green, 1987). Some of the issues raised in the literature concern matters such as the number of hours worked, whether or not the students jobs pertain to their majors, and the students workloads. As more students are employed, they face having to balance their academic requirements, extracurricular activities, and employment responsibilities to maintain their lifestyles (Furr Elling, 2000). The literature reviewed below examines how employment has affected academic achievement. Much of the research indicating that employment negatively affects students academic achievement stated that an increase in the amount of hours worked was the most influential factor. In one study, more hours worked decreased the likelihood of being an A student (Pritchard, 1996). According to Furr and Elling (2000), 29% of the students working 30-39 hours per week and 39% of those students working full time indicated that work had a negative and frequent impact on their academic progress. Those who take on part-time jobs are less engaged in school before they enter the labor force, and part-time employment, especially for more than 20 hours weekly, further exacerbates this problem (Steinberg et al., 1993, p. 175). Furr and Elling (2000) also found that upperclassmen worked more hours than freshmen, indicating that the older students would be more likely to suffer in their academics. Therefore, w orking full time has an even greater impact on academics because, often times, working 40 or more hours further decreases a students college grade point average (GPA) and is negatively related to completion of a bachelors degree (Astin, 1993). The act of balancing school work with the labor market may also lead students to put forth less effort into both because they are spreading themselves too thin (Astin, 1993). According to these researchers, it is not the job itself that causes the problems, but the overload on the amount of time worked because students who work more hours each week spend less time on homework, [and] pay attention in class less often (Steinberg Dornbusch, 1991, p. 307). Not all of the research has shown negative GPA effects from the amount of hours a student is employed. Some findings indicated that employment had either a positive effect or none at all. A number of researchers, for example, found that hard work built stronger academic character because it taught the students time management skills, gave them experience outside of the classroom, and provided them with more satisfaction in college (Pennington, Zvonkovic, Wilson, 1989). Dallam and Hoyt (1981) suggested that a good balance between stu dents credit hours and working hours forced students to be more organized and to have better time management. They also found that students who worked between 1 and 15 hours per week showed a slightly higher GPA than those whose workloads were heavier and those who were not working at all (Dallam Hoyt, 1981; Li-Chen Wooster, 1979). Not only were higher GPAs found in students that maintained jobs, but Green (2001) also stated that they had gained job skills, experience, knowledge of a variety of jobs, a sense of accomplishment, a feeling of responsibility, and money for personal and school expenses (p. 329). Other researchers, when comparing high and low academic performance and the amount of hours students worked, found that the amount of hours employed did not have an adverse effect on their academics (Pinto, Parente, Palmer, 2001). Similarly, Watts (2002) analysis of 19 students at the University of Brighton found that 4 of 12 working undergraduates said that working did not affect their academics and 5 said that it actually had a positive impact. Although some of the previously mentioned studies used samples of high school students rather than undergraduates, their results were consistent. The fact that some contained samples of less than 50 students, however, may have accounted for some of the differences between the positive and negative academic results. Not accounting for the amount of time actually put into the job, researchers have found that the type of employment a student holds has an impact on academics. Dead-end jobs such as a cashier or fast food worker tend to have a negative effect (Li-Chen Wooster, 1979), whereas high-quality, part-time jobs that seemed to develop career-related skills may in effect contribute to increased levels of career maturity, and these types of jobs are more likely to be flexible and work with students schedules (Healy, OShea, Crook, 1985). These types of jobs allow for hands-on experience that cannot be gained in the classroom alone. For example, of the 600 full-time students at Lamar University surveyed, 91 out of 215 students whose jobs related to their majors had a mean GPA of 2.98, while those whose jobs were career unrelated had a mean GPA of 2.66 (Li-Chen Wooster, 1979). Also, student comments suggested that employment related to a potential career provided additional experience. For example, 10 out of 23 comments of a 120 nursing student survey at a university indicated that they were gaining more practical experience . . . and that as all [their] employment is in care areas, [they felt] it [had] extended [their] experience (Lee, 1999, p. 448). As money and resources become more scarce for college students, jobs become more of a necessity rather than an after school activity. Any changes to students routines will lead to changes in academics, whether they are positive or negative. Though the research results were not always consistent, it was a common theme that the more hours worked led to decreased academic performance, but that working in general did not necessarily have a negative effect on grades. When it came to students jobs as they applied to their majors, the effects were positive in that they provided experience beyond the classroom (Lee, Mawdsley, Rangeley, 1999). The following study will look at these variables as well as class standing, the amount of credit hours taken, and flexibility of the work schedule in order to determine the positive or negative relationship of working and academics. Other variables, such as demographic factors, will also be examined. http://www.urj.ucf.edu/vol1issue1/watanabe/literature.php