4. Student Recommendations
The Effects of Working Part-Time Whilst Studying at Degree Level
N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S.
University Support
We asked students to explain in three words their attitude towards student support at the University of Chichester.
Out of 120 words 75% were negative.
This suggests that the support system, as it is currently, is perceived in a negative way by students.
This poses the question, is it effectively supporting the students it has reached?
Is it advertising effectively to those students who have not actively been seeking extra support?
1302573, 1303141, 1204699, 1407395
Introduction
1. Reasons For Working
Since the increase in tuition fees in 2012 within the UK and the rise in the cost of living, more and more students have
of living and that this is placing disadvantage upon particularly disadvantaged students causing them to leave education or
TRUE
To conquer this, some universities limit the amount of hours students are able to work. This, in theory, allows students the
caused by other factors., such as level of income and whether
chance to fully concentrate on their studies (University of Cambridge, 2015).
the student is studying full or part-time.
However, with the graduate job market becoming more competitive, the benefits of the experience that you gain in the
H0 There is no significant association between age and work
workplace necessities such as working in a team have been covered. It is whether this time used working part time, instead of studying, has a significant impact on students studies, be that positive or negative, from the perspective of the students.
From the research we found among undergraduates (NUS, 2014):
3) To analyse how working part-time affects students commitment to studies and the overall university
13% of these students had a maintenance loan in excess
r=.544, r²=30%, n=27, p=0.002
experience
While 73% of full-time students had a maintenance loan
93% of students use a student loan to pay for tuition
8. Do you work? Yes
Valid
Similarly, 86% of students do receive a maintenance
54% of students do not receive any other type of
Frequency
The pie chart on the left shows that students are most stressed about having enough money to get by over; dealing with student loans, paying rent and bills and working part-time.
reasonably stressed about dealing with student loans. Valid %
%
Cumulative %
Yes
11
39.3
39.3
39.3
No
17
60.7
60.7
100.0
Total
28
100.0
100.0
Yes
15
53.6
53.6
53.6
No
13
46.4
46.4
100.0
Total
28
100.0
100.0
Stressors
P Value (2-Tailed)
Significant (Yes/No)
Exams & Assessments
0.858
No
allow students to work during term-
Yes
Time & Deadlines
0.906
No
0.432
H0-
No
Loans
of stress.
bursaries, compared to 39% of those who do. This
The survey was sent to all students attending the university of Chichester via email. This allowed us to reach a potentially
suggests that those that choose not to work do so
The tests indicated that there is no significant difference between students who do or do not work as p> 0.05, therefore we would accept the null hypothesis.
0.729
Key Points:
There is no significant difference between the levels of stress and whether a student works part-time whilst studying at university.
Around 54% of students who do not work receive
large number of respondents. This also allowed anonymity, much like in ‘Pound in Your Pocket’ (NUS, 2014) due to some of
10
Some universities limit the amount of hours that students can work to no more than 10 hours per week during term-time. We asked students whether they thought this was a good or bad idea, and why.
We conducted a series of Mann-Whitney tests to determine if there was a significant difference between the levels of stress felt by students whether they work full-time or part-time.
Money
approach that NUS (Still in the Red, 2010) partook in order to get a clear and detailed students perspective on their cause
Mode
46% do.
We also carried out two short interviews of which are detailed in our vignettes under ‘Causes of Stress’. This was a similar
(University of Cambridge, 2015) have placed on the amount of hours they
bursary to support them whilst studying, whereas
We designed a survey with the aim of collating both quantitative and qualitative data.
Valid
loan.
Methodology
FALSE
43% of students admitted to being more stressed about having enough money to get by over the 24% that were
7.b. Bursary
No
undertake paid part-time employment during term-time.
10.00
No
significant positive correlation between age and work hours.
fees.
4) To determine what students think that the University of Chichester could do to further support those who
Median
stress for students.
30
Therefore, we reject the null hypotheses. There is a
The results from our survey of 56 students show:
25
time.
and just 5% of part-time students did.
2) To establish whether working part-time during term-time increases levels of stress in students;
20
the limit that some universities
than reported as acceptable. This suggests this sample have a good balance of work and study.
1) To compare why students choose to work during term-time with those who do not;
15
Report (Still in the red, 2010) and is also
H₁ There is a positive association between age and work hours.
10
14.15
recommendations from the Cubie
Therefore, our median suggests that students at the University of Chichester do not work more hours of paid employment
7 out of 10 receive a student loan for living costs.
of £12,000.
5
Mean
The median is on par with the
hours therefore reject the null.
Therefore, the aim of our research was to determine the effects that working part time during term-time has on an individual studying at degree level. Our objectives were:
information is not a main cause of 0
of the average.
The work hours (per week) of students who have a part-time job during term time
Therefore, not knowing about this
False
correlation between the two variables. Therefore, 70% is
‘real world of work’ can be seen as a good addition to your degree by a potential employer because they can assume the
False
We have used the median as, due to our small sample size, it is a better reflection
knowledgeable in the subject.
Graduates must begin to repay their student loans once they are earning £15,000 a year
work hours VS. age. The results show that there is a 30%
work long hours to the detriment of their studies.
can see that most students are
18% of anything over this amount (£15,000) must be used to repay your student debt
The diagram shows a very weak but positive correlation of
Work Hours per week of students who work part-time during term-time
about student loans. From this we
True
younger students.
According to NUS (2010), students feel that the support system is not doing its job properly by not reflecting the true cost
much knowledge students have
Student loans are written off after 30 years
this was to discover if older students work more hours than
work during term-time are not spending their income on leisure activities but instead on food and household bills.
behind this was to find out how
True
relationship between age and work hours. The point behind
through university like they used to prior to the financial crisis (Fottrell, 2013). Gil (2014) states that 55% of students who
questions in our survey. The point
It is predicted that 45% of graduates will not earn enough to pay back their student loans fully
We ran a correlation test to find out if their was any
Students have increasing responsibilities because not many parents have the ability to support their adult children
We asked a series of true or false
Having a student loan will effect your credit score False
Correlation
found it necessary to take up paid employment during term-time in order to cover living costs (Richmond, 2013).
Knowledge of student loans
H1There is a significant difference between the levels of stress and whether a student works part-time whilst studying at university or not.
No
because they receive extra support from their bursary.
Some thought that this would be a good way of reducing levels of stress. Many students believed that those with limited finances would not survive on 10 hours of work. Others thought that the scheme was unethical and that students should be free to make their own choices. Good
Bad
“I think it’s a good idea as it will limit stress.”
“The stress they don't feel from working, they may then feel from not having enough finances to support them through university.”
“I think this is a good idea as it will ensure that students do not lose focus on their studies. However, they should provide more financial support in return.”
“It's your right to work however much you want or need.”
“Puts pressure on employers to offer better contracts to students.”
“A lot of companies don't offer contracts less than 12 hours per week.”
“Being a student is a full-time commitment”
“I need to work to support myself, I don't receive any outside help and without work chances are I would have to drop out of university.”
the questions requiring sensitive information (i.e. the type of bursary received). We ensured that all of our questions were
3. Commitment To Studies
non-compulsory to allow our respondents to avoid questions they did not want to answer on ethical grounds. Initially we chose to use random sampling however during the surveys live period we noticed the respondents were mainly
A comparison between the numbers of hours spent studying per week by working and non-working students
2. Causes Of Stress
second year female students. We therefore adapted our strategy and chose to do face-to-face quota sampling of first and third year male students. Therefore, avoiding a bias sample.
This chart shows that the main cause of a
60% of students in part-time employment said that they receive
Watts (2001) found that 83% of respondents said they
negative affect on students studies is by not
spent the money they earned on a mixture of basic living
having enough money and the stress of this.
support for their degree from their employers during term-time. This is a surprising statistic that does not support previous
costs and essentials. 64.2% of our sample said the money
This compares to our results simultaneously as
they earn is used to help pay for their bills and cover their basic living costs.
Sample Overview
studies. For example, in a study by Curtis (2000), only 32% of respondents said their employers supported them by reducing work hours during examination periods. This increase in support suggests that employers have become more aware of the heavy workload that students are faced with. However, it is difficult to draw a representative conclusion from comparing these figures due to the huge difference in sample size and the variance in the question asked.
we discovered that the main cause of stress at
43% reasonably stressful was due to not
This suggests that student finance are not accurately reflecting students’ cost. NUS (Still in the Red, 2010)
having enough money.
reported that 33% of students said they worry frequently
56
50%
Sample Size
No. of applicants that
Gender
We had an even split of male to female students.
participated in our survey.
about their finances where as 28% of students said they
Only 7.4% of the students that do work during term-time have missed lectures and workshops due to their work
worry about their finances all the time. When looking at this
commitments and 0% of the same sample have never handed in an assignment late due to their work commitments.
against our survey which shows 36% of our respondents described dealing with their finances as reasonably stressful
Only 7.2% of our samples have ignored this commitment due to their work commitments. However, 39.3% stated
and 11% described it as very stressful.
that they rarely ignored homework that has been set by their lecturers, so this implies that on occasion this may be the case.
Employment
50% of the participants of the employment during term-time.
(Still in the red, 2010)
35% of students who work stated that tiredness they felt from having worked affects their
“If you want something done, ask a busy person”
survey work in paid
Conclusion
concentration during lectures.
Causes of Stress On the contrary to what literature suggested, our research showed that there was minimal difference in stress levels between students who work and those who do not. We feel that the main reason for this is the small sample size. Also those who work tend to organise their time more effectively compared to those who do not. This could be due to having more time to complete necessary tasks without urgency.
57% of students also said that
There is a weak positive correlation between age and the number of hours worked in employment during term-time. This contradicts our expectation of a stronger positive correlation, where older students are more likely to have other commitments such as dependents and possibly a mortgage. We have assumed that the reason for this is that only 3 of our respondents are over the age of 25. We found the main reasons for student undertaking part-time employment during term time was to help pay for bills with 32.1% of our respondents saying this was the most important reason. Similarly, NUS Scotland (Overstretched & overdrawn, 2009) research revealed that students were working long hours to the detriment of their studies in order to pay their bills However, 21.4% of our working respondents said that the work experience they gained was the most important reason for working. Therefore, reasons for working is largely based on individual circumstance.
working part-time affects their group work at university.
Commitment to Studies
To what extent do you feel your job affects the time you could spend else where?
Year of Study
67% of our respondents were students in their second year of study. This led to a change in our
14.1. Exams and assess-
14.2. Work-
14.3. Dead-
14.6. Mon-
14.7.
sampling technique from random
ments
ing part-time
lines
ey
Loans
to targeted.
14.1. Exams and as-
Pearson Correla-
sessments
tion
1
Sig. (1-tailed) N
We carried out a student T-test
Test Value = 0 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference 1. Gender
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed) 26
.000
Pearson Correla-
time
tion
Mean Difference
Lower
Upper
17.593
13.43
14.3. Deadlines
21.76
Pearson Correlation
.105
28 .515
7.095
24
.000
16.200
11.49
20.91
females study for more hours
Pearson Correlation
than males.
.321*
.288
correlations between causes of stress.
.297
.003
.048
.069
The first test was aimed at people that
28
28
28
28
1
.276
**
28 .276 .077
28
28
.321*
Sig. (1-tailed)
14.7. Loans
.515**
.003
.593**
Pearson Correlation Sig. (1-tailed)
.077
.000
.204
28
28
28
1
*
.407
only affects revising for exams a little bit. 32% said that working does not
28
28
28
.593**
.407*
1
.435*
.048
.000
.016
28
28
28
28
28
.288
.163
-.190
.435*
1
.069
.204
.166
.010
28
28
28
28
N
affect revising for exams at all.
Both tests found there is a significant positive correlation between the levels of
-.190 .166
This shows that employment does not reduce stress caused by money worries. Table 1 also shows that the stresses of
deadlines is not affected by working.
work study for more hours per week. For example; 11.1% of
N 28.2. Working
during term-time are equally as stressed
Pearson Correlation Sig. (1-tailed) N
as those who do work during term-time. 28.3. Deadlines
Pearson Correlation
This is supported by the hours studied by Sig. (1-tailed)
those who do not work compared to those who do, which is not significantly
N 28.6. Money
Sig. (1-tailed)
those who work and those who do not work in either Chichester or Bognor Regis. However, a number of students travel over two hours to work, for example, two students work as far as London. This could have a more negative impact on their studies.
face similar levels of stress.
reflection of the average. The average number of hours of study per week for students who do not work is 5 hours more than students who do work.
28.2. Working
**
-.003
.209
.121
.000
.493
.143
28
28
28
28
28
.228
1
.170
.000
.037
.228
.121
lines .616
.193
N 28.7. Loans
Pearson Correlation
.500
.426
28
28
28
28
28
.616**
.170
1
.095
.401*
.000
.193
.315
.017
28
28
28
28
28
-.003
.000
.095
1
.564**
.493
.500
.315
28
28
28
Sig. (1-tailed) N
.209 .143 28
.037 .426 28
.401* .017 28
We found that there was a difference of 5 hours of study between workers and non-workers. However, both of these average study hours fall short of the recommended amount of hours of study per week by the University of Chichester, which is 20 hours of self-directed study per week. This does not leave much time for other activities, such as joining a society or socialising, especially alongside a part-time job.
This objective gave us more qualitative data due to it being based on suggestions. The free text boxes allowed respondents to write their own ideas of what they felt the university could do to further support students who work. To summarise, the most common suggestions were that the university could be more flexible with timetables and for lecturers to have more empathy to the fact that students have more responsibilities than the degree itself.
Reflection Firstly we would have liked to find out about students grades and compare them to the results of the students that do work during term time. This would have allowed us to gain more accurate results about whether working effects study time and grades.
We would also liked to have reached a larger group of students and ages, in order to compare whether ages influence peoples decisions to work. Next time we would make sure the questions are as specific as possible to avoid confusion. For example; one of our questions on whether students receive maintenance loans and if their student loan was to pay for tuition fees was not a very clear question, and a number of respondents may have been confused.
Bibliography & Reading List
sample size being so small this may not be representative.
Barnett, R. (2000) Realising the University in an Age of Supercomplexity. Buckingham: SRHE & Open University Press
Group Statistics
Independent T-Test
8. Do you work? 18. Hrs/
According to our data there is no significant difference in the
Std. Error N
1.0
Study
Mean 25
Std. Deviation
15.84
Mean
10.111
hours studied per week between students who work during
2.022
2.0 27
17.93
11.645
2.241
term-time and those who do not; P(0.494) >0.05. Therefore, working part-time does not affect students commitment to studies.
Independent Samples Test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances
t-test for Equality of Means
.001 28 .564**
28 1
.001 28
F 18. Hrs/
Equal variances as-
Study
sumed Equal variances not as-
28
sumed
Sig. .424
t .518
df
BBC (2015) Increase in University Students 'Working to Fund Studies'. http:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33843987. Accessed: 27th September 2015. Burek, O. (2014) Save the Student: Student Money Survey www.savethestudent.org/ money/student-money-survey-results Accessed: 12th October 2015. Carney, McNeish and McColl (2005). The Impact of Part Time Employment on Students’ Health and Academic Performance: A Scottish Perspective. http://meant4teachers.com/wp -content/uploads/2013/09/Part-time-employment-scottish-perspective.pdf. 29th Sept. Callender, C. and Jackson, J. (2005) Does the Fear of Debt Deter Students from Higher Education? http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/21010/2/ Does_the_fear_of_debt_deter_students_from_higher_education_(LSERO).pdf. Accessed: 12th October 2015.
95% Confidence Interval of the
different. Therefore, we can conclude that We created a map of employment locations to show the distance that students travel to work. Out of 28 students, 46%
Pearson Correlation
Due to our small sample size the median is a better
per week compared to just 4% of those that do. Due to our 28.7. Loans
1
Student Recommendations
students that do not work part time, study for 36 to 40 hours
28.6. Money
Sig. (1-tailed)
Table 2 has similar figures to table 1, suggesting that those that do not work
Pearson Correlation
17.93 15 10 1.287 -0.560
positive correlation with the stresses of
28.3. Dead-
28.1. Exams
15.84 10 10 0.857 0.883
This column chart shows that on average those that do not
Correlations
28.1. Exams
Non-workers
working does not have a significant
deadlines [p(0.276)>0.05].
28
Workers
Mean Median Mode Skewness Kurtosis
stress of working part-time and money.
.010
This suggests that students ability to meet
Over half of the students we asked admitted that working part-time affects studying independently a little bit.
61% of student said that working
.163
.016
N
18. Hrs/Study
.105
.297
N
From this we can see that
discover whether there were any positive
aimed at people that do not.
Sig. (1-tailed)
14.6. Money
We carried out two correlation test to
work part-time and the second test was
N
to find out if there was a
between male and female.
28
Sig. (1-tailed)
difference in the hours studied
Female 18. Hrs/Study 8.682
14.2. Working part-
Student T-Test
One-Sample Test
Male
Correlation
Correlations
Due to the small sample size we did not achieve normal distribution and therefore our tests did not reflect what we expected would be the case from reviewing the literature. Reasons for Working
Although students within our sample seem to have avoided their work commitments affecting their university commitments, it must be taken into account the time of year that our survey was conducted. This was in a less assignment and exam heavy period where students may have felt that they had more time and therefore at the time of the survey it did not have an effect.
-Benjamin Franklin
There are approximately 5,000 students who attend the University of Chichester (SIZ, 2015). We received 56 responses. This equates to 1.12% of the student population at the university.
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean Differ-
Std. Error Dif-
ence
ference
Difference Lower
Upper
-.687
50
.495
-2.086
3.035
-8.182
4.010
-.691
49.805
.493
-2.086
3.019
-8.149
3.978
Gil, N. (2014). One In Seven Students Work Full-Time While They Study. Available at: www.theguardian.com/education/2014/aug/11/students-work-part-time-employability Accessed: 24th September. London South Bank University (2005) Survey of Higher Education Students’ Attitudes to Debt and Term-Time Working and Their Impact on Attainment. Accessed: 29th sept. NUS (2010). Still in The Red. Available at: http://www.nus.org.uk/en/news/researchpublications/. Accessed: 24th September 2015.
NUS (2011). Silently Stressed: A Survey into Student Mental Wellbeing. Available at: http://www.nus.org.uk/en/news/research-publications/. Accessed: 24th September 2015). NUS (2014). Pound in Your Pocket. www.nus.org.uk/en/news/researchpublications/. Last accessed: 24th September 2015. Pollard, E. (2013) Working While Studying: A Follow-Up to the Student Income and Expenditure Survey www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/250991/ bis-13-1248-working-while-studying-a-follow-up-to-the-student-income-andexpenditure-survey-2011-12.pdf. Accessed: 27th Sept. Richmond, L. (2013). Student Part-time Work Increases. Available at: www.timeshighereducation.com/news/student-part-time-workincreases/2006956.article. Accessed: 22nd September 2015. University of Cambridge (2015) Working While You Study http:// www.cambridgestudents.cam.ac.uk/your-course/graduate-study/your-studentstatus/working-while-you-study. Accessed: 22nd September 2015. Watts, C. (2001). Pay As You Learn: The Effects of Part-Time Paid Employment on Academic Performance. Available at: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/ documents/00001749.htm. Accessed: 22nd September 2015.