What You Wouldn’t Expect About Students and Jobs

Posted by J. Catapano , Oct, 2009 @ 18:08

A study about students and their employment habits was conducted by Charlene Kalenkoski (associate professor of economics at Ohio University) and Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia (research economist in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Division of Productivity Research and Program Development), which will be published in the Journal of Population Economics. The study looked at the correlation between how students developed and survived the daily grind of college life with or without jobs. What was found is quite astounding. On the one hand, students who attend a four-year-college wind up having a higher Grade Point Average if they work anywhere from one to twenty hours per week. Those who work more or not at all have lower GPAs.

Interestingly enough, those being discussed in the study had no problem talking about what they spend their money on, apparently. The study concluded that though it’s assumed that students are working extra hard to get some extra scratch of tuition, it’s quite the opposite. Most students who have part-time jobs are spending their newly earned riches on booze and entertainment. That’s right. These students are more inclined to spend their money frivolously rather than helping their parents or trying to quell their impending debt to their respective loan sharks. I mean, I do understand the logic. It is their money and they should be doing what they want with it. And I do suppose that spending money on stupid stuff like that is just part of life. But, on the other hand, I was hoping that university students would be more responsible with their income. I guess not, though…

You can read all about the study here for the full explanation.

Tags: beer, Drinking, finding a job, getting a job, jobs, money, part-time jobs, paychecks, saving money, spending, spending money, spending you paycheck, study