Statistical Analysis Report:

Undergraduates Who Work While Enrolled in Postsecondary Education: 1989-90

June 1994

(NCES 94-311) Ordering information

Highlights

This report uses data from the 1989-90 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:90) to examine how much undergraduates work while they are enrolled in postsecondary education. The results suggest that not only are most undergraduates working while they are enrolled, a substantial number are working full time. This was true across all postsecondary institution types and student demographic characteristics. This report specifically addresses how working intensity (i.e., part-time versus full-time) differs according to enrollment status, student characteristics, and the types of institutions undergraduates attend. In addition, the relationship between financial aid, borrowing, and working is examined. Some of the more important findings follow.

• Among all undergraduates, approximately three-fourths reported working at some time during their enrollment in the academic year 1989–90. About 40 percent reported working full time (35 or more hours per week) at some time while enrolled.
• Even among undergraduates who were enrolled full time for a full academic year (9 months), about one in five (22 percent) worked full time at some time during their enrollment. By comparison, about half (48 percent) of undergraduates enrolled less than full time, full year reported working full time at some time during their enrollment.
• Undergraduates who attended private, for-profit institutions were much less likely to work while enrolled (61 percent) than were undergraduates attending either public or private, not-for-profit institutions (78 percent and 77 percent, respectively, worked while enrolled).
• Undergraduates who worked while enrolled were employed for most of their enrollment (i.e., worked an average of 85 percent of the time they were enrolled). Full-time, full-year undergraduates worked about 74 percent of the time they were enrolled, while part-time and/or part-year undergraduates worked 90 percent of the time they were enrolled.
• Most undergraduates reported holding jobs in the areas of administrative support (23 percent), service occupations (21 percent), blue collar occupations (15 percent), or marketing, which includes sales clerks (14 percent). About 10 percent reported working as executives or managers, while about 8 percent reported having jobs as technicians. The remaining undergraduates worked in professional/technical occupations (5 percent) or education (3 percent).

Few differences were found in employment status among various undergraduate characteristics. There were, however, some gender, racial–ethnic group, and age differences.

• Women were somewhat less likely to work full time while enrolled than were men; overall, 47 percent of men worked full time, compared with 35 percent of women.
• Asian undergraduates were somewhat less likely to work while enrolled than were either Hispanic or non-Hispanic white undergraduates (67 percent, compared with 76 percent of Hispanic undergraduates and 79 percent of white undergraduates).
• Older undergraduates (24 or older) were more likely to work full time than were those who were younger.

A number of financial aid indicators were examined in relation to undergraduate employment, including receipt of any financial aid, amount of financial aid received, education costs after subtracting grant aid (net cost), and borrowing.

• While the receipt of financial aid had little influence on whether or not undergraduates worked (about four-fifths of recipients and nonrecipients worked while enrolled), it was associated with working intensity: aid recipients were less likely to work full time than were nonrecipients.
• Undergraduates who received higher amounts of financial aid were less likely to work full time than were undergraduates who received less aid. For example, 53 percent of aid recipients who received less than $1,000 worked full time, compared with 23 percent who received $5,000 or more.
• As their net costs increased, undergraduates were more likely to work and work full time than were undergraduates with lower costs. For example, among undergraduates whose net costs were less than $1,000, 26 percent worked full time, compared with 39 percent of undergraduates whose net costs ranged from $3,000 to $5,999.
• Among financial aid recipients whose financial need exceeded their grant aid and expected family contribution (EFC), those who borrowed were less likely to work full time than were nonborrowers.

• Among full-time, full-year undergraduates, those working only 1–15 hours per week while enrolled were more likely to have high GPAs (3.5 or higher) than were their counterparts who worked more hours.
• Among undergraduates who initially enrolled full time, the more hours they worked, the more likely they were to drop to less than full-time enrollment or to stop attending.

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For more information about the content of this report, contact Andrew Malizio at Andrew.Malizio@ed.gov.