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The Impact of Paid Work on the Academic Performance of Students: a Case Study from the University of Canberra

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The Impact of Paid Work on the Academic Performance of Students: a Case Study from the University of Canberra
ISSN 1329-2676

THE IMPACT OF PAID WORK ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA*

by Craig Applegate and Anne Daly Division of Business, Law and Information Sciences University of Canberra

* The research reported in this paper was approved by the Human Ethics Committee at the University of Canberra. We also discussed the project with the Student Association and Student Administration at the University. We would like to thank Tim Bradley, Mandy Yap and especially Rebecca Cassells for their excellent research assistance. We would also like to thank Diane Adams, Paula Higgins, Coralie McCormack, David Sneddon, Gerald Tarrant, Adam Verwey, Margaret Wallace and an anonymous referee for their comments and assistance on the project. The paper has benefited from comments following presentations at the University of Canberra, a Conference on Teaching Economics in Auckland New Zealand, the annual Conference of Economists held in Canberra and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in London. .

CLMR DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES 05/1 the Centre for Labour Market Research, The University of Western Australia, Crawley WA 6009 Tel: (08) 6488 8672 Fax: (08) 6488 8671 email: pmadden@biz.uwa.edu.au http://www.clmr.ecel.uwa.edu.au

The Centre wishes to acknowledge the support of The Western Australian Department of Education and Training

Abstract This paper uses data collected from a survey of students at the University of Canberra to test the effects of paid employment on the average grade obtained in second semester 2002. The results show that students that do well at school also tend to do well at university and that private study improves grades. Missing classes had a negative effect on grades. Paid employment did not have a large effect on grades. Our results show that some paid employment improves grades slightly but working more than 22 hours per week has a negative effect.

Growing numbers of



References: Becker, G. (1974) Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, NBER, New York, 2nd edition. Callendar, C. and Kemp, M. (2000) Changing Student Finances: Income, expenditure and the take-up of student loans among full- and part-time higher education students in 1998/99, Department of Education and Employment, Research Report RR213, HMSO, London. Daly, A., Fleming D. and Lewis, P. (2003) Investing in a Legal Education: the private rate of return to a law degree, Centre for Labour Market Research Discussion Paper, 03/1. Hunt, A., Lincoln, I. and Walker, A. (2004) ‘Term-time Employment and Academic Attainment: evidence form a large-scale survey of Undergraduates at Northumbria University’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(1). Jarkey, N. and Noble, C. (2000) ‘Too busy to learn?’ Synergy, Institute for Teaching and Learning University of Sydney, 14, 2-4. Lewis, P., Daly, A. and Fleming, D. (2004) ‘Why study Economics? The private rate of return to an Economics degree’, Economic Papers, 23(3), 234-243. Long, M. and Hayden, M (2001) Paying their way, a survey of Australian undergraduate university student finances, 2000, Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee. McInnes, C., James, R. and Hartley, R. (2000) Trends in the First Year Experience, Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra. McInnes, C. (2001) Signs of Disengagement? The Changing Undergraduate Experience in Australian Universities, Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville,,mimeo. McInnes, C. and Hartley, R. (2002) Managing Study and Work, available on the DEST web site at www.dest.gov.au Metcalf, H. (2003) ‘Increasing inequality in higher education: the role of term-time working’ Oxford Review of Education, 29(3). Winn, S. (2002) ‘Student motivation: a socio-economic perspective’, Studies in Higher Education, 27(4). 12

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