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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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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 …show more content…

Negative impacts were found for study and work conflict and having more than 21 hours of class contact per week.1 No significant effect was found for hours in paid employment. However in a separate regression a significant negative effect of hours of employment on average grades was identified for students entering university directly from school. In another Australian study conducted in 1998 at the University of Sydney, Jarkey and Dalziel (2000) surveyed 300 Asian language students. They considered the influence of non-academic commitments (paid employment, family responsibilities and voluntary work) on academic results and found no statistically significant correlation. There have been a number of studies in the UK investigating the implications of the increasing rate of employment among undergraduates for their experiences at university. In a study of 2,054 full-time and 747 part-time students in 1998/99, Callender and Kemp (2000) found that 60 per cent of full-time students were working during the academic year. Although the study did not directly examine the impacts on academic performance, the results indicate that financial difficulties hindered some students from fully participating in university life. Metcalf’s (2003) study of 782 students in four universities showed similar results but she did not test for the impact on final grades.

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