Students may work excessive hours to pay their living expenses and to avoid taking large student loans that may prove to be difficult or impossible to repay after graduation. Some students are fine with the temporary increase in production that working while in college demands, while others find maintaining their GPA difficult or impossible. Finding time to meet with a college professor or adviser can be challenging, as the schedules of working college students allow little free time.
Employed college students often go to school during the day and work in the evening. Work hampers their ability to make connections at a time in their lives when they want and need to be out interacting with and getting to know new people. Joining campus clubs, associations, fraternities, sororities and other groups may be limited or out of the question due to time restraints from work. Even finding time to form a study group with students in class can be extremely difficult.
During the mid-1990s, the federal government began asking students across the country detailed questions about their employment. These questions included the number of hours worked per week, the number of credits taken each semester, type of employment and majors. According to these data collections from the U.S. Department of Education, students often see a decline in their GPA if they work more than part-time, in comparison to their non-working peers. Students are less likely to complete their degree if they work more than 15 to 20 hours per week. Restriction of the number of classes they could take and limited class choices due to work schedules were cited as negative effects of working.
Most full-time students working more than 20 hours per week do not have the luxury of completing their schoolwork on the job. One of the negative effects of working and studying is plain exhaustion from the routine of being constantly on the go. The less sleep college students get, the more likely anxiety and stress heighten as they try to keep up with their jammed-packed schedules.