research paper for working students

Accessing the phenomenon of incompatibility in working students’ experience of university life

• Original Paper
• Open access
• Published: 14 October 2022
• Volume 28 , pages 241–264, ( 2022 )

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• Vladislav H. Grozev   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4418-7594 1 &
• Matthew J. Easterbrook 1  

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University students in paid employment have less time for studying, report more stress, and participate in fewer extracurricular activities than non-employed students. These negative outcomes that result from combining work and study can cause employed students to experience the domains of work, study, and social life as practically incompatible, but also to experience a sense of identity incompatibility. Therefore, we used insights from previous quantitative and qualitative data on employed students and previous work on identity incompatibility to generate two research questions (RQs): RQ1. What type(s) of incompatibility (practical, identity or other) do employed students experience? and RQ2. What strategies have they adopted to reduce the experienced incompatibility? In order to answer these questions, we performed a thematic analysis with a deductive approach on transcripts from 21 UK university students who we interviewed. The students reported two types of incompatibilities: practical incompatibility, which stems from the lack of time, lack of energy, and lack of social contact associated with combining work and study; and identity incompatibility, which emanates from status differences and differences between one’s own and others’ perception of oneself. In order to reduce or resolve these incompatibilities, the students also developed practical (e.g. taking paid leave) and cognitive (e.g. compartmentalising contexts) strategies. Finally, the students also noted how the experience of practical incompatibility can reaffirm their values of hard work and productivity and make them resilient learners.

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Research conducted in the last three decades has revealed gradual increments in the number of university students in the UK who engage in part-time employment during their studies (Curtis & Shani, 2002 ; Endsleigh, 2015 ; Eurostat, 2016 ; Lucas, 1997 ; Sorensen & Winn, 1993 ). Recently, a large representative survey noted that over 54% of students in higher education in the UK are combining working and studying (Quintini, 2015 ). This number partly reflects the financial costs of going to university in the UK. On average, UK students spend £810 per month (or £9,720 per year; National Student Money Survey, 2021 ) on maintenance costs (including rent, food and transport), although this amount varies with the location of their university. To help with these costs and encourage individuals to attend higher educational institutions, the UK government subsidises students through repayable maintenance loans, the amount of which is based on their family’s annual income: students from families in the lowest-income bracket receive £9,250 Footnote 1 per year while students from families in the highest-income bracket receive £4,422 per year (“Living costs for full-time students”, 2022). While students perceive the loans as helpful, they also consider them to be insufficient to enable them to live comfortably at university (Moreau & Leathwood, 2006 ). Additionally, students who worry about their current financial situation and future debt are more likely to show negative mental and physical health outcomes (Jessop et al., 2005 ). It comes as no surprise, then, that the number of students in the UK who work during their studies in order to supplement their monthly income is increasing.

In comparison to non-employed students, students who combine working and studying experience both positive and negative outcomes. These benefits and detriments of employment act in concert with each other and, respectively, either help or hinder important academic and health outcomes for employed students. Indeed, the presence of beneficial on-the-job factors such as perceived job control (the degree to which one has control over how one does one’s own work tasks), congruence between one’s job and one’s studies, and the presence of social support have been associated with increases in university study satisfaction and academic performance (Butler, 2007 ; Cinamon, 2016 ), life satisfaction and academic planning (Cinamon, 2016 ), engagement and well-being (Creed et al., 2015 ; Derous & Ryan, 2008 ), and mental health (Park & Sprung, 2013 ). Employed students have noted other long-term positives such as improved interpersonal skills, better time management, a boost in confidence and an increased social circle (Curtis, 2007 ). Upon graduation, students who were employed during their studies are also considered highly employable (Evans et al., 2015 ; Geel & Backes-Gellner, 2012 ), often more so than students who have never been employed. Thus, commencing employment can have positive consequences for students’ academic, social and health outcomes, as well as serve students favourably in the job market upon graduation. In addition to short-term financial relief, being employed can be of benefit to how students perceive themselves and thus contribute to personal growth.

Nonetheless, employed students also experience adverse outcomes that act to the detriment of their immediate university experience. On the job factors, such as working longer hours and having more demands are associated with lower academic performance (Butler, 2007 ) and increases in depression (Cinamon, 2016 ). Working can also impact social and academic integration at university; compared to unemployed students, employed students spend less time on campus (Rubin & Wright, 2015 ), participate in fewer extracurricular activities organized by the university (Kuh et al., 2007 ), report skipping lectures and classes more often (Curtis, 2007 ; Savoca, 2016 ), and are more likely to submit compulsory coursework late (Robotham, 2009 ). Combining working and studying can also impact the way students learn – employed students report increases in extrinsic motivation over time (Huie et al., 2014 ) and an increased usage of surface approaches to learning (Tuononen et al., 2016 ). Altogether, combining working and studying can have, under certain circumstances, both beneficial and disadvantageous outcomes for employed students.

Nonetheless, in the present research we move beyond depicting the consequences of combining working and studying for employed students to focus on how employed students experience these consequences. To do this, we adopt a student-centric approach (Cameron, 1999 ) in which we explore this matter from the perspective of the students, through their own voice and as it stems from their own experience.

Previous research into employed students’ experiences (Broadbridge & Swanson, 2006 ; Watts & Pickering, 2000 ) has suggested that they feel that they are straddling two often competing identities – that of a student and that of a worker. For example, students in Smith & Taylor ( 1999 ) noted that they either have to work unsociable hours or else risk their employment timetable clashing with their scheduled university lectures or seminars. Furthermore, students in Watts and Pickering’s study (2000) suggested that university staff were intolerant of students undertaking part-time employment and that employers wanted students to work overtime in spite of their academic commitments. Thus, the practical demands of these two identities are often conflicting, which can cause negative outcomes, as described above. This suggests that employed students largely experience work and university as two competing and potentially incompatible life domains. In the present research, we broadly define incompatibility as the long-term presence of competing demands on any individual from two or more important domains of life. We deem incompatibility as distinct from an instance of conflict because conflict refers to an often transitory instance of competing demands, whereas we consider incompatibility as a chronic and long-term lack of compatibility between two domains of life.

We posit that students’ experience of the (in)compatibility of these three domains – work, study, and social life – is an important consequence of the competing demands of these three life domains described above and is associated with important academic, social and health outcomes for university students. In the next section, we will outline previous work on practical and identity incompatibility, both of which can lead to deleterious academic and social outcomes for employed students. In the subsequent section, we will discuss some of the strategies employed students may use to reduce or resolve practical and identity-based incompatibilities and thus facilitate their own adaptation into university life.

Types of incompatibilies between work and study

One obvious practical consequence of working while studying is the strain that work puts on the student’s studying time (Broadbridge & Swanson, 2006 ; Silver & Silver, 1997 ; Winn & Stevenson, 1997 ). Indeed, the time trade-off hypothesis (Safron et al., 2001 ) postulates that work takes away from the time students have to complete their university work and results in lower academic achievement (Clemmensen & Harder, 2015 ; McGregor, 2015 ). Previous research in UK higher education has indeed found differences between employed and non-employed students in terms of academic achievement, which favours non-employed students (Callender, 2008 ; Curtis & Shani, 2002 ; Metcalf, 2003 ; NUS, 1999). Working while studying has also been previously associated with inadequate sleeping patterns and lack of energy (Teixeira et al., 2012 ), and increases in tiredness (Savoca, 2016 ), tardiness (Robotham, 2009 ), and stress (Bradley, 2006 ; Holmes, 2008 ). Thus, working and studying may be experienced by students as incompatible with each other in a practical sense because one simply takes time and energy away from the other.

In addition to practical incompatibilities, there are also identity incompatibilities that can influence how students incorporate work and studying into their lives. In the present research, we use the concept of social identity that stems from the Social Identity Approach (Tajfel & Turner, 1979 ; Turner et al., 1987 ). Social identification occurs when an individual belongs to a meaningful group and the resulting identity becomes a part of the overarching self-concept. In the present research, individuals who self-categorise themselves as belonging to the category of worker and the category of student will hold social identities that reflect these category memberships, their values, and their norms (Ashforth et al., 2000 ; Haslam & Ellemers, 2005 ; Obst & White, 2007 ). However, if these two social identities are perceived by students as being incompatible with one another - in terms of the norms or values of the two identities - then the student may experience identity incompatibility (De Vreeze et al., 2018 ).

Related previous research has shown that students from lower socio-economic backgrounds in higher education in the UK and Belgium experience identity incompatibility between their identities tied to their lower socio-economic background and the identity of a university student (Iyer et al., 2009 ; Jetten et al., 2008 ; Veldman et al., 2019 ). To illustrate this, previous research has suggested that some university students come from communities where young people do not traditionally go to university, and/or going to university is frowned upon (Aries & Sadler, 2005 ; Bufton 2003 ; Reay et al., 2010 ). Participants in these studies experienced conflict between their social backgrounds and their new identity as a university student, driven by the clash in normative behaviours expected by their family and friends and those that are normative for university students. An increased sense of incompatibility was associated with poorer academic performance (Veldman et al., 2019 ), less integration, and poorer wellbeing at university (Iyer et al., 2009 ), and with intentions to apply to lower ranked UK universities (even while accounting for their grades; Nieuwenhuis et al., 2019 ).

Although these findings show that incompatibility between one’s identity tied to one’s social class background and the identity of being a university student is associated with poorer academic outcomes, no research has investigated whether employed students experience the identities of being employed and being a student as incompatible. Nevertheless, scholars have found that employed students limit their participation in social activities in order to save time for studying, and mentioned that paid work limits their involvement in social activities with non-employed students and causes them to feel isolated from their peers (Cheng & Alcantara, 2007 ; Humphrey 2001 ; Moreau & Leathwood, 2006 ; Outerbridge, 2016 ). Therefore, we posit that students will experience their student and worker identities as incompatible because students perceive being employed while studying as non-normative with what students at large do. If this is indeed the case, then it is possible that any practical incompatibilities associated with lack of time and energy experienced by the students can also result in increases in identity incompatibility. As such, the current work will explore whether employed students’ experience their identities as students and workers as incompatible and any subsequent implications of identity incompatibility.

Strategies to resolve experienced incompatibilities

It may be, then, that employed students experience a sense of practical incompatibility between being employed and studying, and/or a sense of identity incompatibility because of contrasting norms and values of their two social identities. If employed students do experience any of these types of incompatibilities, do they adopt any strategies to reduce or remove the incompatibility?

Research suggests that employed students seek employment and change their jobs in pursuit of advantageous work-related practical factors - such as work flexibility (Tannock & Fields, 2003 ), preferred duration of work (Robotham, 2012 ) and rate of pay (Lucas & Lammont, 1998 ). Achieving such benefits from employment constitutes an active strategy to reduce or exasperate experiencing practical incompatibility. Similarly, students seek jobs that will allow them some amount of control on the job (Outerbridge, 2016 ), to be able to relate their job to their studies (Curtis, 2007 ) and to receive social support at the workplace from colleagues (Koeske & Koeske, 1989 ). These important factors facilitate the combination of working and studying (Butler, 2007 ) and their pursuit allows students to reduce the experienced incompatibility between the domains of work and study. Yet, there may be more cognitive strategies that students adopt, which are specifically aimed at reducing identity incompatibility.

One way that students may cognitively reduce incompatibilities is by compartmentalising their worker and student identities so that they do not come into conflict with each other (Amiot et al., 2015 ). One theoretical framework that investigates the integration of two potentially incompatible identities is the bicultural identity integration model (Cheng et al., 2014 ). The model suggests that one way that bicultural individuals can cope with holding two often-incompatible cultural identities is to switch their identity and subsequent behaviour depending on the cultural context. Even though the model was not devised with employed students in mind, it has been applied to social class identities within higher education (Herrmann & Varnum, 2018 ), and we suggest that it might also apply to employed students who may be willing to only activate their student or worker identity when they are in the appropriate context. As practical and identity incompatibilities stem from lack of resources and/or tension between being a worker and being a student, the ability to set cognitive boundaries based on contextual cues between the two identities can help employed students. This, in turn, helps them to enact the behaviour that is relevant and complementary to the contextual cues and reduce the incompatibility that they experience. This cultural frame switching or compartmentalisation (Amiot et al., 2015 ) is one cognitive strategy that employed students may use to cope with conflicting or incompatible identities. Yet, we do not know whether employed students adopt this strategy, or whether this is the only cognitive strategy that employed students use to reduce or resolve incompatibilities. Therefore, for the second aim of this paper, we explore whether students adopt strategies to help them cope with potential incompatibilities between being a worker and a student, and, if so, what they are.

The present study

The present study explores whether employed students experience different types of incompatibilities between their work, their studies and their social life, and any strategies that they use to reduce or resolve such incompatibilities. To do this, we interviewed 21 employed students and then conducted a thematic analysis with a deductive approach.

Participants

Twenty-one (20 currently employed, 1 previously employed) students from a university in the South of England (6 men and 15 women, aged 18–25 years; 20 undergraduates and 1 postgraduate) were interviewed by the first author. Sixteen of the participants were Psychology students, two studied Neuroscience, two studied Physics and one participant studied International Relations. All participants bar one were unacquainted with the interviewer.

Data collection for this project took place between December 2018 and March 2019. We recruited participants through flyers situated at different places across the University. The university itself is a research-intensive university, which places increased academic demands on undergraduate students (Boliver, 2015 ). However, recent statistics indicate that around 40% of undergraduate students are employed as they are studying at the university ( Grozev & Easterbrook ( 2018 )). Additionally, the University is situated in an area of the South of England with above average living costs for students in comparison to other areas in the UK. Thus, we chose to interview students only from this institution as it represents a challenging and dynamic context where students are increasingly combining working and studying due to increasing living costs but also have high academic demands placed on them by the University. At the same time, the higher costs of maintenance associated with living at the particular location might have inflated the degree of economic necessity our students have reported, which in turn could have affected the degree of incompatibility between the domains of work, study and social life that they have felt. Accordingly, the research reported here represents a case study of one university with particular characteristics and circumstances.

The semi-structured interviews took place in experimental cubicles. At the beginning of the interview, we gave the participants an information sheet stating that the aim of the study was to discuss their experiences as employed students with the goal of improving the employed students’ overall university experience. We then presented the participants with a consent form outlining their right to withdraw their data at any stage before the publication of results and assured them of the anonymity of their data (protected by a participant number). The interviews then took place ( M  = 42.45 min, SD  = 9.07 min). The interview schedule (Appendix A) consisted of six clusters of topics: Demographic questions, pre-university employment, current employment, working and studying, working and social life, and studying and social life. At the end of the interview, we gave participants the option to freely state their opinion about anything that they deemed might be interesting for the aims of the study. Following the completion of the interview, the interviewer answered any questions posed by participants and then verbally debriefed them about the purposes of the study. After this, we asked the participants to sign a copy of the original consent form to restate their consent to participate. Participants had a choice between obtaining £10 or four course credits for participation. They were then thanked and dismissed. Ethical approval for this study was granted by the Ethics Committee at the hosting institution.

Analytical approach

The analysis approach of this study was a reflexive thematic analysis (TA) adopting a deductive approach (Braun & Clarke, 2020 ). The focus in reflexive TA is on the role of the researchers as interpreters of the data generated from the participants’ accounts. In comparison to other methods of doing TA (e.g., Boyatzis 1998 ), reflexive TA does not aim to minimise the researchers’ position as a source of uncontained bias, but rather to use the researcher’s position and their theoretical knowledge as resources to interpret the data. Therefore, the aim of this study was to offer themes, which were analysed using our theoretical underpinnings of incompatibility and associated strategies to reduce it, as outlined above. Nonetheless, we did not want to be constrained by our pre-existing knowledge and allowed ourselves to seek new themes within the data. We do not claim to have exhausted the possible incompatibilities or associated strategies that students may experience. Thus, our approach allowed us to utilise our knowledge of prior literature and relevant theory to scrutinise the interview transcripts, but also allowed us to be flexible so that we could be vigilant about any other types of incompatibilities or strategies that students experience.

Using reflexive TA necessitates us to discuss our roles in the analytical process. To aid the validity of interpretation, it is crucial that the researchers are self-reflexive of their involvement with the collected data and research question (Braun & Clarke, 2020 ; Elliot et al., 1999 ). The first author is himself an employed student, thereby possessing an ‘insider’ perspective into the data. This has allowed him to express empathy and understanding towards the interviewees yet may have narrowed the scope of interpretation (Stiles, 1993 ). Contrastingly, the second author is a university faculty member and offers an ‘outsider’ perspective that allows the interpretation of the data to be validated through inter-judge consensus (Packer & Addison, 1989 ).

The first author conducted the interviews, completed the transcriptions, and analysed the interviews. The second author analysed 15% of the transcripts, which allowed us to discuss where our perspectives converge and diverge. The first author conducted coding and analysis at this stage. Initially, all transcripts were coded freely – the codes at this stage did not necessarily refer to experienced incompatibilities or strategies. This allowed us to consider novel themes as presented in the data. At this point, we considered the inclusion of the positive aspects of work that employed students suggested helped their adaptation to university life. However, we opted against including these for two reasons: Firstly, we felt that the positive aspects that students discussed were already captured by previous literature (i.e., they were not novel), and secondly, the benefits accrued from work had little bearing on students’ experience of practical and/or identity incompatibility. As we placed the focus of the present investigation strictly on students’ experiences of incompatibility, we deemed the inclusion of the benefits accrued from employment as tangential to this work and chose to highlight the students’ deliberate strategies to reduce or resolve incompatibilities instead. Therefore, we recoded the interviews to refer explicitly to our research questions. We identified codes that referred to experienced incompatibilities and strategies to reduce them. Upon author consensus, we checked the extracted codes for content validity against the textual evidence. Finally, we organized these extracted codes into two overarching themes: practical and identity incompatibilities and strategies to reduce or resolve the experienced incompatibilities. We discuss these themes next.

Results and discussion

The overarching themes (practical and identity incompatibilities and associated strategies to reduce or resolve them) represent interconnected facets of the lived experience of employed students. First, we outline why students experience the domains of work, study and social life in terms of practical and identity incompatibility. Second, we outline the strategies that students have developed or used to mitigate the impact of those incompatibilities. At the end, we discuss the experience of those students who have a great necessity for employment and for whom some of the strategies outlined may not be applicable.

Incompatibilities between Working and studying and working and Social Life

Practical incompatibility between work and study.

The students in our sample revealed that work negatively affects subsequent study activities. In Eileen’s experience, the time spent and energy devoted to working deplete her cognitive capacities to do independent learning afterwards Footnote 2 :

If I work a work shift, I start at 9 and finish generally between 3 and 4PM, so it’s not a super long shift, it’s not super strenuous, but I do find it really hard to kind of get back into study for the rest of that day so even though [work] hasn’t taken a whole day I do find it difficult to use the rest of that time effectively. (Eileen, female, 2nd year, waiter/housekeeper)

For Eileen, work does not affect study just due to the hours she is at work (akin to the time-trade off hypothesis; Safron et al., 2001 ), it is also mentally draining and makes her less productive afterwards. In such situations, work has the ability to block an entire day of studying for employed students. Work and study are thus experienced by the student as practically incompatible due to lack of cognitive capacity for further studying.

Moreover, the depletion of cognitive resources and time to complete homework mean that employed students can accumulate stress throughout the term. In Bobby’s experience, stress was accrued via rushed submission of homework:

I just went through a lot of stress and doing things at the very last minute and trying to get it done just before the deadline like coming in and sitting right next to the hand-in and writing it all out and then giving it in like 10 minutes before it was due. I did not have time to do it in advance; I do not get time to do that really. (Bobby, male, 2nd year, customer assistant).

In line with the time trade-off hypothesis (Safron et al., 2001 ), work has taken up Bobby’s time, which he implies is the normal time in which he would have completed his written submission. He experiences the domains of work and study as practically incompatible because work has rendered his ability to prepare his submission in advance impossible, preparing in advance being the implied norm for non-employed students, and he finds the practical incompatibility stressful.

As the quotes above unveil, going to work creates competing demands on multiple aspects of student learning - it depletes students’ time to study and reduces their daily cognitive capacities. The different combinations of these factors meant that every student in our sample experienced the domains of work and study as practically incompatible with each other which can cause stress and potentially has an adverse effect on their quality of written work. This sense of practical incompatibility manifests itself as a choice between the two domains, which students need to make when the demands of both domains are highest. To illustrate this, George discusses the intricate interplay between coursework, academic achievement and work during assessment periods:

If I have uni on one of those days then I wouldn’t want to come in [to work] and do essay writing afterwards because I would not be able to focus properly, but in the night-wise if I have loads of coursework due in, then I feel like I can’t work, which then affects my lack of money status. So, I either have to let my grades drop or I have to have less money. (George, male, 2nd year, retail assistant)

When George has to submit written assignments, the practical incompatibility between studying and working becomes the most salient. At such points, he has to make a conscious choice - tend to his studies at a fiscal cost or allow his academic achievement to deteriorate by focusing on work. Thus, employed students feel particular strain during examination times, yet, despite their studies becoming more intense, they still experience an economic need for employment and are forced to make a choice that affects them either academically or fiscally. Such choices – a lose-lose situation – can ultimately increase employed students’ rates of dropping out from university:

It has been on and off basically, because I was here last year as well, but I just had to just stop my course and just come back this year. (Polly, female, 1st year, retail assistant)

Polly attributes having to stop her course to the practical incompatibility between working and studying:

I would say it was not having that weekend free because I worked the weekends so going from the Friday to the Monday again and not being able to study on Tuesdays. (Polly, female, 1st year, retail assistant)

Polly’s experience demonstrates the challenging situation that many employed students face, as well as the realistic threat that they may feel forced to abandon their studies. Her combination of working and studying meant that she was unable to have any time off due to the practical incompatibility between studying and being employed, which was necessitated by her financial need to work.

In summary, employed students perceive that their combination of working and studying negatively affects their learning and is stressful. These outcomes lead students to experience the domains of work and study as practically incompatible. When the demands of both domains increase, the practical incompatibility forces students to choose between the two incompatible domains. Thus, the experience of practical incompatibility can disadvantage employed students either fiscally or academically, but in extreme cases, such as that of Polly, it can force employed students to drop out of university altogether.

Practical incompatibility between work and Social Life

Moreover, our participants also experienced a practical incompatibility between having to work and participating in social or recreational activities. In line with previous qualitative work on employed students (Savoca, 2016 ; Teixeira et al., 2012 ), our participants reported that the physical and mental toll of employment carries over to their subsequent activities (social life, study). An example of this negative outcome is illustrated by Bobby, who cannot physically commit to an out-of-the-house activity following a shift at work:

I am always on my feet at work - I never get to sit down - so I do like 20k at work, like 20 kilometres of walking then I get home and then I am just, I am dead, so I do not want to go outside. I am tired so once I am in I like laying down, setting the TV or having a drink - I am not going back out to a club. (Bobby, male, 2nd year, customer assistant)

This quote illustrates how work – and the energy required for it - can change the activities that students engage in. Rather than participating in a social activity (going to a nightclub), the student is tired and prefers to enjoy a sedentary one (watching TV). As such, it is important to note that work can have adverse effects on the student experience simply via increased tiredness. For students such as Bobby, engaging in social activities becomes practically incompatible with a long shift at work, even if their schedule allows its combination.

However, oftentimes the practical incompatibility that work creates for students’ social life exists due to clashes in schedule. Thus, if students work, they can afford to participate in social activities with friends but do not have the time to do so. If participants do not work, then they cannot afford to participate in those activities. Eileen describes this practical impasse:

If I work, I cannot go out and do things and if I am not at work I cannot afford to go out and do things. I have to choose between do I do work shifts or do I see my friends. (Eileen, female, 2nd year, waiter/housekeeper)

Akin to the practical incompatibility between work and study, some students are required to work at specific times, in which case their work context impinges on their ability to socialise. As such, a mismatch can arise between the times when one can engage in social activities and the times they are scheduled to work. Experiencing a similar mismatch meant that Anna had to give up on her passion:

So, one example of something I have had to sacrifice for work is I used to, well, I am on the trampoline team, and I was on the committee, but every Sunday we have training from 4 till 6, but work finishes at 4:30, which was also like an hour and a half away, so then that started affecting it. (Anna, female, 2nd year, brand ambassador)

Noticeably, the student is uncertain of their current standing within the trampolining team and attributes this uncertainty to the extent to which work affects her ability to attend practices. Whilst work can fuel other aspects of her social life financially, it can often mean giving up important activities, with extracurricular activities being discarded from their list of imminent priorities (Kuh et al., 2007 ).

In total, akin to its effects on their studies, the inclusion of work into one’s schedule means it can have various impacts on the students’ social life. Whether it is through lack of energy or not being able to fiscally or physically participate in common activities, our students found that work could become practically incompatible with their social life. For the participants in this sample, this practical incompatibility meant that they had to give up on their passions or exchange them for other, more compatible activities.

Identity incompatibility

Our participants also discussed how their job relates to their self-concept. In addition to the practical basis of the incompatibilities described above, students described how the status and meaning conferred by being an employed student related to their own and others’ perception of them. For some students, different statuses were attached to employed and non-employed students. Harriet outlines a clear distinction between the identities attached to students who work and students who did not work:

It was nice not to have to make myself go into work - especially to a job I might not like - and it was nice just to know that the only things I had to focus on was getting my university work done and then just going out and having fun. So it was a good sort of break to just be a normal student and also not having to be like an adult where you have to work. (Harriet, female, 1st year, nursery assistant)

In Harriet’s explanation, a notable contrast exists between being a “normal student” and being an “adult”, employed student. The former is categorised as focusing on one’s coursework and having fun, whereas working is associated with adulthood and incorporating work and financial responsibility into their routine. This contrast also has implications for the students’ perception of themselves. In the quote, Harriet implicitly acknowledges that working gives her lower status than being a member of the ‘normal student’ category as she focused on the associated priorities of studying and having fun. However, when she experienced economic necessity, she included working in her routine, which signalled a shift for her into the category of being a responsible adult and a (non-normal) employed student. This suggests that employed students do experience identity incompatibility because of the different statuses that their different identities imply – it is not traditionally normative for students to work (even though this is rapidly changing) so the transition to working implies a switch to this new identity, which is not compatible with the normative behaviours of non-working students.

Additionally, the need to work can cause differences in how students perceive themselves and how others perceive them. Florence is aware of these differences and understands how her perception of herself differs from the perception that others have of her because she works:

I do not think [Florence’s friends] would specifically say something mean they would just say ‘Yeah, you are a hard-working person’ and that was cool, it was good to hear that because that was something that I thought as well. I did agree that I am a hardworking person but that was not enough for me to be happy with how I am or whether ‘Is that the only thing my friends can say about me?’ kind of thing. (Florence, female, 3rd year, translator and shop assistant)

Florence indicates that others agreed with her own perception of herself as hardworking. However, she is aware that the only characteristic that she is ascribed is borne out of her working experience. Florence claims that her friends see her as ‘just’ hardworking, which she considers incomplete. She experiences identity incompatibility, which is a result of being socially absent to her friends because of her need to work. As such, the restraints of work do not allow employed students to express and enact their various identities to their friends. They experience a conflict between the self they are able to enact and portray to others during the time they have for socialising and the self they know themselves to be. This represents another form of identity incompatibility: between the employed student’s own and others’ perception of their wider self-concept.

In sum, adding work into one’s routine may not only have financial implications for one’s social life - it can also lead to differences in how one perceives oneself in relation to others. Furthermore, in the last two quotes, a common theme emerged - our employed students seemed to consider themselves, their identities, and their perceptions as discrepant from the non-employed student group. These quotes suggest that further research should aim to understand how relations with referent others can relate to the employed students’ own sense of self and the difference in self-categorisation such relations can confer.

Strategies to help reduce or resolve the experienced incompatibilities

As discussed above, our participants noted that they experience practical and identity incompatibilities, which stem from the competing demands of combining employment and studying. (lack of time or energy). To deal with these incompatibilities and thus dampen those negative outcomes, the students adopted different strategies. One strategy to eliminate practical incompatibility was to have a flexible employment pattern (Robotham, 2009 ). In terms of the connection between work and study, Anton discusses how the flexibility of his work helps him to cope with academic stress:

[Work flexibility] definitely helps in terms of the course because I never had to work, because obviously say there was a part of the course that it just got a lot harder, like around deadlines, I would have never had to work during them because I would just choose not to. (Anton, male, Postgraduate Taught, barista)

Being able to choose when and how much one works thus constitutes an active, practical strategy to eliminate the practical incompatibility between work and study. Although students often do not have control over whether their work allows them to be flexible with their working hours, we maintain that students actively seek employment which allows them to work more during non-examination periods and less during examination periods. Utilising the flexibility that their workplaces offer them, Thomas and Eileen similarly change their work-social schedules around their friends’ employment schedules:

A lot of my friends do work part-time, they are friends not from uni, friends in general from college or whatever and they want to do something social, but because they are working they can’t, their hours clash with that and so, I don’t view it in such a negative way, because I guess you can say everyone is in the same boat. Sometimes, if everyone is working and I am the only one free and want to do something social, I might as well be working then because I will be filling out my time. (Thomas, male, 1st year, pharmacy advisor) If I do a little bit more work on the week, I will probably go out the other week and [it] also really, really depends on my friends, if my friends are busy, I will do more work or studying. (Eileen, female, 2nd year, waiter/housekeeper)

These participants note the inherent practical incompatibility between working and socialising, and how their friends’ availability changes whether they prioritise work or socialising. The understanding that others are employed affects their planning of their own social life. Thus, they structure their own schedule and work around their friends’ schedules, which goes some way to alleviating the experienced incompatibility between working and social life.

Most of the students in this sample had fixed weekly shifts, which precluded them from engaging in these strategies. As such, a mismatch can often arise between the times when students can engage in social activities and the times they are scheduled to work. For some of our participants, who had fixed weekly shifts, the strategy of flexible employment and choosing their shifts evolved into taking less paid work all year round:

For my first 2 years - my foundation year and my first year - I worked 14 hours. So, I worked all day Saturday and all day Sunday, but when I came in 2nd year, I reduced my hours to 8 hours because we have a lot of reading. (Monica, female, 2nd year, retail assistant)

Monica acknowledged that a practical incompatibility exists between the demands of studying and work and sought to eliminate it via reducing the length of her work shifts . Yet, this strategy is also only available to those students who have enough economic resources to afford being flexible with their working patterns. Also, this practical strategy is implicitly motivated by consulting one’s priorities - for the student, doing her reading (study) takes precedence over her financial needs (work). Therefore, having (and consulting) one’s hierarchy of priorities represents a cognitive strategy, which reduces the incompatibility between one’s demands of working and demands of studying by directing decisions in favour of the activity given the highest priority. Yet, such a strategy is only available to those who have sufficient financial resources to reduce their working hours.

In relation to the connection between work and social life, having a hierarchy of priorities is also a viable strategy to reduce the experienced practical incompatibility. For our participants, the desire to participate in common activities prompted the need to work, which in turn reduced the viability of joining those activities because of the time demands of work. Which motivation wins out - to work or to socialise - also depends on the students’ priorities, but in a more dynamic way, as alluded to by George when asked about his order of priorities between work and social life:

Work tends to, but if, for example, I have plans to go out on a Saturday and I am not booked in to work, then they would call me and be like ‘Can you work tomorrow?’ then it would depend on what it is - depends on the hierarchy of social activities - so if it’s someone’s birthday, but if it’s like going into town to do something and I need the money, then I will take work. (George, male, 2nd year, retail assistant)

In George’s experience, the priority between attending work and meeting with friends depends on economic necessity and the importance of the occasion. Therefore, we can conclude that, while all students generally prioritised their studies over their employment, the distinction in priorities between work and social life was not as clear and necessitated a more flexible approach in terms of constructing their hierarchy of imminent priorities and thus reducing practical incompatibilities between work and social life.

Thus far, the proposed strategies reflect deliberate strategies (reducing work intensity, having clear priorities) or seeking beneficial work-related factors (having flexibility), which reduce the incompatibility between work and study or work and social life. Nonetheless, these strategies are only viable if students are economically comfortable enough to be able to choose the work shifts that they take and how much they work each week. Thus, it is also important to consider strategies that students have devised whilst combining work and study, and strategies which are useful for students who experience the economic necessity to work. The final set of strategies reflect frameworks that students used to reduce the experienced impact of work on study and social life.

One such strategy to eliminate practical incompatibility is to forcibly leave either domain (work or study) for a specific amount of time. For example, Polly deals with the incompatibility of working and studying outright by using her paid leave from work in light of upcoming examinations:

I have holidays coming up as well - that is another thing that I try to do - I just schedule holidays around exam time so at least it gives me a free week of no work so I can focus on my exams. (Polly, female, 1st year, retail assistant)

Using her paid leave meant that Polly did not have to experience practical incompatibility during the assessment period. However, in cases where being granted paid leave is not applicable, some different strategies involve restructuring the students’ practical approach to studying. Polly integrates her worker and student identities as she uses her work breaks to study:

It can still be quite challenging because I need to be quite aware on maybe the Friday what I need to do for the weekend and what I need to prepare and how I can utilise my time better as well when I am at work so on my breaks [I] just use them as study breaks. (Polly, female, 1st year, retail assistant)

This strategy indicates that the practical incompatibility between work and study can be reduced by adopting a different approach to studying and structuring one’s time. Integrating work and study offers the student the ability to feel productive and counteract the loss of time that work incurs on her schedule. Notably, however, such a strategy does not work for everyone, perhaps due to activating identity incompatibility:

For me, work is work and university is university so when I am at work I don’t want to have to [revise] - occasionally I came to work and I was trying to maybe possibly revise - this was over the summer - for a make-up exam I had to do and a resit. Just thinking about it – a few times I had to do that and I brought my Physics textbook into work to [revise] - it did not work at least for me, it was just too distracting. (Sean, male, 3rd year, call centre worker)

In scenarios where practical strategies do not work, perhaps because students experience identity incompatibilities based on norms at the workplace, cognitive strategies can be developed and utilised. For instance, separation ( compartmentalisation ) allows the student to consider both contexts (work and study) and actively choose to devote their cognitive abilities to the one that should be prioritised in the specific instance. Sean found the incompatible demands of work and study too hard to integrate, and so adopted this strategy of compartmentalisation to reduce the transfer of stress from one domain (study) to the other (work). Stephanie has also used this strategy:

Because when I am at work, I keep so busy that I can’t be stressing about ‘I have got this essay to write and what am I going to write it on, what am I going to do’. It kind of just allows my brain to focus on something completely different that is imminent, so I have to focus on it, I can’t let my brain wonder too much. So it allows my brain to be turned off from psychology for a while, turned off from studying and just work, and when I come back to it later, my brain is refreshed and not so stressed because I have had a break. (Stephanie, female, 2nd year, student ambassador)

This quote represents a shift in one’s current priority. Whilst previous interviewees noted the overwhelming dread of their imminent deadline and how the practical incompatibility between work and study becomes most salient at those times, Stephanie recognises her deadlines yet opts to tend to what is required of her at work. By cognitively separating the domains of work and study, she is able to decrease the negative consequences of incompatibility by utilising her time at work Footnote 3 in order to escape from other responsibilities rather than dwell on them. Compartmentalisation of domains allows her to feel refreshed and tend to her studies later with less stress. Thus, this strategy is similar to the ability of biculturals to switch between their frames of culture (Cheng et al., 2014 ). Allowing contextual cues to guide one’s referent behaviour has allowed employed students to cognitively separate the domains of work and study and, in turn, get a break from their competing demands. While the notion that work provides escapism and a break from university has been discussed before (Lucas & Lammont, 1998 ; Manthei & Gilmore, 2005 ; Robotham, 2013 ; Tam & Morrison, 2005 ), our evidence explicitly suggests that compartmentalisation of domains allows employed students to reduce the transfer of stress between the domains of work and study and help employed students feel mentally refreshed after their shift is over. Monica seconds this:

It’s nice because university is so challenging, it’s nice sometimes obviously to just go into work and because it’s so boring - you are just folding a t-shirt and you don’t have to think - it’s kind of nice that if you are doing it for hours to just shut off completely and not do anything at all and not have to think. (Monica, female, 2nd year, retail assistant)

This student alludes to the role that boredom plays in escapism while at work. Monica contrasts a ‘challenging’ and cognitively demanding university context to a boring and monotonous work context. Because the demands of university are stressful the student uses the monotony of work to escape her study stresses by compartmentalising the domains of work and study and focusing on what is required of her at work. Having a job that is not related to one’s study subject thus helps by limiting the connections that the student is able to make between her work and study, which allows her to have a break from study and reduce her stress levels via escapism. Notably, while the interlinked strategies of escapism and compartmentalisation do not directly reduce the experienced practical incompatibility between work and study, they allow employed students to mitigate the stress that emanates from their increased study demands.

In sum, our students have noted a plethora of practical (reducing length of shifts, using paid leave, integrating studies into work) and cognitive strategies (having clear priorities, compartmentalising contexts, limiting connections between contexts) which help to reduce or resolve the incompatibilities between work and study and work and social life via mitigating some of the negative consequences (stress, lack of social time with friends) associated with combining studying and part-time employment.

Consequences of experiencing economic necessity to work

It should be noted that, unless students do not experience a great economic need to work or have beneficial work conditions (flexible employment, periods of paid leave), then most of the above strategies only reduce rather than remove practical incompatibilities, such that the competing demands of work and study are still present and impact the student negatively. Similarly, the experience of identity incompatibility can make employed students feel different from non-employed students either due to differences in status or because non-employed friends do not know the entirety of their identity. Therefore, it appears that employed students in financial need with fixed weekly shifts may struggle to alleviate their experience of incompatibility.

For some of those students however, the experience of combining work and study can act as a motivating force for their studies. For example, Evan outlines how the experience of work helps him to understand the value of pursuing his degree:

I think that’s quite an important thing to either have taken that time out to have that real-life experience or being in work or known how that feels. It can be very beneficial to university because it shows you what you are doing here. You are putting 15 grand in a year – what is it for – you need to go to your lectures, you need to get your studies done, you cannot just mess around. (Evan, male, 1st year, shop assistant)

Evan subtly notes his own experience of practical incompatibility and discusses how this experience serves him to understand why he is pursuing his degree. Therefore, employed students such as Evan – for whom the values of hard work and productivity are important – can construe work as an affirmation of those core values. Despite work being a source of practical and identity incompatibilities, it can benefit students by reaffirming and reminding them of what their top priority is (their studies) Footnote 4 . Charlotte also acknowledges this and discusses how she is successful in her combination of work and study despite experiencing practical incompatibility:

The fact that I can do both and still do well in both makes me very happy. It makes me very satisfied in myself - and the fact that I have got two jobs, but I can still do well at university is a testament to what I could achieve if I only tried. (Charlotte, female, 2nd year, bar staff and waiter)

Employed students such as Charlotte realise that work is an integral part of their learning experience, often on par with actual learning activities. As such, the presence of practical incompatibilities is acknowledged, yet they pursue their studies in spite of the negative consequences of incompatibility. Thus, the realisation that employment and studying are linked becomes a source of resilience for employed students and can enhance their motivation levels for learning.

Altogether, some students who are in financial need to work can find that experiencing incompatibility is omnipresent. For some of these students, combining work and study served as an affirmation of their values of hard work and productivity, and, despite experiencing practical or identity incompatibilities, made them resilient learners.

The present paper explored the experience of students who work while they study at university, with a focus on any practical and/or identity incompatibilities that the students reported between the domains of work and study, and work and social life, and any strategies they used to reduce or resolve these incompatibilities. Students experienced competing demands of combining work and study – such as reduction of cognitive capacities and lack of time – which caused them to experience the domains of work and study as practically incompatible. The experience of practical incompatibility adversely affected their ability to submit written work on time, was stressful, and, in extreme cases, caused them to drop out of university. Similarly, the negative outcomes of combining work and social life – such as tiredness and having no time to see friends - caused employed students to experience the domains of work and social life as practically incompatible. This experience caused students to switch to recreational activities or abandon their hobbies for work.

The present paper also offers initial evidence that the identities of worker and a student are experienced as incompatible. We found that students experience commencing employment as a transition to adulthood, with the associated priorities of making money and responsibility rather than having fun – for them these two identities are incompatible in terms of the status that they confer to them. This delineation of identities has also caused some of our participants to experience who they are as incompatible with others’ overriding perception of them as simply a worker. Thus, experiencing identity incompatibility can make employed students feel different and distant from non-employed students, which could have a negative impact on their adaptation into university life.

We should note that we do not aim to suggest that the incompatibilities discussed are omnipresent. In fact, Florence discussed how she experienced practical and identity incompatibility in her first year at university but the strategies she developed enabled her to reduce the experienced incompatibilities by her third year (time of interview). As such, whilst our design allowed us to discuss students’ experienced incompatibilities retroactively, it did not allow us to check how changes in context (academic progression, changing employment) affect students’ experience of incompatibility. Therefore, future research should incorporate a second interview that will help to discuss changes in experienced incompatibilities and note at what point students develop strategies to offset them.

Indeed, the experience of practical and identity incompatibility has prompted our students to develop strategies to combat those incompatibilities. We divided those strategies into practical strategies - which included reducing work intensity, using paid leave and integrating studies into work - and cognitive strategies, which included having clear priorities, compartmentalising contexts and limiting the connections between the work and study contexts. These strategies aim to resolve the experienced incompatibilities, or, in the case of compartmentalisation, allow the student to reduce the transfer of stress between the domains of work and study. When these strategies are not available due to students’ pressing need to earn money, the experience of working alongside studying can help to reaffirm students’ commitment to their studies and make them resilient learners.

Indeed, the above point relates to a direction for future research; exploring in detail the positive consequences of working while studying. The positive consequences of employment were not directly related to students’ experiences of identity or practical incompatibility, so we opted against including them here. Although other research has focused on these positive benefits (Cheng & Alcantara, 2007 ; Curtis 2007 ; Robotham, 2013 ), future research would benefit from a clear and explicit focus on any potential positive aspects of employment on students’ sense of identity and practical incompatibility.

Overall, in this paper we have identified the practical and identity incompatibilities that university students experience when they combine work and study and the strategies the students in our sample have used to reduce said incompatibilities. We hope that this work will inspire future research efforts into this under researched population and build on the knowledge accrued. Additionally, the strategies developed by students can be used for work recruitment purposes or to help aid the transition of employed students into university life via university career advisory centres.

Data Availability

Not applicable.

Code Availability

Note that these figures represent the amount of loan that students get if they live away from their parents and outside of London. The figures are correct as of November 2021.

In order to preserve participants’ anonymity, all names were changed.

Which is equal to the time that other interviewees spend working.

Note that all students who were asked explicitly stated that their studies take priority over their employment.

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Appendix A: Interview schedule

Demographic questions.

What is your age?

What is your course of study?

What is your year of study?

Are you a full-time or a part-time student?

Do you have any other responsibilities?

Prompt : Caring for someone? Dependants?

Are you currently undertaking any voluntary work?

Follow-up : What is that like?

Thank you. I want to let you know that at this time we are interested in all of your experiences of combining work and study. With that in mind, I would like to take you back to your school days. Is that okay?

Conceptions of working.

Did you work when you were attending school?

Follow-up : During sixth form or college?

Was it normal for students like you to work whilst at school?

At that time, did you expect to work when you attended university?

Follow-up : Did your parents expect you to work when you attend university?

All right. Now, that you are at university I would like to ask you some questions about your current employment. Is that okay?

Current employment

What is your place of employment?

Follow-up : Is it on-campus or off-campus?

For how long have you been employed at your current place of employment?

Do you have multiple jobs?

What is the structure of your employment?

Follow-up : Specific shifts? Specific days? On rota?

How economically necessary is it for you to be employed?

Are you a first-generation scholar?

Prompts : Has anyone in your family ever attended university? Would you say you grew up in a middle-class community? Were you on free school meals?

In your experience, is it normal for university students to combine work and study?

Prompts : Why do most people work? Does that vary by people’s background? Do you think it’s normal at all universities, or does it vary depending on the university (e.g. post-92 old polys, Russell grp, Oxbridge, etc.). How people at work/uni react to hearing about your other activity?

A ‘working’ identity vs? a ‘scholar’ identity

How do you combine working and studying?

Prompts : Why is it easy (hard)? What aspect makes combining the two easy (hard)?

How do you personally relate working to studying?

Prompts : Does one take priority over the other? Would you prefer a job which is more related to your studies? Would you prefer to be closer/more distant to your work colleagues? Can you talk to your colleagues/study peers about what it is like at uni (work)?

A ‘working’ identity vs? a ‘social student’ identity

How do you combine working and social activities/going out with friends?

How do you relate working to social activities?

Prompts : Does one take priority over the other? Would you prefer a job which is more related to your studies? Would you prefer to be closer/more distant to your work colleagues? Can you talk to your colleagues/friends about what it is like at uni (work)?

A ‘scholar’ identity vs? a ‘social student’ identity

How do you combine studying and social activities/going out with friends?

How do you relate studying to social activities?

Prompts : Does one take priority over the other? Can you talk to your study peers/friends about what it is like at uni (work)? Would you prefer to be more closer/distant to your study peers? Can you talk to your friends about what it is like at uni?

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Grozev, V.H., Easterbrook, M.J. Accessing the phenomenon of incompatibility in working students’ experience of university life. Tert Educ Manag 28 , 241–264 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-022-09096-6

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Accepted : 05 October 2022

Published : 14 October 2022

Issue Date : September 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-022-09096-6

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Recognizing the reality of working college students.

When academically qualified people do not have the financial resources needed to enroll and succeed in college, higher education fails to fulfill the promise of promoting social mobility—and may actually serve to reinforce social inequities. The cost of college attendance is rising faster than family incomes, and increases in federal, state, and institutional grants have been insufficient to meet all students’ demonstrated financial needs. Between 2008–09 and 2017–18, average tuition and fees increased in constant dollars by 36 percent at public four-year institutions and 34 percent at public two-year institutions, while median family income rose by only 8 percent . The maximum federal Pell Grant covered 60 percent of tuition and fees at public four-year institutions in 2018–19, down from 92 percent in 1998–99. Full-time, dependent undergraduate students in the lowest family-income quartile averaged $9,143 in unmet financial need in 2016, up 149 percent (in constant dollars) from $3,665 in 1990.  

Students who do not have sufficient savings, wealth, or access to other financial resources have few options for paying costs that are not covered by grants: they can take on loans, get a job, or do both. While these options pay off for many students, a higher education finance system that requires the use of loans and paid employment disproportionately disadvantages individuals from groups that continue to be underrepresented in and underserved by higher education.            

Growth in student loan debt is well documented. As of the second quarter of 2019, total outstanding student loan debt in the United States exceeded $1.6 trillion and represented the largest source of nonhousing debt for American households. Annual total borrowing among undergraduate and graduate students from federal and nonfederal sources increased 101 percent (by $53 billion) in constant dollars from 1998–99 to 2018–19 .

Many individuals who use loans to pay college costs complete their educational programs, obtain jobs with sufficiently high earnings, and repay their loans. But the implications of borrowing vary across groups and are especially problematic for students who do not complete their degree. The Institute for College Access and Success reports lower loan repayment rates for Pell Grant recipients, first-generation students, and black and Hispanic students as well as for students who attend for-profit institutions. Black students also average higher rates and amounts of federal loans and experience higher default rates .

Like taking on loans, working for pay can have benefits. Paid employment can provide students with money they need to stay enrolled, and it can build human capital and improve labor-market outcomes. An exploratory study by Anne-Marie Nuñez and Vanessa A. Sansone found that first-generation Latinx students developed new relationships, skills, and knowledge through work and experienced satisfaction and enjoyment from working. But working can also have harmful consequences. And, as with loans, the negative implications of paid employment are more commonly experienced by students from underserved and underrepresented groups.

The circumstances of working students today can undermine the mission of higher education for multiple reasons.

1. Many undergraduates are working more than twenty hours per week.

The US Department of Education reported that, in 2017, 43 percent of all full-time undergraduate students and 81 percent of part-time students were employed while enrolled (see table). The proportion of full-time students working for pay was higher in 2017 than in 2010, when 41 percent were employed, but lower than in 2005, when 50 percent worked for pay while enrolled. Employment rates for part-time students follow a similar fluctuating pattern: 86 percent in 2005, 75 percent in 2010, and 81 percent in 2017. In all, more than 11.4 million undergraduate students (58 percent) worked for pay while enrolled in 2017.

2. Working for pay is more common among undergraduates from underserved groups.

The financial need to work while enrolled, with all its negative consequences, disproportionately burdens students from historically underserved groups. While students from all family backgrounds work for pay, students from low-income families are more likely to do so—and, among those who are employed, work more hours on average—than their higher-income peers. The US Department of Education reports that, in 2017, 16 percent of black full-time students and 13 percent of Hispanic full-time students worked at least thirty-five hours per week while enrolled, compared with 9 percent of white full-time students.

Students who are classified as independent for financial aid purposes more commonly work for pay while enrolled than students who are classified as financially dependent (69 percent versus 59 percent in 2015–16, according to our analysis of 2016 NPSAS data). Working undergraduates who are independent also average more hours of work per week than working-dependent undergraduates (33.8 versus 22.1). Among working students, nearly three quarters (71 percent) of those who were also single parents with a dependent child worked thirty or more hours per week in 2016, compared with 50 percent of all working students.

3. Working for pay while enrolled is more common at under-resourced institutions.

The rate of employment and the rate of working more than twenty hours per week are higher among full-time students attending two-year institutions than among those attending four-year institutions. In 2017, 50 percent of full-time students at two-year institutions worked, and 72 percent of these working students worked more than twenty hours per week, according to the US Department of Education . By comparison, 41 percent of full-time students at four-year institutions worked; 60 percent of these students worked at least twenty hours per week.

Two-year institutions, as well as for-profit and less selective four-year institutions , enroll higher shares of students from low-income families. The Center for Community College Student Engagement reported that nearly half (46 percent) of Pell Grant recipients attending public two-year colleges in 2017 worked more than twenty hours per week.

4. Working while enrolled can be harmful to student outcomes.

Working can have costs, as time spent working reduces time available for educational activities. Research has shown that working more than twenty hours per week is associated with lower grades and retention rates. Studies also show that working may slow the rate of credit-hour accumulation, encourage part-time rather than full-time enrollment, and reduce the likelihood of completing a bachelor’s degree within six years. These outcomes lengthen the time to degree, which can increase opportunity and other college costs. Reducing enrollment to less than half time reduces eligibility for federal Pell Grants and other aid. And the need to allocate time to paid employment may create stress, especially for students who are also parents or other caregivers. A disproportionate share of single parents enrolled in college are black and American Indian women.

5. Students from low-income families and other underserved groups are less likely to have jobs that advance career-related knowledge and skills.

While any employment may improve conscientiousness, teamwork, and other occupational skills, not all jobs will advance career-related knowledge and skills . About a quarter (26 percent) of working students under the age of thirty held a job in the food and personal services industries in 2012, according to data in Learning While Earning , a report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce; only 6 percent held managerial positions. In addition to working more hours on average than their higher-income peers, students from lower-income families are also less likely to have paid internships or other positions related to their career goals.

In a 2016 study , Judith Scott-Clayton and Veronica Minaya of Columbia University found that students with on-campus work locations and major- or career-related positions had higher rates of bachelor’s degree completion than students with other employment. Yet students from lower-income families and other underserved groups are less likely to hold on-campus and major-related jobs.           

Ensuring that Work “Works”

Higher rates and intensity of employment among students from underserved backgrounds and those attending under-resourced institutions suggest that employment during college is serving to reinforce inequity in higher education opportunity, experiences, and outcomes. Changes in public policy and institutional practice are needed if higher education is to address these inequities. These efforts should focus on reducing the financial need to work and on minimizing the harm, while maximizing the benefits, of work.

Reducing the Need to Work

Even with current levels of employment, many students are struggling to make ends meet. In the 2015 National Survey of Student Engagement , most seniors at four-year institutions (63 percent) reported being “worried about having enough money” and half (48 percent) reported that they “did not participate in [unspecified] activities due to lack of money.” Reports of financial stress were more common among first-generation, black, and Hispanic students and among students over the age of twenty-four. More than a third (38 percent) of Pell Grant recipients at community colleges who worked more than twenty hours per week reported “running out of money” at least six times in a year, even though 46 percent worked more than twenty hours per week, according to the Center for Community College Student Engagement ; only 22 percent reported having access to cash, credit, or other sources of funds for an “unexpected need.”

The following strategies may help to reduce students’ financial need to work more than twenty hours per week, while still ensuring that they have the financial resources needed to enroll, engage, and persist to degree completion.

1. Reduce unmet financial need.

Federal, state, and local public policy makers can reduce unmet financial need by appropriating more resources to institutions, which can then be used to keep tuition low, and allocate more need-based grant aid. Institutional leaders can reduce unmet financial need by maximizing the availability of need-based grant aid, limiting merit-based grant aid, and controlling costs. Offering additional need-based aid to low-income students has been shown to reduce employment rates and number of hours worked and increase the likelihood of on-time degree completion .

2. Do not penalize students who work for pay in financial aid calculations .

Students should work to cover their own contribution to the Expected Family Contribution, as well as unanticipated costs that arise while enrolled. Student earnings from work should not be viewed as a way to cover costs that are omitted from an institution’s official cost of attendance or for covering unmet need. Working should provide a mechanism for paying unanticipated costs without influencing the availability of resources to pay the costs needed to stay enrolled.

3. Help students make individually appropriate decisions about federal loans and work.

Whether because of risk or loan aversion or because of incomplete or inaccurate information, some students do not use federal loans. Higher rates of loan aversion have been observed among men and Hispanic students . K–12 and higher education counselors and administrators should educate students, especially those from underserved groups, about the costs and benefits of paid employment and different types of loans and discuss how working more than twenty hours per week may increase time to degree, reduce the likelihood of completion, and result in other costs.

4. Ensure that students apply for and receive the need-based grant aid for which they are eligible.

Not all students who are eligible for need-based aid apply for and receive the aid. In 2011–12, in part because of a lack of clear information, approximately 20 percent of all undergraduates , and 16 percent of those with incomes below $30,000 , did not file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), a condition for receiving most federal and state need-based aid. The Institute for College Access and Success reports FAFSA verification may also limit aid receipt and enrollment, especially for low-income students.

Minimizing Harm, Maximizing Benefits

Colleges and universities should also act to minimize the harm and maximize the benefits of working. The following strategies may help.

1. Increase the availability of on-campus and major-related employment.

Institutions should identify on-campus employment opportunities for students that are related to their major field and provide opportunities to build career-related knowledge and skills. Descriptive analyses suggest that academic outcomes are better for students who are employed on campus rather than off campus.

2. Ensure that high-quality academic and other supports are available to working students.

Creating an institutional environment that promotes success for working students requires a campus-wide effort. Observers have recommended that institutions support working students by offering courses in the evenings, on weekends, and online; making available future course schedules; offering access to academic advising, office hours, and other support services at night and on weekends; offering online course registration and virtual academic advising; providing child-care options; and designating space for working students to study. Institutions may also connect employment and educational experiences through career counseling and occupational placement.

3. Recognize differences in employment-related needs and experiences.

Institutions should also recognize differences in the supports needed by different groups of working students, as, for example, the experiences, needs, and goals of working adult part-time students are different from those of working full-time students who are still dependents. The Learning While Earning report recommends that institutions develop collaborations with area employers in order to provide adult working students with “convenient learning options; child care; affordable transportation options; employment partnership agreements; access to healthcare insurance; paid sick, maternity, and paternity leave; financial literacy and wealth building information and retirement and investment options; and tuition assistance.”

Colleges and universities, especially those that enroll high shares of working adults, should also consider mechanisms for awarding credit for work and other prior experiences. These mechanisms include the College Board’s College-Level Examination Program and the American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service.

Employment during college too often contributes to inequity in higher education opportunity, experiences, and outcomes. More can and should be done to ensure that all students—especially students who must work for pay while enrolled—can fully engage in the academic experience, realize the potential benefits of working, and make timely progress to degree completion.

Laura W. Perna is GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education and executive director of the  Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD)  at the University of Pennsylvania. Her recent publications include Improving Research-Based Knowledge of College Promise Programs (2019, with Edward Smith) and Taking It to the Streets: The Role of Scholarship in Advocacy and Advocacy in Scholarship  (2018) . Her email address is [email protected] . Taylor K. Odle is a PhD student in higher education in Penn’s Graduate School of Education and an AM candidate in statistics at the Wharton School. He was previously assistant director for fiscal policy and research at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. His email address is [email protected] .

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John Brennan

Joza Batool

This research is concerned about part-time student performance within higher educational institutions in Pakistan. Part-time students contain a significant share of the student population. In the perspective of working students as part-time studying, there are some significant factors that should be considered seriously to perform well. This research was examined to find the relationship of soft skills (motivation to learn, stress, time management) among part time-students’ performance in south Punjab of Pakistan. Primary data was collected from a sample of 140 part-time enrolled students. Correlation and regression analysis were tested in this research. The result showed that time management was the most significant factor of student performance. Same as stress has significant but negative correlation with student performance. The study concluded that these soft skills have significant importance with the part-time working student performance.

Using a mixed qualitative and quantitative method, this study explored the lived experiences and struggles of 22 on-campus working students of ISAT U-Miagao Campus. This study utilized a researcher-constructed questionnaire and interview in gathering information about their experiences and related variables. Frequency count, percentage, mean, and chi-square were used as statistical tools. Results revealed that financial problem was the main factor that motivated the students to work on-campus. They experienced varied feelings as happiness, sadness, annoyance, and worry. Despite work pressure, working students had good time management both for studies and work, with high self-esteem and good academic performance. The study concluded that participants' dual roles in the college as full time student and worker, do not seem to affect their self-esteem and academic performance, however, there is a need to consider helping these students, especially on their financial needs for them to finish their studies.

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Challenges Encountered By Working Students that Affect their Academic Performance

• Andrea Faye Coral
• Erica Dawn Atillo
• John Jericho Baldoviso
• Ruel Binigay Jr.
• Jesserel Bugtong
• Geovannie Bernales Jr.

A working student is a person who works and goes to school as a student at the same time. Being a working student needs considerable effort not only in his work but also in his studies. Being a working student is extremely hard because they need to give 100% of their attention when they are in school and give 100% of their strength when they work. This research used quantitative research and descriptive method to describe the characteristics of a population being studied. Survey questionnaires were administered to 50Grade 12 Performing Arts students who were chosen through purposive sampling. The survey questionnaire was constructed to determine the challenges encountered by the working students that affect their academic performance. The result of the study showed that in terms of working students, the weighted mean of the respondents was 3.7, which strongly agreed that the financial aspect is the major challenge encountered by working students that affect their academic performance. Meanwhile, the weighted means of the respondents was 3.1, which agreed that time management is a minor challenge encountered by working students that affect their academic performance. The weighted mean of the respondents was 3.25, which agreed that priorities are also a minor challenge encountered by working students that affects their academic performance. The researchers recommended the following in terms of time management. If you are a working student, then you should know how to manage your time. A working student should know how to spend his or her time equally between study and work., plan everything, and do plan strategies. In terms of priorities, there will be a moment that working students have to choose between work and school; working students should know what is more important to prioritize; even if you are tired, you have to push yourself and be determined regarding the things that you need to do. One should prioritize their goal to achieve their dreams. In terms of the financial aspect, working students should save more for future expenses, use their money on things that they need and not on things that they want, know how to budget their money, practice effective strategies to save money.

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How To Do In-Text Citations in MLA Format: A Quick Guide for Students

An in-text citation is a reference to information originating from another source. In-text citations must be used when you summarize, quote, paraphrase or refer to another source within a written document, such as academic literature. 

In-text citations are essential in academic writing. Without them, how would readers verify the information is reliable and accurate? Trustworthy authors include their sources for verifiable information rather than opinions so readers know where the evidence for claims can be explored further.

The Modern Language Association manages MLA style standards with the purpose to “strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature” and standardize how information sources are credited in scholarly writing. Not only does the MLA recommend proper citation format, but it also suggests proper general formatting, including document spacing, margins and font size.

As you begin authoring scholarly works, you’ll find the need to credit sources. Use this quick guide to learn how to do in-text citations in MLA format.

What is MLA format?

How to do in-text citations in mla, how to do a works cited page in mla, common challenges and solutions, tips for effective in-text citations.

MLA citation style is a system for crediting sources in scholarly writing and has been widely used in classrooms, journals and the press since 1931. What began with a three-page style sheet for the MLA’s scholarly journal became a uniform writing style preferred by academics and the editorial media everywhere.

Since its inception, the in-text citation style has changed from a recommended combination of footnotes and in-text citations in MLA format. The 1951 style guide suggested : “If the reference is brief, insert it, within parentheses, in the text itself . . . ; if it is lengthy, put it in a [foot]note.” As technology and society changed, so did the MLA style. In 1995, the document added recommendations for citing CD-ROMs and online databases. In 2016, the MLA published one of the most modern versions of the MLA Handbook , wherein in-text citations in MLA style should now be written according to a template of core elements.

The modern-day components of an in-text citation in MLA format, as of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook , include:

• Author’s name
• Page numbers (if applicable)

These short in-text citations serve as references to a Works Cited list, which should follow a written piece of work and list all sources used in detail.

Authors who correctly use in-text citations in MLA style will prove their credibility, integrity and responsibility to share accurate and reliable information and simultaneously protect themselves from stealing sources and ideas from other writers, also known as plagiarism. Plagiarism is a severe offense , and many institutions have strict rules against the practice .

Now that you understand the importance of citations let’s review how to use in-text citations in MLA style. When referring to another author’s work in your own written text, you must use parenthetical citations, including the source in parentheses within the sentence that refers to the work. 

If a source does not have page numbers, use another numbering system, such as chapters, sections, scenes or articles that are explicitly numbered. If there are no numbered divisions within the work, simply cite the author’s name.

The basic format for in-text citations in MLA writings is as follows:

• The pail of water was at the top of the hill, which Jack and Jill decided to climb (Mother Goose 1) .

If including a direct quote from a source, enclose the entire quote within quotation marks to avoid confusing the reader. The in-text citation should fall outside the quotation marks at the end of the sentence before the sentence’s period. Paraphrased information does not need quotation marks but does need proper in-text citation.

It should be noted that any information included in your in-text citations must refer to the source information on the Works Cited page listed at the end of your document.

If you’re wondering how to list the references on the Works Cited page, the format varies depending on the type, such as a book or a website.

How to cite a book in MLA

• Author last name, first name. Title. Publisher, year.

How to cite an article in MLA

• Author last name, first name. “Article title.” Publication, volume/issue, publication month. Year, page numbers. Database, reference URL.

How to cite a website in MLA

• Author last name, first name. “Title.” Publication, publication month. Year, web page URL.

While constructing your paper, you may encounter a few citation challenges, such as a source with multiple authors or no known author. Though this can be confusing, this is how to use in-text citations in MLA style for challenging situations.

How to cite multiple authors in MLA

To write an in-text citation in MLA format for a source with multiple authors , simply list each author’s last name before the page number. Sources with more than two authors should cite the first author, followed by “et al.” For example:

• 2 authors: (Hall and Oates 1)
• 3+ authors: (Hall et al. 1)

How to cite sources with no author in MLA

Sources with no author must match the first listed element within its Works Cited entry. For example:

• In-text citation: (Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 0:15)
• Works Cited entry: “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.” Spotify . https://open.spotify.com/track/1Zpe8ef70Wx20Bu2mLdXc1?si=7TlgCyj1SYmP6K-uy4isuQ

How to cite indirect or secondary sources in MLA

A secondary source is a publication that provides second-hand information from other researchers. You may use secondary sources in your research, though it’s best practice to search for the primary source that supplied the first-hand information, so cite it directly.

If you don’t have access to the original source, include the original author and the author of the secondary source , with the abbreviation “qtd. in” indicating where you accessed the secondary quote. “Qtd. in” stands for “quoted in.” For example:

• (qtd. in Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 0:15)

Using et al. in MLA citations

As described above, et al. is used instead of listing all names of three or more authors, editors or contributors within your citations. It can also cite collections of essays, stories or poems with three or more contributors. When using et al., you should always use the last name of the first writer listed on the source. For example:

• (Earth et al. “September” 0:15)
• Contributors: Earth, Wind and Fire

The most crucial part of in-text citations in MLA style is to keep a consistent and accurate format within the entire body of work. Always use the same punctuation within the in-text citations and the same formatting for sources of the same type. Ensure that double-checking citations is part of your overall proofreading process. All citations, like the written work, should be precise and error-free.

Various tools exist to help you collect and manage your sources and citations. Popular tools include Zotero , EndNote and RefWorks . These tools can create citations for you and keep track of your research documents so you can reference them again if needed. It’s wise to track your sources as they’re included in your writing rather than compiling and citing them when finished.

More resources for writing in MLA format

For the most up-to-date in-text citation information, refer to the MLA Handbook , which can be found online, in bookstores and libraries. The most recent edition of the MLA Handbook is the 9th edition, published in spring 2021.

The MLA also operates the MLA Handbook Plus , a subscription-based digital platform that offers all of the content included in the print edition, plus annual updates and valuable resources, and can be accessed anywhere, whether you’re traveling, at home or in the classroom.

The MLA Style Center offers free online sources on the official MLA style, including templates, questions and answers and advice.

Furman University offers trained consultants for students on campus to provide one-on-one or small-group assistance for writing projects at the Writing & Media Lab (WML). You can make an appointment with a WML Consultant or stop by the James B. Duke Library in the Center for Academic Success (room 002) for on-demand help (subject to scheduling).

The Writing & Media Lab can help with many tasks related to student writing and multimedia projects, including:

• Brainstorming a paper or project
• Outlining your ideas
• Reading through your writing
• Creating a presentation or poster
• Helping you practice your presentation
• Planning a video or podcast
• Revising, proofreading, or editing

Mastering the art of in-text citations in MLA format will ensure that you, as an academic author, will portray yourself as a serious, responsible and factual writer who uses accurate and reliable sources.

The perspectives and thoughts shared in the Furman Blog belong solely to the author and may not align with the official stance or policies of Furman University. All referenced sources were accurate as of the date of publication.

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Amanda Hoover

Students Are Likely Writing Millions of Papers With AI

Students have submitted more than 22 million papers that may have used generative AI in the past year, new data released by plagiarism detection company Turnitin shows.

A year ago, Turnitin rolled out an AI writing detection tool that was trained on its trove of papers written by students as well as other AI-generated texts. Since then, more than 200 million papers have been reviewed by the detector, predominantly written by high school and college students. Turnitin found that 11 percent may contain AI-written language in 20 percent of its content, with 3 percent of the total papers reviewed getting flagged for having 80 percent or more AI writing. (Turnitin is owned by Advance, which also owns Condé Nast, publisher of WIRED.) Turnitin says its detector has a false positive rate of less than 1 percent when analyzing full documents.

ChatGPT’s launch was met with knee-jerk fears that the English class essay would die . The chatbot can synthesize information and distill it near-instantly—but that doesn’t mean it always gets it right. Generative AI has been known to hallucinate , creating its own facts and citing academic references that don’t actually exist. Generative AI chatbots have also been caught spitting out biased text on gender and race . Despite those flaws, students have used chatbots for research, organizing ideas, and as a ghostwriter . Traces of chatbots have even been found in peer-reviewed, published academic writing .

Teachers understandably want to hold students accountable for using generative AI without permission or disclosure. But that requires a reliable way to prove AI was used in a given assignment. Instructors have tried at times to find their own solutions to detecting AI in writing, using messy, untested methods to enforce rules , and distressing students. Further complicating the issue, some teachers are even using generative AI in their grading processes.

Detecting the use of gen AI is tricky. It’s not as easy as flagging plagiarism, because generated text is still original text. Plus, there’s nuance to how students use gen AI; some may ask chatbots to write their papers for them in large chunks or in full, while others may use the tools as an aid or a brainstorm partner.

Students also aren't tempted by only ChatGPT and similar large language models. So-called word spinners are another type of AI software that rewrites text, and may make it less obvious to a teacher that work was plagiarized or generated by AI. Turnitin’s AI detector has also been updated to detect word spinners, says Annie Chechitelli, the company’s chief product officer. It can also flag work that was rewritten by services like spell checker Grammarly, which now has its own generative AI tool . As familiar software increasingly adds generative AI components, what students can and can’t use becomes more muddled.

Detection tools themselves have a risk of bias. English language learners may be more likely to set them off; a 2023 study found a 61.3 percent false positive rate when evaluating Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exams with seven different AI detectors. The study did not examine Turnitin’s version. The company says it has trained its detector on writing from English language learners as well as native English speakers. A study published in October found that Turnitin was among the most accurate of 16 AI language detectors in a test that had the tool examine undergraduate papers and AI-generated papers.

Matt Burgess

Steven Levy

Schools that use Turnitin had access to the AI detection software for a free pilot period, which ended at the start of this year. Chechitelli says a majority of the service’s clients have opted to purchase the AI detection. But the risks of false positives and bias against English learners have led some universities to ditch the tools for now. Montclair State University in New Jersey announced in November that it would pause use of Turnitin’s AI detector. Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University did the same last summer.

“This is hard. I understand why people want a tool,” says Emily Isaacs, executive director of the Office of Faculty Excellence at Montclair State. But Isaacs says the university is concerned about potentially biased results from AI detectors, as well as the fact that the tools can’t provide confirmation the way they can with plagiarism. Plus, Montclair State doesn’t want to put a blanket ban on AI, which will have some place in academia. With time and more trust in the tools, the policies could change. “It’s not a forever decision, it’s a now decision,” Isaacs says.

Chechitelli says the Turnitin tool shouldn’t be the only consideration in passing or failing a student. Instead, it’s a chance for teachers to start conversations with students that touch on all of the nuance in using generative AI. “People don’t really know where that line should be,” she says.

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BGSU Student Employment Services gains support from the Work+ Collective Institute

Estimated Reading Time:  

Student employees and supervisors will benefit from a stream of new resources through this innovative, design-thinking-centered partnership.

Editor’s Note: This article was guest-written by Amanda Albaugh, a working learner at BGSU and an intern within the Michael and Sara Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections. Amanda is a sophomore majoring in advertising with a minor in digital arts.

New and innovative opportunities have emerged at Bowling Green State University Student Employment Services with the recent acceptance of the student employment team — a group within the Michael and Sara Kuhlin Hub for Career Design and Connections — into the Work+ Collective Institute. The collaboration will develop a vision, commitment and strategy to redesign the working learner experience at BGSU. 

The Work+ Collective Institute is an organization that is revolutionizing what it means to be a working learner — a student who balances gaining an education while earning a paycheck.  

The institute places an emphasis on student satisfaction by integrating design thinking principles into its programs that will benefit BGSU. 

“A student's job on campus is a signature part of their college experience," said Steve Russell, associate vice president of corporate partnerships at BGSU and the executive director of the Kuhlin Hub.

#1 University in Ohio for Student Experience

Innovative engineering degrees, #1 public university in the midwest students would choose again for the fourth consecutive year.

"With BGSU at the forefront of delivering a world-class student experience, this represents the next innovative leap forward and affirms our commitment to providing intentional and inclusive on-campus employment opportunities aligned with Life Design principles.

“We aim to help every student feel like they belong, find purpose as working learners, and gain momentum towards achieving their future career aspirations.”

Working side by side with working learners and supervisors, the University’s student employment team in the Kuhlin Hub helps students prototype employment opportunities that will align with their strengths and interests. 

Students also are provided with easy-to-access tools and resources to guide them down a successful path, even beyond graduation. This helps the student employment team ensure that on-campus employment opportunities will equip students with the necessary experience and skills so they are career-ready once they graduate. 

The goal of the Work+ Collective Institute is to help working learners make the most of their employment so that it is not just another job — it is a valuable experience that gives students the confidence to launch a fulfilling career.  

These ideals and the Work+ Collective Institute were developed by Arizona State University in 2020. Since then, they have been joining forces with student employment teams at universities across the country. 

With help from the Career Design and Connections staff in the Kuhlin Hub, the student employment team at BGSU has been providing countless employment opportunities to help students jump-start their careers.  

As part of the collective, BGSU can create a network with other higher education institutions that have the same goals and aspirations. Together, the universities can encourage one another and share best practices regarding student employment.  

BGSU students will begin seeing these benefits soon.

On April 25, BGSU and the Work+ Collective Institute will co-host a discovery sprint on campus. The purpose of this sprint is to take a closer look at the current student employment culture at BGSU. A series of design-thinking exercises and in-depth discussions with students, supervisors, and faculty will take place throughout the day. Listening to feedback and empathizing with the student body is the crucial first step in reshaping the working learner experience at BGSU.   

News of the University’s acceptance into the Work+ Collective Institute coincided with National Student Employment Week, held April 8-12. Throughout the week, student employees across campus were thanked for their efforts and contributions to the University through activities and events. The 22nd Annual Student Employee Appreciation and Awards banquet was also held to recognize the exceptional achievements of both student employees and supervisors.

Student employees play a vital role at the University and providing them with the necessary support will help them showcase their capabilities and reach their full potential. The working learner experience revolves around the student, which is why fostering a meaningful journey for them is essential, and Student Employment Services’ new collaboration with the Work+ Collective Institute intends to help create the best student employment experience possible at BGSU. 

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Updated: 04/15/2024 04:33PM

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Harward Center

By Dionne Chen '26 . Published on April 21, 2024

Student Reflections on the work of Dr. Davarian Baldwin

This past Fall, the Harward Center hosted a faculty/staff book circle focused on Dr. Davarian Baldwin’s book, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities (2021). Facilitated by Associate Professor of Digital and Computational Studies Anelise Hanson Shrout, the book circle brought twenty faculty and staff together for three lunchtime discussions of the provocative ideas presented in the book. Inspired by these discussions, the Harward Center teamed up with the college’s Office of Equity and Inclusion to host the author at Bates at the end of February. During his visit, Dr. Baldwin gave a public presentation, met with book circle members and other interested faculty and staff, and also made time to meet with students. In this blog post I share reflections on some of the issues raised by Baldwin from a student standpoint. 

In his book and public presentation at Bates, Baldwin discussed how across America, universities have become big businesses—and the cities they are located in are becoming new versions of “company towns.” Universities bring plenty of assets to the communities where they are located, but there is a clear cost to those who live in their shadow. Among the negative impacts of the expanding economic power of colleges and universities is gentrification, as the neighborhoods nearest campus are often bought up for housing and other services aimed at the campus community, resulting in the displacement of current residents. Many universities also have their own policing units and policies, which often lead to profiling and other exclusionary practices for off-campus community members. While most colleges and universities have programs aimed at supporting positive campus-community relationships, Dr. Baldwin noted that many of them prioritize campus-based outcomes, such as student learning or convenient retail options, over community well-being; as such, these programs arguably do more harm than good when it comes to the wider community. We might wonder if these programs and centers have the community’s actual interest at heart, or if they are merely the next “shiny thing” to feature in an Admissions brochure or to pad students’ resumes.

With these arguments in mind, I spoke with one of the Bates students who was able to attend Dr. Baldwin’s presentation and also meet with him the following day to continue the conversation. Isaac Levinger ‘24, a Harward Center Bonner Fellow, sociology major, and a member of the Varsity Men’s Crew team, was one of several students who had the chance to sit down with Dr. Baldwin during his time at Bates.

Among the cautionary tales relevant to Baldwin’s argument that Isaac and I discussed was Yale University in New Haven, an institution notorious for displacing residents as it buys up much of the city. That’s an example of a “hostile takeover.” Also in Connecticut, at Dr. Baldwin’s own institution, he mentioned how Trinity College chose to locate its community engagement center in a richer area of Hartford instead of an area that would benefit substantially more from community engagement work. For me, I immediately think of Columbia University in NYC and its displacement of low income Harlem residents in order to expand the university’s footprint.

With these examples in mind, I asked Isaac what he thought about Bates’s Harward Center for Community Partnerships. Does it do more harm than good when it comes to Lewiston? While Isaac and I agree that Bates can still do a lot better when it comes to college-community relationships, we also believe the Harward Center is operating considerably better than the aforementioned schools. Isaac specifically mentioned Aspirations Days, which bring middle school students to Bates to learn about diverse possible future pathways, including college and vocational training, and explore their questions about higher education. Considering this and other programs, Isaac noted that “the work supported by the Harward Center is done mindfully, so that the emphasis is less about Bates and more about Lewiston.” 

A key to this approach is the fact that most Harward Center staff live in and are deeply involved in the local community, not simply through their Bates jobs but in every aspect of their lives. As a result, they have knowledge about community issues because they are part of the initiatives that are addressing those issues, and they have long-term relationships with a wide range of people and organizations that inform the work they do at Bates. Isaac singled out the amazing work done by Peggy Rotundo and Kristen Cloutier. Peggy, a Maine state senator, used to work at the Harward Center and was a highly effective connector of students to local and statewide opportunities. Kristen, who was the previous Mayor of Lewiston and is now Assistant House Majority Leader in Augusta, is also the Harward Center’s Associate Director for Center Operations, exemplifying for Bates students what a life of public service can look like. “Peggy and Kristen’s primary interests are Lewiston and Maine, so they are finding students with much more aligned values rather than just getting jobs for kids.” 

Of course, Bates is still an elite college that has a lot of wealth compared to the rest of Lewiston, which naturally causes friction. The reality is that the Bates annual tuition ($83k) is double the median annual income of Lewiston residents. “The Bates Bubble” is real, and something both Isaac and I experience first hand. Unless we engage with Lewiston directly, with guidance and support from the Harward Center, it is very easy to see Bates and Lewiston as totally separate. In all, Dr. Baldwin’s talk and work reminds us to be mindful of the cities/towns we consider temporary homes, as it is much more permanent for the people already living here. “We must make sure local people don’t get priced out of their community spaces, and ensure we are mindfully engaging with them for the right reasons and in the right ways.”

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Call for High School Projects

Machine learning for social impact .

The Thirty-Eighth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024) is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together researchers in machine learning, neuroscience, statistics, optimization, computer vision, natural language processing, life sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and other adjacent fields. 

This year, we invite high school students to submit research papers on the topic of machine learning for social impact.  A subset of finalists will be selected to present their projects virtually and will have their work spotlighted on the NeurIPS homepage.  In addition, the leading authors of up to five winning projects will be invited to attend an award ceremony at NeurIPS 2024 in Vancouver.  

Each submission must describe independent work wholly performed by the high school student authors.  We expect each submission to highlight either demonstrated positive social impact or the potential for positive social impact using machine learning. Application areas may include but are not limited to the following:

• Agriculture
• Climate change
• Homelessness
• Food security
• Mental health
• Water quality

Authors will be asked to confirm that their submissions accord with the NeurIPS code of conduct and the NeurIPS code of ethics .

Submission deadline: All submissions must be made by June 27th, 4pm EDT. The system will close after this time, and no further submissions will be possible.

We are using OpenReview to manage submissions. Papers should be submitted here . Submission will open June 1st.  Submissions under review will be visible only to their assigned program committee. We will not be soliciting comments from the general public during the reviewing process. Anyone who plans to submit a paper as an author or a co-author will need to create (or update) their OpenReview profile by the full paper submission deadline. 

Formatting instructions:   All submissions must be in PDF format. Submissions are limited to four content pages , including all figures and tables; additional pages containing only references are allowed. You must format your submission using the NeurIPS 2024 LaTeX style file using the “preprint” option for non-anonymous submission. The maximum file size for submissions is 50MB. Submissions that violate the NeurIPS style (e.g., by decreasing margins or font sizes) or page limits may be rejected without further review.  Papers may be rejected without consideration of their merits if they fail to meet the submission requirements, as described in this document. 

Mentorship and collaboration:  The submitted research can be a component of a larger research endeavor involving external collaborators, but the submission should describe only the authors’ contributions.  The authors can also have external mentors but must disclose the nature of the mentorship.  At the time of submission, the authors will be asked to describe the involvement of any mentors or external collaborators and to distinguish mentor and collaborator contributions from those of the authors.  In addition, the authors may (optionally) to include an acknowledgements section acknowledging the contributions of others following the content sections of the submission. The acknowledgements section will not count toward the submission page limit.

Proof of high school attendance: Submitting authors will also be asked to upload a signed letter, on school letterhead, from each author’s high school confirming that the author was enrolled in high school during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Supplementary artifacts:  In their submission, authors may link to supplementary artifacts including videos, working demonstrations, digital posters, websites, or source code.  Please do not link to additional text.  All such supplementary material should be wholly created by the authors and should directly support the submission content. 

Review process:   Each submission will be reviewed by anonymous referees.  The authors, however, should not be anonymous.  No written feedback will be provided to the authors.  

Use of Large Language Models (LLMs): We welcome authors to use any tool that is suitable for preparing high-quality papers and research. However, we ask authors to keep in mind two important criteria. First, we expect papers to fully describe their methodology.  Any tool that is important to that methodology, including the use of LLMs, should be described also. For example, authors should mention tools (including LLMs) that were used for data processing or filtering, visualization, facilitating or running experiments, or proving theorems. It may also be advisable to describe the use of LLMs in implementing the method (if this corresponds to an important, original, or non-standard component of the approach). Second, authors are responsible for the entire content of the paper, including all text and figures, so while authors are welcome to use any tool they wish for writing the paper, they must ensure that all text is correct and original.

Dual submissions:  Submissions that are substantially similar to papers that the authors have previously published or submitted in parallel to other peer-reviewed venues with proceedings or journals may not be submitted to NeurIPS. Papers previously presented at workshops or science fairs are permitted, so long as they did not appear in a conference proceedings (e.g., CVPRW proceedings), a journal, or a book.  However, submissions will not be published in formal proceedings, so work submitted to this call may be published elsewhere in the future. Plagiarism is prohibited by the NeurIPS Code of Conduct .

Paper checklist: In order to improve the rigor and transparency of research submitted to and published at NeurIPS, authors are required to complete a paper checklist . The paper checklist is intended to help authors reflect on a wide variety of issues relating to responsible machine learning research, including reproducibility, transparency, research ethics, and societal impact. The checklist does not count towards the page limit and will be entered in OpenReview.

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Advancing technology for aquaculture

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According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, aquaculture in the United States represents a $1.5 billion industry annually. Like land-based farming, shellfish aquaculture requires healthy seed production in order to maintain a sustainable industry. Aquaculture hatchery production of shellfish larvae — seeds — requires close monitoring to track mortality rates and assess health from the earliest stages of life. 

Careful observation is necessary to inform production scheduling, determine effects of naturally occurring harmful bacteria, and ensure sustainable seed production. This is an essential step for shellfish hatcheries but is currently a time-consuming manual process prone to human error. 

With funding from MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), MIT Sea Grant is working with Associate Professor Otto Cordero of the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor Taskin Padir and Research Scientist Mark Zolotas at the Northeastern University Institute for Experiential Robotics, and others at the Aquaculture Research Corporation (A.R.C.), and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, to advance technology for the aquaculture industry. Located on Cape Cod, A.R.C. is a leading shellfish hatchery, farm, and wholesaler that plays a vital role in providing high-quality shellfish seed to local and regional growers.

Two MIT students have joined the effort this semester, working with Robert Vincent, MIT Sea Grant’s assistant director of advisory services, through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). 

First-year student Unyime Usua and sophomore Santiago Borrego are using microscopy images of shellfish seed from A.R.C. to train machine learning algorithms that will help automate the identification and counting process. The resulting user-friendly image recognition tool aims to aid aquaculturists in differentiating and counting healthy, unhealthy, and dead shellfish larvae, improving accuracy and reducing time and effort.

Vincent explains that AI is a powerful tool for environmental science that enables researchers, industry, and resource managers to address challenges that have long been pinch points for accurate data collection, analysis, predictions, and streamlining processes. “Funding support from programs like J-WAFS enable us to tackle these problems head-on,” he says. 

ARC faces challenges with manually quantifying larvae classes, an important step in their seed production process. "When larvae are in their growing stages they are constantly being sized and counted,” explains Cheryl James, A.R.C. larval/juvenile production manager. “This process is critical to encourage optimal growth and strengthen the population." 

Developing an automated identification and counting system will help to improve this step in the production process with time and cost benefits. “This is not an easy task,” says Vincent, “but with the guidance of Dr. Zolotas at the Northeastern University Institute for Experiential Robotics and the work of the UROP students, we have made solid progress.” 

The UROP program benefits both researchers and students. Involving MIT UROP students in developing these types of systems provides insights into AI applications that they might not have considered, providing opportunities to explore, learn, and apply themselves while contributing to solving real challenges.

Borrego saw this project as an opportunity to apply what he’d learned in class 6.390 (Introduction to Machine Learning) to a real-world issue. “I was starting to form an idea of how computers can see images and extract information from them,” he says. “I wanted to keep exploring that.”

Usua decided to pursue the project because of the direct industry impacts it could have. “I’m pretty interested in seeing how we can utilize machine learning to make people’s lives easier. We are using AI to help biologists make this counting and identification process easier.” While Usua wasn’t familiar with aquaculture before starting this project, she explains, “Just hearing about the hatcheries that Dr. Vincent was telling us about, it was unfortunate that not a lot of people know what’s going on and the problems that they’re facing.”

On Cape Cod alone, aquaculture is an $18 million per year industry. But the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries estimates that hatcheries are only able to meet 70–80 percent of seed demand annually, which impacts local growers and economies. Through this project, the partners aim to develop technology that will increase seed production, advance industry capabilities, and help understand and improve the hatchery microbiome.

Borrego explains the initial challenge of having limited data to work with. “Starting out, we had to go through and label all of the data, but going through that process helped me learn a lot.” In true MIT fashion, he shares his takeaway from the project: “Try to get the best out of what you’re given with the data you have to work with. You’re going to have to adapt and change your strategies depending on what you have.”

Usua describes her experience going through the research process, communicating in a team, and deciding what approaches to take. “Research is a difficult and long process, but there is a lot to gain from it because it teaches you to look for things on your own and find your own solutions to problems.”

In addition to increasing seed production and reducing the human labor required in the hatchery process, the collaborators expect this project to contribute to cost savings and technology integration to support one of the most underserved industries in the United States. 

Borrego and Usua both plan to continue their work for a second semester with MIT Sea Grant. Borrego is interested in learning more about how technology can be used to protect the environment and wildlife. Usua says she hopes to explore more projects related to aquaculture. “It seems like there’s an infinite amount of ways to tackle these issues.”

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• Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS)
• Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Aquacultural Research Corporation
• Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance
• Northeastern University Institute for Experiential Robotics

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• Civil and environmental engineering
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Harvard’s Taylor Swift Scholars Have Thoughts on ‘Tortured Poets’

The students taking Harvard University’s class on the singer are studying up. Their final papers are due at the end of the month.

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By Madison Malone Kircher

Fans of Taylor Swift often study up for a new album, revisiting the singer’s older works to prepare to analyze lyrics and song titles for secret messages and meanings .

“The Tortured Poets Department” is getting much the same treatment, and perhaps no group of listeners was better prepared than the students at Harvard University currently studying Ms. Swift’s works in an English class devoted entirely to the artist . The undergraduate course, “Taylor Swift and Her World,” is taught by Stephanie Burt, who has her students comparing Ms. Swift’s songs to works by poets and writers including Willa Cather, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.

On Thursday night, about 50 students from the class gathered in a lecture hall on campus to listen to Ms. Swift’s new album. Mary Pankowski, a 22-year-old senior studying history of art and architecture, wore a cream sweatshirt she bought at Ms. Swift’s Eras tour last year. The group made beaded friendship bracelets to celebrate the new album, she said.

When the clock struck midnight, the classroom erupted into applause, and the analysis began. First, the group listened through the album once without discussing, just taking it all in.

Certain lines, however, immediately caused a stir, said Samantha Wilhoit, a junior studying government — like a reference to the singer Charlie Puth and the scathing lyrics to the song “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” Ms. Wilhoit, 21, said.

A line from the song “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” in which Ms. Swift sings, “I cry a lot but I am so productive,” also seemed to resonate, Ms. Wilhoit said, laughing.

A smaller group of students, including Ms. Pankowski, stuck it out until the early hours of the morning waiting to see if Ms. Swift would drop additional music. At 2 a.m., they were rewarded with an additional “volume” of 15 tracks called “The Anthology.” Ms. Pankowski said she didn’t go to sleep until hours later.

Speaking with The New York Times together on a video call Friday morning, several students from the class discussed their thoughts on the 31 new songs and brainstormed their final papers, which are due at the end of the month.

“The song ‘Clara Bow’ reminded me of ‘The Song of the Lark,’” Makenna Walko, 19, said, citing the Willa Cather novel that follows the career of an aspiring opera singer, Thea Kronborg. “She’s talking about a girl trying to make it out of her small town and trying to get to Manhattan, and what it’s like to have these big, musical dreams and try to pursue them,” she continued. “That’s a narrative that has shown up a lot in Taylor’s own life, over the course of her own career. In a lot of ways, it’s Taylor’s story, too.”

Lola DeAscentiis, a sophomore, zeroed in on the song “But Daddy I Love Him,” comparing it to the Sylvia Plath poem “Daddy.” She plans to explore the link in her final paper.

“I hesitate to say that the song was anywhere near the genius of Sylvia Plath — no offense to Taylor Swift — but I can definitely see some similarities in the themes, like sadness, depression and mental health,” Ms. DeAscentiis, 20, said. (Ms. DeAscentiis also drew a distinction between being a fan of Ms. Swift and being a devoted Swiftie. She said she identified as the former.)

“The way that Taylor overlays her relationship with the significant other that she’s talking about in the song with the relationship that she has with her father — I think that was very Plath,” she added.

Another student, Ana Paulina Serrano, echoed Ms. DeAscentiis, noting that the class had learned about the genre of confessional poetry. “Is Taylor considered a confessional poet?” Ms. Serrano, a 21-year-old junior majoring in neuroscience, asked the group on the call. In support of her own position, she offered as evidence Ms. Swift’s song “Mastermind,” a track off “Midnights,” in which Ms. Swift reveals herself to have calculated and plotted the outcome of a relationship.

“Sometimes she’s confessing things that we, like, already knew or assumed, but she often seems to feel this need to explicitly tell us,” Ms. Serrano added.

Isabel Levin, a 23-year-old senior studying integrative biology, said she thought Ms. Swift’s delivery on several tracks had a spoken-word quality. She wondered if maybe some of the lyrics had initially begun not as songs but as more traditional poems.

Ms. Swift has said she categorizes her songs by the type of pen she imagines using to write each. A “frivolous, carefree, bouncy” song is a glitter gel pen song, while a fountain pen song might be more “brutally honest,” according to Ms. Swift . Quill pen songs are “all old-fashioned, like you’re a 19th-century poet crafting your next sonnet by candlelight,” she explained during her acceptance speech as songwriter-artist of the decade at the Nashville Songwriter Awards in 2022.

And with what implement might Ms. Swift have written “Tortured Poets?”

Quill pen, for sure, Ms. Walko said.

Madison Malone Kircher is a Times reporter covering internet culture. More about Madison Malone Kircher

Inside the World of Taylor Swift

A Triumph at the Grammys: Taylor Swift made history  by winning her fourth album of the year at the 2024 edition of the awards, an event that saw women take many of the top awards .

‘The T ortured Poets Department’: Poets reacted to Swift’s new album name , weighing in on the pertinent question: What do the tortured poets think ?  

In the Public Eye: The budding romance between Swift and the football player Travis Kelce created a monocultural vortex that reached its apex  at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Ahead of kickoff, we revisited some key moments in their relationship .

Politics (Taylor’s Version): After months of anticipation, Swift made her first foray into the 2024 election for Super Tuesday with a bipartisan message on Instagram . The singer, who some believe has enough influence  to affect the result of the election , has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Conspiracy Theories: In recent months, conspiracy theories about Swift and her relationship with Kelce have proliferated , largely driven by supporters of former President Donald Trump . The pop star's fans are shaking them off .