Low-income undergraduates who work are less likely than their higher-income counterparts to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and they are disproportionately women, Latino, Black and first-generation college students.
And while many students work out of necessity – about 70 percent of college students hold a job – the more hours students work while in college, the more likely their grades are to be lower.
Those are some of the major findings in the research report “Balancing Work and Learning: Implications for Low-Income Students” based on a study by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
Other key findings:
· About 6 million of the 14 million working students, or 43 percent, are low-income.
· Low-income working students are more likely than their higher-income working classmates to attend for-profit or two-year public colleges, or enroll in a certificate program.
· Even low-income working learners with high academic performance are less likely than their higher-income working counterparts to earn any type of credential.
