University of New Hampshire Scholars\u27 Repository
Abstract
Are college students who hold paying jobs systematically disadvantaged in terms of academic achievement? This study draws on a sample of 340 undergraduate students at a large public university to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. Socioeconomic status was measured by the presence of a paid job during the school year, and achievement was measured using GPA. The findings indicate that students who worked during the school year were less likely to be “A” students than students who did not work during the school year. This relationship was more pronounced for female college students than for male college students. Future research on this topic should use a larger sample that is more representative of the population, in order to generalize these results. The results of this study show possible reproduction of inequality present in post-secondary education
