Working Part-Time = More Student Success – Coyote Student News at College of Southern Nevada

By Kyla Sawyer

Some College of Southern Nevada students work and go to school at the same time. Research shows that part-time work increases academic success.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics in a study called “College Student Employment”, in 2020 it showed that 74% of part-time students were working compared to 40% of full-time students. This can positively or negatively affect students’ academic performance.

CSN academic adviser Andrew Gaden said he doesn’t find that working students don’t lack academic performance; instead, it’s usually the opposite. “Students who need to work for many different reasons, including paying for their education, tend to be very academically strong because they don’t want to waste money.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics noted in its April 2022 report that among associate degree holders between the ages of 20 and 29, nearly 77% were employed while in school.

According to McPherson College, in its article “Full-Time Students Work Part-Time, Earn Better Grades, and Graduate with Less Debt,” students who work part-time have better grades than those who don’t. do not. “This evidence holds true for the 270 McPherson College students in our Student Debt Project who work an average of 15 hours per week and have a 3.3 GPA compared to the 3.1 GPA of the rest of our student body.”

These studies show that students who work part-time are more efficient when it comes to scheduling, work output, and efficiency.

CSN student Michelle Maizel, who has 18 credits this semester – out of the normal 12 credits she would normally take – while working in a restaurant part-time, feared she would be overwhelmed and fail in her studies. To handle it all, she says she writes everything down in her planer. So far, things are going well. She thinks that busy schedule might affect her sleep schedule, but the lack of procrastination just because she has no time to procrastinate is good for her.

Hollie Thornton, a CSN student who works full time in a hospital, balances work and studies, but “I will add that my personal time is what I sacrifice for work and school. She added that if she wasn’t working to help pay for her studies and could go to school full time, she would be happy to finish early.

“It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon,” Gaden said. “If it takes the student an extra semester or two to complete their degree and/or transfer, so be it.”