Student Employment during Senior Year of Undergraduate Study

This study filled a gap in the higher education literature regarding whether a relationship exists between students’ employment location on or off campus, students’ identification as either native or transfer, and academic success as measured by self-reported grades for full-time seniors between the ages of 20-23 who enrolled in urban colleges and universities. The researcher used the National Survey of Student Engagement survey to collect data. It was administered to students during the 2013 or 2014 administrations at urban colleges and universities, with the purpose of representing the senior cohorts of students at their college or university during the years of administration. The researcher performed a secondary data analysis of the survey responses to the National Survey of Student Experiences of senior students who fit the sampling criterion, with the permission of Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research. The results showed that, for both native and transfer senior student cohorts, as work hours off campus increased, there was a decrease in self-reported grades. In contrast, both native and transfer students who worked on campus enjoyed higher self-reported grades, and students who worked on campus performed better academically than even those students who did not work at all. Finally, the researcher noted no significant difference between the senior native and transfer student populations’ experiences with employment location and grades