Do Community College Students Benefit from Federal Work-Study Participation?

Abstract

Background

Prior studies suggest that Federal Work-Study (FWS) participation is positively associated with student learning, persistence, and academic achievement at four-year institutions. Limited research, however, has evaluated whether FWS participation improves academic success among students attending community colleges.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to determine whether and how FWS participation impacted academic performance and enrollment outcomes among a racially/ethnically diverse sample of students attending a large, urban community college (UCC) system in Texas. There were two research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of students at UCC who participated in FWS, compared with their peers who did not participate? (2) After controlling for self-selection bias, are there significant differences in academic success (i.e., cumulative GPA; credential attainment and/or four-year transfer) among UCC students who did and did not participate in the FWS program?

Research Design

The longitudinal data set (fall 2010 through summer 2016) analyzed in this study was built using detailed student-level transcript data records. The full sample included 8,837 students who had filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (a necessary step to receive FWS funding), but the primary focus was on the subsample of FWS participants (n = 260). Descriptive analysis was performed to compare the demographic and academic characteristics of FWS participants with nonparticipants. To assuage self-selection bias, propensity score matching (nearest neighbor matching algorithm) was used to match similar students who did and did not participate in FWS. We employed multiple regression and logistic regression techniques on the matched data to investigate whether FWS participation was associated with students’ academic outcomes.

Results

Relative to their non-FWS peers, FWS participants at this community college were more likely to be female, African American, 24 years of age or older, very low income, and academically underprepared. After successfully matching FWS participants with similar non-FWS participants, results indicated that FWS participation was associated with a higher cumulative GPA and significantly higher odds of credential completion and/or vertical transfer.

Conclusions

There are important equity implications in our findings; the results suggest that the FWS program can improve educational outcomes for student populations that are often marginalized and underserved by the higher education system. We describe several ways that the FWS program could be redesigned and expanded to better meet the needs of community college students.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adelman

(1999). Answers in the toolbox: Academic intensity, attendance patterns, and bachelor's degree attainment. U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

American Council on Education. (2017a, December 17). Renewing the Higher Education Act: Letters to the House on the PROSPER ACT [Letter signed by 37 higher education associations on the PROSPER Act]. Retrieved from http://www.acenet.edu/Pages/Renewing-the-Higher-Education-Act.aspx

American Council on Education. (2017b, December 8). Renewing the Higher Education Act: Letters to the House on the PROSPER ACT [National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators]. Retrieved from http://www.acenet.edu/Pages/Renewing-the-Higher-Education-Act.aspx

Arbona

, & Nora

(2007). The influence of academic and environmental factors on Hispanic college degree attainment. The Review of Higher Education, 30 3, 247—269. 10.1353/rhe.2007.0001

Austin

P. C.

(2010). Statistical criteria for selecting the optimal number of untreated subjects matched to each treated subject when using many-to-one matching on the propensity score. American Journal of Epidemiology, 172 9, 1092—1097.

Bahr

P. R.

(2013). The deconstructive approach to understanding community college students’ pathways and outcomes. Community College Review, 41, 137—153.

Bean

J. P.

, & Metzner

B. S.

(1985). A conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition. Review of Educational Research, 55 4, 485—540.

Beeson

M. J.

, & Wessel

R. D.

(2002). The impact of working on-campus on the academic persistence of freshmen. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 32 2, 37—45.

Bozick

(2007). Making it through the first year of college: The role of students’ economic resources, employment, and living arrangements. Sociology of Education, 80 3, 261—285.

10.

Broton

K. M.

Goldrick-Rab

, & Benson

(2016). Working for college: The causal impacts of financial grants on undergraduate employment. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38 3, 477—494.

11.

Canabal

M. E.

(1998). College student degree of participation in the labor force: Determinants and relationship to school performance. College Student Journal, 32 4, 597—605.

12.

Carnevale

, & Smith

(2018). Balancing work and learning: Implications for low-income students. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Retrieved from https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/LearnAndEarn/

13.

Castleman

B. L.

, & Long

B. T.

(2016). Looking beyond enrollment: The causal effect of need-based grants on college access, persistence, and graduation. Journal of Labor Economics, 34 4, 1023—1073.

14.

Center for Community College Student Engagement. (2013). A matter of degrees: Engaging practices, engaging students (high-impact practices for community college student engagement). Austin: University of Texas at Austin Community College Leadership Program.

15.

Chen

, & Hossler

(2017). The effects of financial aid on college success of two-year beginning nontraditional students. Research in Higher Education, 58 1, 40—76.

16.

Chen

(2008). Financial aid and student dropout in higher education: A heterogeneous research approach. In Smart

J. C.

(Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. 23, pp. 209—239). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.

17.

Choi

(2018). Student employment and persistence: Evidence of effect heterogeneity of student employment on college dropout. Research in Higher Education, 59 1, 88—107.

18.

Clotfelter

C. T.

(1991). Explaining the demand. In Clotfelter

C. T.

Ehrenberg

R. G.

Getz

, & Siegfried

J. J.

(Eds.), Economic challenges in higher education (pp. 89—123). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

19.

College Board. (2017). Trends in student aid 2017. Trends in Higher Education. Washington, DC: Author.

20.

Cooper

M. A.

(2018, August 1). A pivotal moment in higher education policy: Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Washington, DC: Institute for Higher Education Policy. Retrieved from http://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/prosper-aha_ihep_analysis_final.pdf

21.

Crosta

P. M.

(2014). Intensity and attachment: How the chaotic enrollment patterns of community college students relate to educational outcomes. Community College Review, 42 2, 118—142.

22.

Curtis

, & Nimmer

C. E.

(1991). To work or not to work: That is the question. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 21 3, 16—26.

23.

Dadgar

(2012). Essays on the economics of community college students’ academic and labor market success (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Teachers College, Columbia University.

24.

Darity

W. A.

, & Mason

P. L.

(1998). Evidence on discrimination in employment: Codes of color, codes of gender. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12 2, 63—90.

25.

Darolia

(2014). Working (and studying) day and night: Heterogeneous effects of working on the academic performance of full-time and part-time students. Economics of Education Review, 38, 38—50.

26.

Dowd

A. C.

(2008). Dynamic interactions and intersubjectivity: Challenges to causal modeling in studies of college student debt. Review of Educational Research, 78 2, 232—259.

27.

Dowd

A. C.

, & Coury

(2006). The effect of loans on the persistence and attainment of community college students. Research in Higher Education, 47 1, 33—62.

28.

Dundes

, & Marx

(2006). Balancing work and academics in college: Why do students working 10 to 19 hours per week excel? Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 8 1, 107—120.

29.

Flowers

L. A.

(2010). Effects of work on African American college students’ engagement. In Perna

L. W.

(Ed.), Understanding the working college student: New research and its implications for policy and practice (pp. 213—233). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

30.

Goldrick-Rab

Kelchen

Harris

D. N.

, & Benson

(2016). Reducing income inequality in educational attainment: Experimental evidence on the impact of financial aid on college completion. American Journal of Sociology, 121 6, 1762—1817.

31.

Hagedorn

L. S.

, & Kress

A. M.

(2008). Using transcripts in analyses: Directions and opportunities. New Directions for Community Colleges, 143, 7—17.

32.

Heller

D. E.

(2003). Informing public policy: Financial aid and student persistence. Boulder, CO: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

33.

Hossler

Ziskin

Kim

Cekic

, & Gross

J. P. K.

(2008). Student aid and its role in encouraging persistence. In Baum

McPherson

, & Steele

(Eds.), The effectiveness of student aid policies: What the research tells us (pp. 101—115). New York, NY: College Board.

34.

Kaltenbaugh

L. S.

St. John

E. P.

, & Starkey

J. B.

(1999). What difference does tuition make? An analysis of ethnic differences in persistence. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 29 2, 21—31.

35.

Kelchen

(2017). Campus-based financial aid programs: Trends and alternative allocation strategies. Educational Policy, 31 4, 448—480.

36.

Kim

(2007). Multilevel analysis of the effect of loans on students’ degree attainment: Differences by student and institutional characteristics. Harvard Educational Review, 177 1, 64—100.

37.

King

J. E.

(2005). Academic success and financial decisions: Helping students make crucial choices. In Feldman

R. S.

(Ed.), Improving the first year of college: Research and practice (pp. 3—26). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

38.

King

, & Bannon

(2002). At what cost? The price that working students pay for a college education. The State PIRGs’ Higher Education Project. Retrieved from the United States Public Interest Research Group website: http://www.pirg.org/highered/atwhatcost4_16_02.pdf

39.

Kulm

T. L.

, & Cramer

(2006). The relationship of student employment to student role, family relationships, social interactions and persistence. College Student Journal, 40 4, 927—938.

40.

Levin

J. S.

Montero-Hernandez

, & Cerven

(2010). Overcoming adversity: Community College students and work. In Perna

L. W.

(Ed.), Understanding the working college student: Implications for policy, administrators, academic affairs, and institutional support (pp. 43—66). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

41.

Long

(2016). Overcoming educational racism in the community college: Creating pathways to success for minority and impoverished student populations. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

42.

Malcom

L. E.

(2013). Student diversity in community colleges: Examining trends and understanding the challenges. In Levin

J. S.

, & Kater

S. T.

(Eds.), Understanding community colleges (pp. 21—44). New York, NY: Routledge.

43.

McClenney

Marti

C. N.

, & Adkins

(2012). Student engagement and student outcomes: Key findings from Community College Survey of Student Engagement. Austin: University of Texas at Austin Community College Leadership Program.

44.

McCormick

A. C.

Moore

J. V.

III , & Kuh

G. D.

(2010). Working in college: Its relationship to student engagement and educational outcomes. In Perna

L. W.

(Ed.), Understanding the working college student: Implications for policy, administrators, academic affairs, and institutional support (pp. 179—212). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

45.

McKinney

, & Backscheider Burridge

(2015). Helping or hindering? The effects of loans on community college student persistence. Research in Higher Education, 56 4, 299—324.

46.

McKinney

, & Novak

(2013). The relationship between FAFSA filing and persistence among first-year community college students. Community College Review, 41 1, 63—85.

47.

McKinney

, & Novak

(2015). FAFSA filing among first-year college students: Who files on time, who doesn't, and why does it matter? Research in Higher Education, 56 1, 1—28.

48.

Mendoza

(2012). Should I work or should I borrow? Counterfactual analysis on the effect of working while enrolled and debt on baccalaureate completion. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 42 2, 25—59.

49.

Molitor

C. J.

, & Leigh

D. E.

(2005). In-school work experience and the returns to two-year and four-year colleges. Economics of Education Review, 24 4, 459—468.

50.

Mukherjee

McKinney

Hagedorn

L. S.

Purnamasari

, & Martinez

F. S.

(2016). Stretching every dollar: The impact of personal financial stress on the enrollment behaviors of working and non-working community college students. Community College Journal of Research & Practice, 41 9, 551—565.

51.

Museus

S. D.

(2010). Understanding racial differences in the effects of loans on degree attainment: A path analysis. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 11 4, 499—527.

52.

National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. (2018). National Student Aid Profile: Overview of 2018 federal programs. Retrieved from https://www.nasfaa.org/uploads/documents/2018_National_Profile.pdf

53.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2017, May). The condition of education: College student employment. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_ssa.asp

54.

Nonis

S. A.

, & Hudson

G. I.

(2006). Academic performance of college students: Influence of time spent studying and working. Journal of Education for Business, 81 3, 151—159.

55.

Nora

(2003). Access to higher education for Hispanic students: Real or illusory? In Castellanos

, & Jones

(Eds.), The majority in the minority: Expanding the representation of Latina/o faculty, administrators and students in higher education (pp. 47—70). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

56.

Nuñez

A. M.

, & Sansone

V. A.

(2016). Earning and learning: Exploring the meaning of work in the experiences of first-generation Latino college students. Review of Higher Education, 40 1, 91—116.

57.

Orozco

, & Cauthen

N. K.

(2009). Work less, study more, & succeed. New York, NY: Demos.

58.

O'Sullivan

, & Setzer

(2014). A federal work study reform agenda to better serve low-income students. Washington, DC: Young Invincibles. income students. Washington, DC: Young Invincibles.

59.

Padgett

R. D.

Salisbury

M. H.

B. P.

, & Pascarella

E. T.

(2010). Required, practical, or unnecessary? An examination and demonstration of propensity score matching using longitudinal secondary data. In Seifert

T. A.

(Ed.), New Directions for Institutional Research, Assessment Supplement: S2. Longitudinal Assessment for Institutional Improvement (pp. 29—42). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

60.

Pager

, & Shepherd

(2008). The sociology of discrimination: Racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and consumer markets. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 181—209.

61.

Pascarella

E. T.

, & Terenzini

P. T.

(2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research (Vol. 2). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

62.

Paulsen

M. B.

, & St. John

E. P.

(2002). Social class and college costs: Examining the financial nexus between college choice and persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 73 2, 189—236.

63.

Perna

L. W.

(2010). Understanding the working college student. Academe, 96 4, 30—33.

64.

Pike

G. R.

Kuh

G. D.

, & Massa-McKinley

R. C.

(2008). First-year students’ employment, engagement, and academic achievement: Untangling the relationship between work and grades. NASPA Journal, 45 4, 560—582.

65.

Polson

, & Weisburst

(2014). Work-study financial aid and student outcomes: Evidence from community colleges in Texas. Retrieved from Ray Marshall Center website: https://raymarshallcenter.org/files/2011/08/WDQI_Workstudy_PolsonWeisburst.pdf

66.

Price

D. V.

, & Tovar

(2014). Student engagement and institutional graduation rates: Identifying high-impact educational practices for community colleges. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 38 9, 766—782.

67.

Pusser

(2010). Of a mind to labor: Reconceptualizing student work and higher education. In Perna

L. W.

(Ed.), Understanding the working college student: Implications for policy, administrators, academic affairs, and institutional support (pp. 134—155). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

68.

Riggert

S. C.

Boyle

Petrosko

J. M.

Ash

, & Rude-Parkins

(2006). Student employment and higher education: Empiricism and contradiction. Review of Educational Research, 76 1, 63—92.

69.

Rosenbaum

P. R.

, & Rubin

D. B.

(1983). The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects. Biometrika, 70 1, 41—55.

70.

Salisbury

M. H.

Pascarella

E. T.

Padgett

R. D.

, & Blaich

(2012). The effects of work on leadership development among first-year college students. Journal of College Student Development, 53 2, 300—324.

71.

Schudde

, & Scott-Clayton

(2014). Pell Grants as performance-based aid? An examination of satisfactory academic progress requirements in the nation's largest need-based aid program (Working paper). New York, NY: Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment.

72.

Scott-Clayton

(2011). The causal effect of federal work-study participation: Quasi-experimental evidence from West Virginia. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 33 4, 506—527.

73.

Scott-Clayton

(2017). Federal Work-Study: Past its prime, or ripe for renewal? In Evidence Speaks Reports (Vol. 2, No. 16). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ccf_20170622_scott-clayton_evidence_speaks.pdf

74.

Scott-Clayton

, & Minaya

(2016). Should student employment be subsidized? Conditional counterfactuals and the outcomes of work-study participation. Economics of Education Review, 52, 1—18.

75.

Scott-Clayton

J. E.

, & Zhou

(2017). Does the Federal Work-Study program really work—and for whom? CAPSEE Research Brief. Retrieved from Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment website: https://capseecenter.org/does-the-federal-work-study-program-really-work-and-for-whom/

76.

Singell

L. D.

, & Stone

J. A.

(2007). For whom the Pell tolls: The response of university tuition to federal grants-in-aid. Economics of Education Review, 26 3, 285—295.

77.

Soliz

, & Long

B. T.

(2016). Does working help or hurt college students? The effects of Federal Work-Study participation on student outcomes (Working paper). Retrieved from Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment website: https://capseecenter.org/does-working-help-or-hurt-college-students/

78.

Stern

Finkelstein

Urquiola

, & Cagampang

(1997). What difference does it make if school and work are connected? Evidence on co-operative education in the United States. Economics of Education Review, 16 3, 213—229.

79.

Stinebrickner

, & Stinebrickner

T. R.

(2003). Working during school and academic performance. Journal of Labor Economics, 21 2, 473—491.

80.

St. John

E. P.

(1990). Price response in persistence decisions: An analysis of the high school and beyond senior cohort. Research in Higher Education, 31 4, 387—403.

81.

Titus

M. A.

(2010). Understanding the relationship between working while in college and future salaries. In Perna

L. W.

(Ed.), Understanding the working college student: Implications for policy, administrators, academic affairs, and institutional support (pp. 251—281). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

82.

Torres

Gross

J. P.

, & Dadashova

(2010). Traditional-age students becoming at-risk: Does working threaten college students’ academic success? Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 12 1, 51—68.

83.

Turner

L. J.

(2014). The road to Pell is paved with good intentions: The economic incidence of federal student grant aid (Working paper). Retrieved from University of Maryland Department of Economics website: http://econweb.umd.edu/∼turner/Turner_FedAidIncidence.pdf

84.

Tuttle

McKinney

, & Rago

(2005). College students working: The choice nexus. Indiana Project on Academic Success (IPAS) topic brief. Indiana University. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/10702156/The_Choice_Nexus

85.

Umbach

P. D.

Padgett

R. D.

, & Pascarella

E. T.

(2010). The impact of working on undergraduate students’ interactions with faculty. In Perna

L. W.

(Ed.), Understanding the working college student: New research and its implications for policy and practice (pp. 234—260). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

86.

U.S. Department of Education. (2017). Federal student aid handbook, 2017–2018. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid. Retrieved from https://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1718FSAHdbkVol6Ch2.pdf

87.

Velez

E. D.

Bentz

Arbeit

C. A.

, & Simone

(2018). Working before, during, and after beginning at a public 2-year institution: Labor market experiences of community college students. Stats in Brief. NCES 2018-428. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018428.pdf

88.

Waddell

G. R.

, & Singell

L. D.

(2011). Do no-loan policies change the matriculation patterns of low-income students? Economics of Education Review, 30 2, 203—214.

89.

Wisconsin HOPE Lab. (2016). What we're learning: Work-study program: A data update from the Wisconsin HOPE Lab. Wisconsin HOPE Lab Data Brief 16-06. Retrieved from http://wihopelab.com/publications/

90.

Wood

J. L.

, & Harris

(2015). The effect of academic engagement on sense of belonging: A hierarchical, multilevel analysis of Black men in community colleges. Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, 4 1, 21—47.

91.

Wood

J. L.

Harrison

J. D.

, & Jones

T. K.

(2016). Black males’ perceptions of the work–college balance: The impact of employment on academic success in the community college. The Journal of Men's Studies, 24 3, 326—334.

92.

Ziegert

J. C.

, & Hanges

P. J.

(2005). Employment discrimination: The role of implicit attitudes, motivation, and a climate for racial bias. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90 3, 553—562.