Campus Climate Survey, 2006
Students Who Work While Attending CU-Boulder
Several questions in the survey assess student employment. This set of questions began with a preliminary branching
question that asked respondents whether or not they are currently employed. If the respondent answered “yes,” two
subsequent questions were displayed on the web page below that item. Otherwise, the subsequent questions were not
displayed. The three questions and the response options were worded as follows:
Are you currently working at a job?
o Yes
o No
Is this job on- or off-campus?
On-campus
Off-campus
How many hours per week do you work?
Less than 10 hours
Between 10 and 20 hours
More than 20 hours
Responses to these three items were analyzed in various ways, looking primarily at differences by class standing, ethnicity,
1
and financial resources (family resource quartiles from financial aid files) .
Currently working at a job
Almost half (290) of the survey respondents (n=570) reported that they were working at the time of the survey.
o A substantially higher percentage of graduate student respondents than undergraduate respondents reported they
were “currently working at a job”--almost three-quarters (71%) of graduate students versus less than half (43%) of
undergraduates. There are also some noteworthy differences across class standings among both undergraduates
and graduate students with respect to the percentages of students who reported being employed (see table
immediately below):
Among undergraduates, lower percentages of freshmen and sophomores reported working (25% and
42%, respectively), compared with juniors and seniors (54% and 50%, respectively).
Among graduate students, lower percentages of master's students reported working compared with
doctoral students (68% vs. 85%). Only 23% of law students reported that they were currently working.
Weighted
Pct N
Class Standing Working Working
Freshman 25% 34
Sophomore 41% 28
Junior 54% 41
Senior 50% 76
Master’s 68% 32
PhD 85% 68
JD (Law) 23% 9
Total 47% 288*
*Total respondents who reported working do not sum to 290
because 2 of them were classified as non-degree students.
o There is a notable gender difference in the percentages of students who reported that they were working at the time
of the survey. Over half (56%) of the 290 female respondents indicated they were employed, compared with only
slightly more than one-third (38%) of the 280 male respondents.
1
All percentages reported in this section are weighted to reflect the sampling design, whereas the number (N)
working/responding, etc., is unweighted. Therefore, you cannot compute the percentages in the tables based on the N
responding.
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Campus Climate Survey, 2006
2
o There was only minor variation across ethnic groups in percentages of students employed :
Slightly larger percentages of racial/ethnic minority students reported they were working (47% to 57%),
compared with 46% of white students and 44% of international students.
Among minority racial/ethnic subgroups, Native Americans were the most likely (57%) to indicate working,
and African Americans (47%) were least likely to do so.
Weighted
Racial/Ethnic Pct N
Groups Working Working
Asian American 49% 32
African American 47% 27
Hispanic 51% 34
Native American 57% 38
White 46% 69
International 44% 43
Total 47% 243*
*Total respondents who reported working do not sum to
290, because for some of them race/ethnicity was unknown.
Work status: Variation associated with undergraduates' financial resources
The relationship of family financial resources to undergraduate students' work status was examined. For analysis
purposes, the Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis assigns undergraduate students to five financial resource categories
based on the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to student tuition and expenses. EFC is determined from the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which the majority of undergraduate students submit to the Office of Financial
Aid upon entry to the University. Incoming freshmen and transfer students who submitted a FAFSA are grouped into one of
four “family resource quartiles” (FRQs) according to the amount of EFC calculated on their application at the time of entry.
Those grouped in the first family resource quartile are assumed to be most in need of aid, whereas those in the fourth
quartile are assumed to be least in need of aid. Freshmen and transfer students who did not submit a FAFSA or who did
not apply for any “need-based” aid are placed in a fifth category. Percentages of working students in these five categories
are reported in the table below.
o Contrary to what may be expected, students in the first family resources quartile (i.e., students having the greatest
financial need) were least likely to report that they were working. Only 28% of these students were currently working.
The low percentage of working students in the first quartile may be accounted for, to some extent, by the greater
likelihood of highest-need students' receiving a greater proportion of their overall financial aid in the form of grants
and loans, compared with the proportion derived from work-study programs.
o In the remaining three family resource quartiles, as financial need decreased, the percentage of students working
also decreased--from 63% in the second quartile to 58% in the third quartile and 43% in the fourth.
o About a third (34%) of students who did not apply for any “need-based” aid reported that they were currently
working. It is likely that most of these had more financial resources available to them and less need to work while
attending college.
Weighted
Family Resource Pct N
Quartiles Working Working
st
1 Quartile 28% 22
nd
2 Quartile 63% 47
rd
3 Quartile 58% 30
th
4 Quartile 43% 28
No need-based aid 34% 53
Total 43% 180*
* Financial aid information was not available for all students.
2
For all analyses done by racial/ethnic groups, we have excluded the group of students for whom the Student Information database has no
specified race/ethnicity recorded; these students’ records show race/ethnicity recorded as “unknown.”
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Campus Climate Survey, 2006
Working at on-campus or off-campus jobs: Variation by class standing, racial/ethnic group, and gender
Survey respondents who indicated they were currently working were asked whether their employment was “on campus or
off campus.” The percentage of students working off campus (54%) is slightly larger than the percentage working on
campus (47%).
o Of those students who were working, a higher percentage of undergraduate students reported that they worked off
campus than did graduate students -- 63% vs. 25%.
Among undergraduates, higher percentages of freshmen (72%) and sophomores (64%) indicated that they
worked off campus than did juniors (59%) and seniors (61%).
As noted above, graduate students were much more likely to work on campus than were
undergraduates—with approximately equal percentages of master’s (79%) and doctoral students (78%)
indicating they worked on campus. This is likely due to the fact that master’s and doctoral students can,
and often do, hold teaching assistant (TA), research assistant (RA), or graduate-part-time-instructor (GPTI)
positions on campus.
Weighted Weighted
Pct Working Pct Working N
Class Standing Off Campus On Campus Working
Freshman 72% 28% 34
Sophomore 64% 36% 28
Junior 59% 41% 41
Senior 61% 39% 76
Master’s 21% 79% 32
PhD 22% 78% 68
JD (Law) 77% 23% 9
Total 46% 54% 288*
*Total respondents who reported working do not sum to 290 because
2 of them were classified as non-degree students.
o A higher percentage of male respondents than female respondents who reported working indicated that they worked
at a job on campus (55% versus 40%, respectively). This difference was most likely due to gender being confounded
with class standing. Specifically, a higher percentage of all graduate students who reported working (57%) were
male, and the great majority of working graduate students have on-campus jobs.
o Nearly all (93%) of the 43 international students who reported working indicated they worked on campus, compared
with less than half (45%) of the 69 working white students and of the 131 working students in the combined
racial/ethnic group. These findings are also confounded with class standing, in that 89% of the 43 international
students who reported working were graduate students.
Number of hours worked per week: Variation by class standing, racial/ethnic group, and gender
Survey respondents who indicated they were currently working were asked how many hours they spent working at their
job each week. Of all respondents who indicated they worked, almost half (47%) reported working between 10-20 hours
per week, slightly less than one-fourth (23%) indicated that they work fewer than 10 hours per week, and 30% reported
working more than 20 hours per week.
There is considerable variation across class standings in the distribution of number of hours worked per week, as shown in
the table below.
o Across all undergraduate and graduate class standings, between 50% and 88% of employed students work 20 or
fewer hours per week. Notably, however, a much higher percentage of juniors (50%) and PhD students (38%) work
more than 20 hours per week, compared with students at other class standings-- 13-24% of freshmen, sophomores,
and seniors, and 12% of master’s students.
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Campus Climate Survey, 2006
o Among employed undergraduate students, higher percentages of underclassmen reported working fewer than 10
hours per week (32% of freshmen, 44% of sophomores) compared with upperclassmen (18% of juniors, 23% of
seniors).
o Among employed graduate students, 10% of master’s students and 12% of doctoral students reported that they
work fewer than 10 hours per week. A much higher percentage of doctoral students than master’s students,
however, spend more than 20 hours per week working at a job--38% vs. 12%.
Weighted Pct Working
Class Standing N working 20 hrs
Freshmen 34 32% 55% 13%
Sophomores 28 44% 35% 21%
Juniors 41 18% 32% 50%
Seniors 76 23% 53% 24%
Master’s students 32 10% 78% 12%
PhD students 68 12% 50% 38%
Law students* 9 11% 77% 12%
Total 288 23% 47% 30%
*Law students were very similar to master’s students with respect to number of hours
worked per week. The number of employed law students (9) is, however, too small to
support reliable comparisons with the other class-standing groups.
For all ethnic groups but African Americans, the general pattern among working students with respect to number of hours
worked per week is that most (45%-60%) report working 10-20 hours, with the remainder split between those working
fewer than 10 hours (23%-26%) and those working more than 20 hours (16%-32%). (See table below.) Among African
American students who work, roughly equal percentages report working fewer than 10 hours (36%), 10-20 hours (38%), or
more than 20 hours (26%).
Approximately one-third (32%) of white students who were employed at a job worked more than 20 hours a week,
compared with 16%-30% of ethnic minority students and 16% of international students.
o Among ethnic minority students who were currently working, there was considerable variation in the percentages
working more than 20 hours per week: 30% of Native Americans, 26% of African Americans, 22% of Hispanics, and
only 16% of Asian Americans.
Weighted Pct Working
Racial/Ethnic
Groups N Working 20 hrs
Asian 32 24% 60% 16%
African American 27 36% 38% 26%
Hispanic 34 26% 53% 22%
Native American 38 23% 47% 30%
White 69 23% 45% 32%
International 43 18% 66% 16%
Total 243* 23% 47% 30%
*Total respondents who reported working do not sum to 290, because
for some of them race/ethnicity was unknown.
A higher percentage of female students than male students reported working more than 20 hours per week --34% vs. 25%.
Number of hours worked per week: Variation associated with undergraduates' financial resources
Employed undergraduate students were grouped into the five family resource categories described above (four family
resource quartiles and a group that did not apply for need-based financial aid) and compared on the number of hours they
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Campus Climate Survey, 2006
work per week-- fewer than 10 hours per week versus more than 10 hours per week. Results are presented in the table
below.
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Campus Climate Survey, 2006
Weighted Pct Working
Family Resource < 10 hrs per ≥ 10 hrs per
Quartile N working week week
st
1 Quartile 22 39% 61%
nd
2 Quartile 47 35% 65%
rd
3 Quartile 30 6% 94%
th
4 Quartile 28 17% 83%
No need-based aid 53 33% 67%
Total 180 27% 73%
Substantially lower percentages of employed students having more limited family resources reported working ten or more
hours per week, compared with students having greater family resources. Among working students in the first and second
quartiles, 61% and 65%, respectively, worked 10 or more hours, compared with 94% and 83%, respectively, of students in
the third and fourth quartiles.
o This difference may be explained, at least in part, by students in the lower two family resource quartiles receiving
greater amounts of financial aid than those in the higher two quartiles. Students receiving more financial aid from
grants and loans would likely not have to work as many hours per week to pay for college expenses.
Among working undergraduates who did not apply for financial assistance or need-based aid, the percentage working 10
or more hours a week (67%) was comparable to that of working undergraduates in the first and second family resource
quartiles. Because these students did not apply for need-based financial aid, it is likely that they have more family
resources available to them and, therefore, less need to work long hours per week.
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