Earning and learning : the importance of part-time employment for full- time undergraduate university student finances in Australia

This paper draws upon the results of a sample survey of domestic (that is, not including overseas) undergraduate students at 19 of the 37 public universities in Australia to address the issue of paid employment during semester by full-time university students. The paper confirms that full-time undergraduate students in Australia are, on average, spending large amounts of time during semester in paid employment. It reports the incidence of paid employment during semester in the context of a range of social, financial and educational background characteristics of full-time students, and it explores the extent to which paid employment during semester may be having an adverse impact on university studies.