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Evaluating Academic and Work-Related Factors in Working Community College Students With and Without Children

Compared to four-year students, more students are enrolled at public two-year institutions who work full-time and are enrolled part-time (Velez et al., 2018). More specifically, 50% of full-time and 78% of parttime students attending two-year universities were working in 2017 (McFarland et al., 2019). Unfortunately, this merger of academic and work burdens, which is typical for community college students, is detrimental; working full-time and only being enrolled part-time has been negatively associated with college completion, rendering students less likely to graduate (Skomsvold et al., 2011). Low employer support can also have an unfavorable effect on academic success (Wood et al., 2016). Completion rates for community college students have reached a dangerously low level. In 2014, only 5% of students in the United States attending a two-year university earned their degree in two years (Complete College America, 2014). According to the American Association of Community Colleges, only 28% of all community college students who were enrolled both full-time and part-time beginning in 2012 completed their program at the same institution within 6 years (Juszkiewicz, 2019). These challenges compound when school and work are combined, making it important to study academic and work-related variables for community college working students. A select subpopulation of working students are also parents and these working student parents ABSTRACT. Research has indicated that an increasing number of college students work at least part-time, which is particularly true of community college students (Velez et al., 2018). Although balancing school and work is a challenge, adding parenthood creates a major opportunity for conflict for the 22% of undergraduate students who are also parents, nearly half of whom attend community college (Cruse et al., 2019). For the present research, we investigated the differences between working student parents and working students on academic and work-related variables. We surveyed 145 working students, with 30.30% parents, at a Midwest community college and assessed grade point average, family–school conflict, school–family conflict, continuance commitment, job involvement, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Using independent-groups t tests, we found significantly higher family–school conflict, t(143) = 3.36, p = .001, d = 0.60, school–family conflict, t(143) = 4.81, p < .001, d = 0.92, and continuance commitment, t(143) = 2.41, p = .017, d = 0.43 for working student parents compared to working students. However, analysis of covariance results demonstrated there was no longer a statistical difference in continuance commitment when controlling for age, F(1, 142) = 0.14, p = .706, η ρ 2 = .001. These results signal both a burden for working student parents and a vital opportunity for employers and colleges to intervene.