Student employment as a possible factor of dropout

Abstract

One of the possible reasons for student dropout, is the attraction of the labor market. Nowadays, the date of employment does not coincide with the date of graduation, sometimes the income of those without a degree are higher than those with a degree. In addition, it may also lead to the interruption of university studies that the students judge negatively the marketability of their studies, in which case, the appeal of the labor market is even more prevalent. During our research, we tried to identify the process of dropout using quantitative and qualitative methods. As a first step, we interviewed dropped out and ’at risk’ students, but in our current analysis, we only processed those interviews where student work played a significant role in the life of the interviewee and this affected their dropouts. In addition, during our quantitative research, we were looking for individuals who had left their higher education studies without graduation in the last 10 years, and finally we worked with a database of 605 people. Both our qualitative and quantitative results show that financial reasons dominate during student employment that make them fall into a vicious circle. The results draw attention to the fact that working during, or instead of the university is an inevitable point of analysis for dropping out.