"You Have to Focus on School…You Can't Focus on Getting Paid": A Multi-Study Exploration of Perspectives and Experiences of Engineering Students Who Work

Abstract

Working while attending college is a prevalent practice among undergraduate students in the United States. However, adapting engineering programs to this reality and promoting the retention of undergraduate students remains a challenge. This research on working engineering students is significant as it sheds light on the need for such adaptation and its potential impact on engineering education. In this multi-study dissertation, I highlight the realities of working engineering students across multiple contexts, including community colleges and four-year universities, from various perspectives, such as those of students and advisors, in three manuscripts. The first manuscript is a phenomenologically informed qualitative study that focuses on the experiences of community college students and their understanding of computing identity as it relates to their jobs and coursework in introductory artificial intelligence (AI) courses. Upon analyzing their interviews, I found that working while enrolled in introductory computing courses provides participants with opportunities to demonstrate their computing knowledge in the workplace, gain recognition as a computing professional, and develop their interest in computing. The second manuscript is a qualitative study that focuses on the experiences of ten undergraduate engineering students who work while enrolled at an R1, 4-year university and how they navigate undergraduate engineering education while working. I studied the interactions between work and school in the experiences of engineering students who work, as well as the strategies they used to navigate their engineering education. I found that when participants encountered scenarios in which engineering education affected their work, they modified their work responsibilities during the academic year. When they faced situations where work affected their engineering education, they often avoided out-of-class engagement opportunities or modified their course schedules or routines (e.g., dropped classes, took semesters off). In Manuscript 3, I examined the elements of engineering education at universities that most frequently negatively impact engineering students who work, and how these elements affect them. For this study, academic advisors from nine R1 universities responded to a questionnaire that inquired about aspects of engineering education, drawing on the literature on students who work. Using descriptive statistics and descriptive qualitative coding, I analyzed the questionnaire responses. I found that the elements that most frequently negatively affected engineering students who work included time-intensive assignments, course scheduling, and teamwork expectations. These elements impacted students by increasing their time to graduation, reducing their engagement in extracurricular activities, and negatively affecting their academic performance. This research on working engineering students not only highlights the complexities in their situations but also offers practical implications for addressing these challenges. The solution is not necessarily to advise students to stop working, but to find ways to reconcile the tensions between their roles as students and workers. Implementing such strategies could benefit both students and institutions.