| Abstrakt: |
English higher education institutions are required to spend a proportion of their additional fee income on activities to widen participation, and this is overseen by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). In the past decade universities have invested the largest proportion of their widening participation spending in financial support for students. However, recent OFFA guidance encourages institutions to rebalance their spending away from financial support towards other outreach and success measures. Some universities have responded by pointing out the contribution of financial support to improving the student experience, contributing to students' success in higher education and beyond. Using two sets of institution-specific data, this paper looks at the relationship between student financial support, part-time work and the academic components of the student experience at the University of Sheffield, a 'northern redbrick university'. After pointing to the financial shortfall implied in the student support system, the paper describes how the need to take term-time jobs to pay basic living expenses is unevenly distributed across the student cohort, as is the impact of such work itself. While for many students a part-time job provides opportunities to gain relevant work experience or to save additional funds to broaden their future experience, for others who need to work to cover living costs, it can also have significant implications for their ability to engage in the value-added, self-directed elements of their studies and therefore, potentially, on their final outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
