ACADEMICS AREN’T THE PROBLEMStudies

ACADEMICS AREN’T THE PROBLEM
Studies about how students use their time might shed light on whether they face increased academic and financial pressures compared with earlier eras.
Based on data about how students are spending time, academic or financial pressures don’t seem to be
greater now than a generation ago.
The data show that full-time students in all types of colleges study much less now than they did a generation ago - a full 10 hours a week less. Students are also receiving significantly higher grades. So it appears that academic pressures are, in fact, considerably lower than they used to be.
The time-use data don’t suggest that students feel greater financial pressures, either. When the time savings and lower opportunity costs are factored in, college appears less expensive for most students than it was in the
1960s. And though there are now full-time students working to pay while in college, they study less even when paid work choices are held constantly.
In other words, full-time students do not appear to be studying less in order to work more. They appear to
be studying less and spending the extra time on leisure activities or fun. It seems hard to imagine that students feeling increased financial pressures would respond by taking more leisure.
Based on how students are spending their time then, it doesn’t look as though academic or financial pressures are greater now than a generation ago. The time-use data don’t speak directly to social pressures, and it may well be that these have become more intense lately.
In one recent set of data, students reported spending more than 23 hours per week either socializing with friends or playing on the computer for fun. Social activities, in person or on computer, would seem to have become the major focus of campus life. It is hard to tell what kinds of pressures would be associated with this change.