The Role of Initial Financial Resources in Students’ Time Allocation – An Empirical Analysis for 25 European Countries

Students in higher education spend their time on a plethora of different activities such as taught studies, self-study, employment, volunteering, caring for relatives or leisure activities. Regarding the determinants of students' time allocation, this analysis investigates the rarely asked question whether students’ base income, which is the sum of transfers from the state and the family, has an impact on students’ time allocation for studies (taught studies and personal study time) and gainful employment in Europe. In addition, it is examined how satisfied students are with their time allocation. The theory of rational choice serves as a theoretical framework, whereby Becker's time allocation theory is used as a special form to model the behaviour of students. For the empirical analysis, the data set from the sixth round of the EUROSTUDENT project is used that provides data for up to 25 countries of the European Higher Education Area. Apart from all students, three student groups are in the focus that differ by their dominant source of income, i.e. self-earned income, public support, and support from the family/partner – such an analysis has not yet been conducted. As the data set contains only aggregate data, analysis is limited to descriptive statistics using mean values for various uses of time and income variables. It appears, among other things, that students with own earnings as dominant source of income have the lowest base income and they differ significantly from the other groups in their time allocation: In all countries, students depending on self-earned income have the largest total time budget (consisting of study time and employment time) of all student groups considered. They spend the least time on taught studies and personal study time and by far the most time on employment. They are also the group that most frequently wishes to reduce their working hours and to extend their study-related times for courses and self-study. As part of a concluding normative discourse on justice, it can also be stated that these students are at a disadvantage compared to their peers who depend either on public support or familial support.