IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/han/dpaper/dp-696.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Financial Situation of Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Meier, Dennis H.
  • Thomsen, Stephan L.
  • Trunzer, Johannes

Abstract

Many university students depend on employment during their studies. The closing of universities and the loss of many typical student jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected their situation. Based on survey data from a major German university, we analyze changes in students' income and its composition throughout the different phases of the pandemic. Students' job income declined by 66\% (total income by 19\%), on average, during the first lockdown. There was a quick recovery during the reopening. Job income fell again in the second lockdown, but this decrease was only half as large as that in the first lockdown. Women and students from non-academic backgrounds were particularly affected by job income loss, which widened pre-existing financial inequalities. Students compensated for income losses by increasing loan financing and by reducing their leisure expenses. Although dropout intentions increased for all students, there are no differences across socio-economic groups thus far.

Suggested Citation

  • Meier, Dennis H. & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Trunzer, Johannes, 2022. "The Financial Situation of Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-696, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    • Handle: RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-696
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://diskussionspapiere.wiwi.uni-hannover.de/pdf_bib/dp-696.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rong Chen & Stephen L. DesJardins, 2010. "Investigating the Impact of Financial Aid on Student Dropout Risks: Racial and Ethnic Differences," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 81(2), pages 179-208, March.
    2. Bertrand, Marianne, 2011. "New Perspectives on Gender," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 17, pages 1543-1590, Elsevier.
    3. Carruthers, Celeste K. & Özek, Umut, 2016. "Losing HOPE: Financial aid and the line between college and work," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-15.
    4. Glocker, Daniela, 2011. "The effect of student aid on the duration of study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 177-190, February.
    5. Aleksander Aristovnik & Damijana Keržič & Dejan Ravšelj & Nina Tomaževič & Lan Umek, 2020. "Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Life of Higher Education Students: A Global Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-34, October.
    6. Maria De Paola & Francesca Gioia & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2022. "Online Teaching, Procrastination And Students’ Achievement: Evidence From Covid-19 Induced Remote Learning," Working Papers 202202, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    7. Jessica Gallant & Kory Kroft & Fabian Lange & Matthew J. Notowidigdo, 2020. "Temporary Unemployment and Labor Market Dynamics during the COVID-19 Recession," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 51(3 (Fall)), pages 167-226.
    8. Aucejo, Esteban M. & French, Jacob & Ugalde Araya, Maria Paola & Zafar, Basit, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on student experiences and expectations: Evidence from a survey," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    9. Jaeger, David A. & Arellano-Bover, Jaime & Karbownik, Krzysztof & Martínez Matute, Marta & Nunley, John M. & Seals Jr., R. Alan & Almunia, Miguel & Alston, Mackenzie & Becker, Sascha O. & Beneito, Pil, 2021. "The Global COVID-19 Student Survey: First Wave Results," IZA Discussion Papers 14419, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Beneito, P. & Boscá, J.E. & Ferri, J., 2018. "Tuition fees and student effort at university," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 114-128.
    11. Koen Declercq & Joris Ghysels & Julia Varga, 2018. "Gender differences in applying for STEM programs in higher education: evidence from a policy shift in Hungary," Budapest Working Papers on the Labour Market 1806, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hardt, David & Nagler, Markus & Rincke, Johannes, 2022. "Can peer mentoring improve online teaching effectiveness? An RCT during the COVID-19 pandemic," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Ayllón, Sara, 2022. "Online teaching and gender bias," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Bratti, Massimiliano & Lippo, Enrico, 2022. "COVID-19 and the Gender Gap in University Student Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 15456, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Katharina Werner & Ludger Woessmann, 2021. "The Legacy of Covid-19 in Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 9358, CESifo.
    5. Micaela Di Consiglio & Sheila Merola & Tiziana Pascucci & Cristiano Violani & Alessandro Couyoumdjian, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Italian University Students’ Mental Health: Changes across the Waves," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-13, September.
    6. Laura Ihm & Han Zhang & Alexandra van Vijfeijken & Mark G. Waugh, 2021. "Impacts of the Covid‐19 pandemic on the health of university students," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 618-627, May.
    7. Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2022. "Hitting where it hurts most: COVID-19 and low-income urban college students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. Tommaso Agasisti & Samuele Murtinu, 2013. "Are we wasting public money? No! The effects of grants on Italian university students’ performances," Working Papers 2013/33, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    9. Wright, Nicholas A., 2021. "Need-based financing policies, college decision-making, and labor market behavior: Evidence from Jamaica," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    10. Riudavets-Barcons, Marc & Uusitalo, Roope, 2023. "School Closures and Student Achievement: Evidence from a High Stakes Exam," IZA Discussion Papers 16074, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2022. "COVID-19, college academic performance, and the flexible grading policy: A longitudinal analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    12. Tommaso Agasisti & Samuele Murtinu, 2013. "Are we wasting public money? No! The effects of grants on Italian university students’ performances," Working Papers 2013/33, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    13. Kemptner, Daniel & Tolan, Songül, 2018. "The role of time preferences in educational decision making," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 25-39.
    14. José de Sousa & Guillaume Hollard, 2021. "From Micro to Macro Gender Differences: Evidence from Field Tournaments," Post-Print hal-03389151, HAL.
    15. Robert Tholen & Koen Ponnet & Guido Van Hal & Sara De Bruyn & Veerle Buffel & Sarah Van de Velde & Piet Bracke & Edwin Wouters, 2022. "Substance Use among Belgian Higher Education Students before and during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-13, April.
    16. Alger, Ingela, 2021. "On the evolution of male competitiveness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 228-254.
    17. Thomas Buser & Muriel Niederle & Hessel Oosterbeek, 2014. "Gender, Competitiveness, and Career Choices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(3), pages 1409-1447.
    18. Fossen, Frank M. & Glocker, Daniela, 2017. "Stated and revealed heterogeneous risk preferences in educational choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-25.
    19. Christian Pfeifer & Gesine Stephan, 2019. "Why women do not ask: gender differences in fairness perceptions of own wages and subsequent wage growth," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(2), pages 295-310.
    20. Lorenzo Ductor & Sanjeev Goyal & Anja Prummer, 2018. "Gender & Collaboration," Working Papers 856, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    higher education; student earnings; student employment; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-696. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Heidrich, Christian (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwhande.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.