Student employment has become a widespread phenomenon across many European countries and a common practice among university students in general (Broadbridge and Swanson 2005; Darolia 2014; König 2018). According to EUROSTUDENT data, the percentage of working university students in European countries has risen to about 70% in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Germany.

A highly relevant question for scholars and policy makers in this context is how working while studying affects student retention. Previous research on term-time employment in the U.S. (Darolia 2014), Australia (Hall 2010), New Zealand (Richardson et al. 2013), the UK (Callender 2008) and Germany (Bacher and Wetzelhütter 2014) has shown that time-consuming student employment (i.e. more than 10 hours per week) has an overall negative effect on academic success with regard to final year marks, degree results or credits, and that they are more likely to struggle with combining work and study (Broadbridge and Swanson 2005).

As far as the subjective well-being of working students is concerned, studies have shown that students entering time-consuming employment are more likely to report increased likelihood of illness and sleeping problems (Broadbridge and Swanson 2006; Robotham 2013). Previous research also indicates that less privileged students are more likely to be affected negatively by term-time employment (Darolia 2014; König 2018). An example for such a student group are students who are the first in their families to attend university (i.e. First-in-Family students).

However, little attention has been paid to explore the role of term-time employment in First-in-Family students’ lives and its link to student retention. Qualitative in-depth analyses are needed to illuminate the complex role of term-time employment within the everyday lives of students. By drawing on narrative interviews with 14 First-in-Family students from three universities in Austria, I investigate the following research question: How does term-time employment shape the everyday lives of First-in-Family students and how is it related to student retention?

From a theoretical perspective, I draw on the conduct of everyday life concept (Schraube & Højholt 2016) that is a subject-oriented sociological concept which attempts to grasp society from the everyday lives of people performing actions in the various areas of their lives. Its basic premise is that people have to tackle all of the different – in some cases contradictory – demands that they encounter in the various spheres of everyday life (ebd.).

To address the aim of this study a qualitative research design was chosen. The empirical data consists of 14 interviews with First-in-Family students of three different fields of study (education, business administration and medicine) at three universities in Austria. Austria is an interesting national context due to its high proportion of working students (Unger et al. 2020). Additionally, it is not possible to study part-time at Austrian universities, which goes along with a lot of disadvantages for working students. The study participants were chosen in regard of their study progress, regional background, university entrance qualification and the dimension and nature of their employment. The interviews ranged between 90 and 240 minutes in length and were transcribed in their full extend. The qualitative data are analysed by following a hermeneutical approach (fine and sequential analysis according to Lueger 2010). Due to that analysis, the interconnections of the different spheres of the student’s lives – e.g. studying, work, family, friends, leisure and living situation – were explored.

The findings show that the biographical experiences of the interviewed First-in-Family students are shaping their perceptions of going to university and working term-time. Choosing to work while studying is strongly shaped by the familial history and the habitual structures within the family. The interviewed First-in-Family students have often started working at an early age. They perceive it as an integral part of their identity and as an important component of their lives. Especially, when students have worked prior to their studies, their employment can have stabilising effects during their transition to university. In this scenario, term-time employment represents a life sphere where students are able to gain self-confidence and experience a sense of belonging. Having a sphere in one’s life where belongingness and stability is experienced, helps to overcome the barriers that are experienced in another life sphere (i.e. study). In addition, findings show that students use term-time employment as a moderating element between university and family life. For example, students used employment to minimise conflicts with their parents. By working while studying, students were able to juggle the expectations of their family (e.g., gaining income through paid work instead of going to university) and their own desires (e.g., attending university). Some students, whose parents paid for their studies, also used term-time employment to minimise feeling guilty for spending their parents’ money on their education. By working while studying, they were also able to minimise their parents’ influence on their everyday lives and to experience a greater amount of autonomy. This findings echo in research showing that term-time employment can have a high subjective status within students’ everyday lives (Broadbridge and Swanson 2005, 2006; O’Shea 2020). Measures aimed at improving student retention therefore need to address this complex role of term-time employment.

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