Indiana University (IU) researchers suggest student loan debt and the amount of money a student is borrowing to pay for tuition can shape their college experience, according to a news release.
Daniel Rudel, a sociologist, a Natasha Yurk, an IU sociology graduate student, presented their study at the annual American Sociological Association meeting in New York. They found that students with little or no debt fell into a "play hard" category, while students with more debt belonged in a "serious student" category.
Rudel and Yurk gathered data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshman from Princeton University's Office of Population Research. The survey interviewed students from 1999 to 2003 from 28 selective U.S. schools, including nine liberal arts colleges, 14 private research universities, four public research universities and one historically black college.
The students fell into three categories.
First, "play hard" students often had little debt or none at all, which meant they were either paying their own way or, most likely, had their tuition paid for. They spent less time studying and led active social lives, creating a network of relationships likely to last well past graduation.
Second, "disengaged students" appeared to see their debt as a force keeping them off of campus. Instead of participating in campus life and activities, including studying, they retracted from it.
Third, "serious students" accepted the challenge of student debt and worked hard at studying and socializing to prepare themselves as best they could for post-graduation. These students did not party as much as the first category, but they did take part in extracurricular activities such as student groups to beef up their resumes.
"These patterns could affect the social connections and networking students develop in college, where these relationships can lead to friendships, employment, marriage partners and other benefits," Rudel said.
The researchers essentially weighed the benefits and consequences of studying and partying too hard. While good grades are important to be noticed for a job, good connections and a diverse resume of extracurricular activities are just as vital.
"We aren't saying what college students should or should not be doing," Rudel said. "But the lifestyles of students with debt diverge from the script people have of what college should be like."
