Earn Knowledge or Money, Dilemma in Higher Education

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between earnings of university students and time taken to finish the degree. Here earning indicates hours worked by the student. First, we investigate the relation of time taken to complete the degree for individuals with earnings and individuals with no earnings. Then we introduce controls for different groups to assess heterogeneity. Our results indicate that there is a lack of significance for most of the results. Low SES is the standout outcome that has high significance and shows a clear negative impact on time taken to finish the degree for both earning and non-earning individuals.