What was once a way for students to earn a little extra money has become a necessary evil for many, writes Karen Van Aerden. As a result, the core mission of higher education is coming under increasing pressure.
In 2025, the annual limit for student work in Belgium was increased from 475 to 650 hours. That amounts to almost four months of full-time work, or two working days a week throughout an entire academic year, excluding exam periods. On paper, this appears to be a win-win situation: students can earn more money, while employers gain easier access to labour in a tight job market. However, new research from Vrije Universiteit Brussel shows that student employment has become a structural part of educational trajectories in Belgium. Students from financially vulnerable households often have little choice but to work in order to pay for their studies or support themselves and their families financially. As a result, they become trapped in a vicious circle where additional working hours come at the expense of study time, undermining their chances of academic success.
The figures are significant. Some 42 per cent of students work to support themselves or their families financially, while 29 per cent must work in order to fund their studies. This tension between lectures and wages is reflected in the data. One in three students reported skipping classes or contact hours in order to work. The study found that students who work out of financial necessity face the highest risk of conflicts between study and employment and are more likely to prioritise their jobs over attending classes. What is often presented as flexibility through digital and hybrid learning is, for these students, a matter of financial survival.
At the same time, the quality of many student jobs leaves much to be desired. Two-thirds of working students are employed in hospitality and retail — sectors characterised by irregular hours, physically demanding work and a relatively weak bargaining position vis-à-vis employers. Many students feel unable to demand better working conditions, while a considerable number report experiencing toxic behaviour, including verbal abuse and unwanted sexual attention.
Is this really the valuable first work experience we want to offer young people?
Harmful to academic focus
The argument that student work eases the transition into the labour market turns out to be only partially true. Most student jobs bear little relation to students’ degree programmes. Few students have opportunities to apply the skills they acquire during their studies in their work. Student employment is rarely a stepping stone to a future career. Increasingly, it is simply a means of making ends meet, often at the expense of the educational engagement and intellectual focus that higher education requires.
There is also a striking paradox. On the one hand, the government actively facilitates and expands student employment through structural policy measures, including increasing the number of permitted working hours. On the other hand, students who subsequently fall behind in their studies are subject to increasingly strict disciplinary measures. Recent proposals to crack down on so-called “perpetual students” through binding study progress requirements and stricter sanctions illustrate this contradiction. Students are encouraged to work more and then penalised when that work affects their academic progress.
Responsibility for what is fundamentally a structural problem is thus shifted onto individuals. Given the clear link with students’ socio-economic backgrounds, the risk is that educational inequalities will become even more pronounced.
Making space for study
If we genuinely believe in equal educational opportunities, a change of course is needed. We must reduce the financial pressure on students by keeping the real costs of studying under control and critically reassessing student financial support, so that paid work once again becomes a choice rather than a necessity.
Greater attention should also be paid to the quality of student jobs, in order to tackle exploitation and poor working conditions. At the same time, cooperation between educational institutions and employers should be strengthened so that student employment aligns more closely with degree programmes and contributes to the development of relevant skills.
It should be self-evident that students are first and foremost given the space to study. Student work should not become a survival strategy; it should remain a conscious choice.