The bold new world of Division I college sports has elevated some student-athletes to VIP status. NIL rights, transfer portals, and growing commercialization forced universities to quickly redesign policies that essentially treat students playing high-revenue sports as professional athletes.
Long before this happened, colleges routinely adjusted class schedules and invested heavily in scholarships and academic support services to accommodate their student-athletes.
Colleges often come under fire for lavishing so much money and attention on a small subset of students. Yet it’s exactly the approach institutions should take to support a much larger group of students: those who are working in college and trying to find a good job after they graduate.
The class of 2026 is entering one of the toughest job markets in recent memory. Layoffs, economic uncertainty, and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence have made landing a first job more complex and competitive than ever.
More than half of employers say colleges are not adequately preparing graduates for the workplace. That’s one reason why companies hiring for entry-level jobs are increasingly prioritizing work experience, which is now considered the leading indicator of career readiness and the No. 1 predictor of employment after graduation.
While a college degree continues to retain its value in the job market, employers want new college graduates with both a strong academic foundation and related work experience—whether it’s a formal internship, a campus job, or even a restaurant or retail gig—that has helped them develop employability skills.
‘Division of the day’ for working students
The irony is that most students already work while they’re attending college but don’t know how to translate this experience and the skills they gain into future employment. Many of them are simply trying to pay their bills, not build their careers.
Colleges and universities have been slow to reimagine student employment as a pathway to career readiness—an oversight even harder to justify considering how quickly institutions adapted to a new world of college athletics.
Perhaps the most vexing challenge around student employment is a lack of flexibility to accommodate academics. Students who hold campus jobs should have work schedules that accommodate their classes—not the other way around.
That means students should have the option of working nights, weekends, and other times that they’re free. Better yet, institutions should grant all students the same “division of the day” they give athletes, which means specifying the hours reserved for classes and the times available for work.
In addition, student work schedules should be flexible enough to change every semester as student class schedules change.
Institutions also could require faculty to provide more leeway to make up exams and assignments if students miss class because of work, perhaps using the same rules that are applied to athletics when travel or post-season conference play disrupts academic requirements.
Conflicts between work and school are all too common. A 2023 survey found that a quarter of working students had missed at least one day of class because of job conflicts.
To ensure their working learners can successfully balance school and work, institutions should offer support services to all students based on a proactive and accessible student-athlete model.
All students have access to tutors, advisors, and counselors, but there’s a big difference when it comes to student-athletes: These services are typically delivered to them without having to request it, there is never a shortage of availability, and they’re scheduled around their class and team commitments.
Student-athletes often have dedicated staff members who monitor the use of these services and ensure that students who are falling behind see the necessity of these interventions.
A quarter of full-time students and two-thirds of part-time students work 20 hours or more each week—roughly the same amount of time student-athletes dedicate to practice, meetings, competition, and recovery. Institutions that invest in similar approaches to support services for working learners can help their students make the most of their limited time.
A competitive advantage
It’s not enough for students to leave college with the skills and knowledge they need to land their first job. Employers want to see that students have used and sharpened those abilities in an actual workplace.
A few institutions have built durable and flexible programs that allow their students to gain this real-world work experience without sacrificing their studies. Northeastern University, renowned for its co-op program that lets undergraduates toggle between academics and full-time professional work experience, sees the vast majority of its new graduates secure full-time jobs relating to their college major.
Arizona State University’s partnership with Intuit, the global financial technology platform, helps students secure part-time remote jobs that give them valuable experience in tax, accounting and financial services.
Too many institutions view strengthening student employment as an expense, like adding a new weight room or practice gym for their student-athletes. Instead, institutions should invest in a concierge-like experience for working learners with the same urgency, creativity, and institutional commitment they devote to athletics.
Student employment isn’t a cost center or overhead: It’s a competitive advantage for institutions and students alike.
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