Time Poverty: A Hidden Factor Connecting Online Enrollment and College Outcomes?
Open accessAbstract
This study explored the relationships between voluntary online course enrollment (pre-pandemic), time poverty, and college outcomes. Results indicate that students who enrolled in at least one fully online course were significantly more time poor than other students; these differences were largely explained by age, parental status, and paid work. Yet, despite being more time poor, students who enrolled in online courses were more likely to successfully complete their courses, especially after controlling for time poverty. While students who took at least one online course were less likely to be retained in college and accumulated on average fewer credits, outcomes in online courses did not explain these differences; rather, other factors that make students both more likely to enroll online and to drop out or take fewer credits likely play a role. In particular, time poverty fully mediated the relationship between online enrollment and credit accumulation.
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Students who enroll in online courses are more time-poor than their peers who take only courses face-to-face.
“Students who enroll in online courses are more time-poor than their peers who take only courses face-to-face (Wladis et al., 2022)”
From Competing hypotheses about online versus face-to-face course outcomes: Analysis leveraging the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic (2025) · cites this paper as Wladis et al., 2022
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- Authors
- Wladis, C., Hachey, A. C., & Conway, K.
- Affiliations
- The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
- The University of Texas at El Paso (US)
- Borough of Manhattan Community College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wladis, Claire
- Venue
- The Journal of Higher Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2022-11-14
- Volume
- 94
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 609-637
- ISSN
- 0022-1546 (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4640
- OpenAlex
- W4308944247
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 5
- FWCI
- 10.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Journal of Higher Education (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- NSF (1431649, 1920599)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Online and Blended Learning
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Outcomes and Influences
- Keywords
- time poverty, online course registration, college outcomes, student retention, course completion, credit accumulation, school dropout, wage labor, parental status, student age, mediation
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