The working student population varies from city to city. But according to a new report by the Student Loan Hero, Provo and Salt Lake City in Utah rank top among the 98 metro areas across the U.S. when it comes to students taking on a part-time job during school years.
Provo has a 75.5 percent of the student population that is simultaneously holding a job and is enrolled in an undergraduate program, while Salt Lake City has 74.1 percent of people studying for a bachelor’s degree and have work.
The report found the cities that have large student working population are also home to affordable colleges with low cost-of-living areas and greater opportunities for part-time jobs. The students use their earnings to covering college costs and lowering their debt burden.
“If you’re taking out a huge amount of student loans, you might think a part-time college job isn’t worth the trouble, since you feel like you can’t make a dent in your principal,” the report reads.
“But if you’re managing a more reasonable amount of loans, working could get you a lot closer to graduating debt-free.”
A recent report had ranked Utah as the No.1 state across the country when it comes to the lowest level of debt among students. Its graduates have an average debt of $18,838 – much less than the national average of $28,650.
Following Utah, North Port, Florida; Minneapolis; Toledo, Ohio; Ogden, Utah; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; and St. Louis ranked among top ten for student population working through college.
However, Syracuse, New York; Bridgeport, Connecticut, and McAllen, Texas ranked as three of the bottom five metro areas with the least working students.
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