Study title

The majority of university students in Germany have to work to earn a living. The closure of universities and the loss of many typical student jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected their situation. We collected data on the employment and financial situation of students at a major German university. In contrast to previous studies, we are able to analyze changes in students’ income and its composition throughout the different phases of the pandemic between January 2020 and June 2021. Students’ job income declined by 66% (total income by 19%), on average, during the first lockdown. There was a quick recovery during the reopening. Job income fell again during the second lockdown, but this decrease was only half as large as that in the first lockdown. In line with our expectations, students from non-academic backgrounds were particularly affected by job income losses and compensated by increasing loan financing, which widened pre-existing funding inequalities. The financial impact led to increased intentions to drop out (12%) and to extend studies (26%), both with a peak during the second lockdown. With respect to social background, we do not observe any differential changes in intentions. This is a rather unexpected result and contradicts the hypotheses derived from the theory.