Economic Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on GMU Students

Prior research suggests that social determinants such as household and employment insecurity have detrimental impacts particularly to communities who identify as underrepresented and under-resourced. However, it remains unclear as to how economic insecurity has affected marginalized college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to assess how economic instability has impacted underrepresented college students during this crisis. Samples were collected using an online screener distributed among undergraduate student groups and organizations to recruit students who have been impacted socially, financially, and academically by COVID-19 pandemic. Individual interviews have been conducted to assess employment conditions during the pandemic such as health and safety when working onsite, benefits or lack thereof, etc., and the effects of these conditions on the participants’ mental health. Responses were collected and organized using Microsoft Excel. Based on preliminary findings, students who identify as Asian or Pacific Islander reported being economically impacted at 75.5%, which is significantly higher than other student groups. This suggests that students who identify as Asian or Pacific Islander at George Mason have faced severe economic effects as a result of this ongoing crisis. In addition, it is also important to notice the significance of COVID-19 and how it impacts other underrepresented student group’s mental health and resilience in terms of academic performance and frequency in reporting mental distress during this unprecedented time.

Huy Tran: 0:04  

Hello, and thank you, you all for watching our presentation. My name is Huy Tran, and I am working on a Summer Team Impact Project with Brittany Justice and Eve Smith. Our project’s goal was to answer the question, how were George Mason students economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we wanted to learn how different groups of Mason student were financially impacted during the pandemic, and if any student group or demographic was particularly impacted as well. So COVID-19 has really caused major impact on many regions of country around the world, and college student population is also in the equation as well. George Mason University is among top 5% the most diverse colleges. And because of this nature beauty of diversity at George Mason, the impact of COVID-19 also varies in different groups of students as well. During the, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many service facing businesses closed, including restaurants and retail stores. Over 40% of full-time students also work to support themselves and about ¼ students work in the food or personal service jobs, which were heavily impacted by state and federal COVID-19 safety regulations. Students from low income families are more likely to have to work to support themselves, which makes them particularly vulnerable to economic instability during mass layoffs. In addition, soon, from racial minority groups are more commonly work to support themselves. So, the purpose of our project is to gain a better understanding of George Mason students’ experiences and hardships throughout the course of COVID-19 pandemic in order to establish and develop an intervention to mitigate the problems.

Eve Smith: 2:08  

Okay, so now I’m just going to go over the research process that we conducted. So, in our project, researchers interviewed undergraduate Mason students to discuss their experiences during the COVID pandemic. So far, we have collected results from roughly 133 students. These interviews included questions about student’s economic situation, academic performance, health behaviors, and mental health and wellbeing throughout the pandemic. We asked students if they had been working before the pandemic, and if they had lost their jobs, had working hours reduced or were forced to look for new employment during the pandemic.

Eve Smith: 2:45  

And based on our results, we discovered that just over half the students we interviewed reported being negatively financially impacted by the pandemic. This included students who lost jobs or had reduced working hours, or students with parents who dealt with job loss or reduced hours. Students also reported leaving their jobs due to safety concerns, being furloughed, or being unable to work for an extended period of time while under quarantine.

Brittany Justice 3:14  

For our next steps, we’ll be analyzing economic impact based on students of differing gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, current income and first generation status to see if any groups of students at Mason or particularly impacted by the pandemic.

Brittany Justice: 3:36  

Economic insecurity commonly affects student’s academic performance and personal wellbeing. Based on our results, so far, it appears that a large number of Mason students are dealing with negative economic impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The high rates of economic impact demonstrate how important it is for George Mason to work to inform students of financial resources that are available to them from the university or in the students own communities.

Huy Tran: 4:10  

Again, thank you for so much for listening.