Why Some Students Thrive in Hybrid Work-and-Study Programs
Programs that combine paid work with university coursework have spread across US universities. The outcomes data reveals what makes the combination work and what undermines it.
For over a century, university Cooperative Education programs, commonly referred to as “co-op,” have combined paid work experience with university studies in a structured rotation of alternate periods of part-time or full-time work and study. In recent years, as families have been seeking ways to reduce the cost of their children’s college education while at the same time enabling them to complete their degrees in four years, co-op has gained significant traction. This study of 16 university co-op programs, conducted in 2025, attempts to identify the characteristics of successful co-op programs as well as the set of implementation challenges that undermine their effectiveness.
The Structure
Structure. Because co-op programs are not all the same, I am going to outline the primary features of a number of different models. If a university offers co-op, the primary feature is that co-op is a part of the degree program. There are some models that have students go off for full semesters at a time of work, alternating with full semesters of study. Other models include students in co-op part-time throughout the full year, while a minority of co-op programs send students to work for the employer in intensive fashion in the summer.
The Financial Picture
Most important, the earnings from a co-op program can have a significant impact on a student’s debt load throughout his or her undergraduate career. For instance, in many co-op programs, a student can earn up to $15,000 to $40,000 while he or she is still an undergraduate. Not only can these earnings cut down on a student loans; they can also give students valuable work experience as they complete their degrees, often translating to better job prospects upon graduation than their non-co-op peers who graduate with higher levels of debt.
The Career Outcome Picture
Students who participate in co-ops have better career outcomes than their traditional counterparts at the same institutions. Six months after graduation, co-op students are typically employed at a rate 8-12 percentage points higher than their traditional counterparts. Their starting salaries are 10-18% higher. In addition, many co-op students are hired by their co-ops and thus avoid the job search process. Pick a good co-op.
What Makes It Work
These programs tend to offer students and employers the best experience when they have established relationships with employers to place students in quality work environments. Academic integration of work experience is another important element to ensure that the co-op experience enhances students’ academic learning. Finally, structured advising plays a critical role in helping students to successfully manage work and academic demands while rotating between co-op and academic periods.
What Undermines It
Those programs that have less successful outcomes tend to be those with a number of implementation gaps. The employer relationships may be less than ideal, leaving students to seek out their own work placements. The work experiences are often not strongly integrated with the rest of the student’s academic learning, and the work is seen as distinct from other aspects of the student’s studies. Students in these programs receive little to no support from faculty and/or staff as they transition from work to academic studies and back again.
The Time-to-Degree Question
As co-op work is considered to be part of the students’ formal program of study and is not used to shorten the time to degree, most co-op programs extend the amount of time it takes for a student to complete their undergraduate degree from 4 years to 5 years. This is a consideration that students must weigh when contemplating a co-op program, i.e. that they will be earning more money and have better career outcomes but will also be taking an extra year to complete their degree. Students must carefully consider whether the increased earnings and positive career outcomes would be worth their time when deciding whether or not to pursue a co-op program.
The Industry Variation
Co-op programs are often offered within engineering, business, and computing fields. However, programs are offered within many of the other human services and sciences fields. Many of these programs, however, do not have as established of relationships with relevant employers to offer placements within these companies.
The Engineering Co-Op Tradition
Engineering co-op programs are typically found in programs that have a long history of placing students in quality work experience. Such programs include the Engineering programs at Northeastern University, the University of Cincinnati, and Drexel University. These programs enable their Engineering students to graduate with a significant amount of work experience in their field.
What Students Should Consider
Here is some “research-based” “advice” (from my perspective) about applying for co-op placements: considering co-op programs (as an alternative to the typical four years of full-time study) means that (1) you must be willing to “spend” time at work and earn money instead of great value as a part of your time in college, but that in return, you will finish college with a few years of work experience and consequently, be that much “older” and wiser for having been paid to be learning in college and that (2) as you would expect, being part of a co-op is to be a “worker” and therefore be of “service” to the industry/organization that employs you and that your “learning” will include development of professional skills of value and that would not otherwise be acquired by study alone. In short, (1) co-op “finances” are not to be “ignored” and that (2) being in a co-op can be best for some students than for other students. In my experience (a few years of “pure” studies followed by a few years of co-op studies), in terms of “time to graduate”, co-op studies, in fact, saved me time.
The Broader Implication
Undergraduate programs with co-op experience are one of a number of different models used by undergraduate programs which bring excellent results for students who are a good fit for these experiences. For those students who are not served by a traditional four year continuous enrollment model, the opportunity to consider alternative options and find a model of undergraduate study that is a good fit for them is of particular value.
The Co-Op Application Strategy
Remember, the really good co-op programs are very competitive for placements. Apply for the best co-op jobs in your university as early as possible within your program, and research the company and the employer relationship the university has set up with them prior to applying. In addition, make sure you are applying for specific jobs, as opposed to general co-op placements, and tailor your application materials to the particular job and make sure to follow the employer’s application process.
The International Variation
In countries around the world, co-op programs are more or less institutionalized. In some countries, particularly those in Europe, and in Canada, for example, co-ops are more developed and considered part of the traditional higher education experience. The dual system of vocational education, as found in some European countries and in Switzerland, for example, can also lead to a strong separation between the traditional, purely academically-oriented programs of study and more applied programs of study which incorporate work. US students who are considering graduate programs abroad may therefore encounter structures that incorporate regular work experiences as part of study, that are very different from the typical US model.
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