Just before Thanksgiving break began and most students were focusing on getting home for the holiday instead of doing schoolwork, a report was released on Nov. 17 from the National Survey of Student Engagement that listed this year’s average number of hours students are studying each week.

In 1961, full-time undergraduate students clocked in 40 hours of study time per week, according to a 2010 report issued by Phillip Babcock and Mindy Marks. By 2003, that number dipped to 27 hours per week.

At Penn State U., one of the participating universities in the NSSE, students in their first year and senior year were surveyed on the amount of hours they thought they studied during a school week.

Given the option to choose from a range of numbers — 0, 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25, 26-30 and more than 30 — senior and first-year University Park students, on average, said they study about 16 hours per week.

According to the study, University Park engineering senior students studied 19.8 hours per week and engineering first-year students studied 17.2 hours per week.

Angela Linse, executive director and associate dean of the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, said it is not as surprising to see that students in engineering and the sciences are studying the most, but to see education seniors studying the second highest — 18.8 hours per week — is quite interesting.

Penn State freshman Rackel Nderi said she feels that she studies too much. Nderi said she studies between 34 and 36 hours each week.

“I stress myself out from studying, since I am a pre-med major,” Nderi said.

According to the study, University Park business majors study the least amount of hours per week.

Seniors prepare 12.3 hours per week and first-year business students prepare 14.3 hours.

One factor to take into consideration for is that first-year students are coming into college with the same study habits from high school, whereas seniors are taking more classes that pertain to their major, Linse said.

The report may prove that engineering students are studying more than business majors, but it also found that business students, especially full-time seniors, are working about 16 hours per week.

For every hour of time spent in the classroom, a student should be studying two to three hours outside of the classroom, Linse said.

If this equation is based on the 15 to 18 credits per semester a student takes, then the average number of hours a University Park student studies per week is low.

Using the formula, a student taking 15 credits should study between 30 to 45 hours a week, and one who is taking 18 credits should study between 36 and 54 hours a week.

But she said that she questions how students interpreted the survey — for instance, what did students consider studying?

“Reading a textbook, reading over notes before class and doing group work is considered prepping for class, but do students consider this when they were asked how many hours per week they studied?” Linse said.

The same concerns were expressed by Penn State sophomore Brigitte Ruiz.

“It all depends on if I have an exam that week and what class it’s for. I probably study between five and eight hours per week, but it also depends on what work is considered studying,” Ruiz said.

For PSU junior Dave Furjanic, he said that some people are studying too much.

He considers a productive week spending five hours per week studying, and he still gets the grades that he wants.

“If two people can both get an A on a test and one person spends more time studying, than the extra time studying is wasted,” Furjanic said.

The aggregate information that was collected only “roughly” represents the student population — often times women are more likely to answer surveys — which insists gathering further data to find the nuances, Linse said. The best way to figure out how students are studying is to take a sample group and have further discussions, she added.

According to Babcock and Marks, “increased market pressures have empowered students, causing colleges to cater more to students’ desires for leisure.”

When Russell Chuderewicz, a Penn State senior lecturer in economics, taught in Miami, Fla., he said that he was up against the weather.

“I had to compete with South Beach,” he said. “Students would much rather spend a nice day on the beach as opposed to class, which is why I had to keep the class interesting.”

There is also the possibility of advances in technology, making it easier to accumulate information.

Chuderewicz said that in an hour’s time today, students could do more work than in 1961. There are many more alternatives to studying as well.

With the larger percentage of students that do attend college today, the quality of education they are receiving decreases, Chuderewicz said. Lack of communication between faculty and students could also cause for the decreasing numbers.

Chuderewicz said though he does not specifically tell his students how long to study, he expects them to work at least four to five hours per week on his class.

Even if this level of transparency exists between the two parties, some question if professors should be expecting more of their students.

Linse, a woman who has taught many classes herself, said that students are coming into college with the expectation of not having to study outside of class.

Unfortunately, the solution to this problem is not simple.

“Getting everyone here at Penn State to do one thing is not practical,” Linse said.