WHEN her father's company folded last year, Sarah, 20 (not her real name), found her grades taking a sharp dip.

He was the family's sole breadwinner. His small software business also paid for her engineering fees at university.

Even after he found a job as a software salesman, the family of three found it hard to make ends meet, with only about $1,500 a month for household expenses.

Sarah recalled: 'My first thought was how I could stay in university, and how I would be able to afford my daily expenses.'

She decided to become a part-time waitress in a cafe.

She is not alone, as a study done on 200 NUS business school students aged 18-22 shows.

It was completed last October by the school's Management & Organisation don, Associate Professor Vivien Lim.

She said: 'The objective was to show that the effect of job insecurity was not confined to the individuals - parents' job worries do get transmitted to their children.'

The children may develop negative motivations for earning money and develop a poor attitude towards money, besides having to juggle work and studies.

For Sarah, working about 30 hours a week means that she barely has time to study now.

'I never used to worry about failing exams, but once I started working, it took a toll on my health and ability to concentrate,' she said.

She constantly felt stressed over keeping up with lectures and tutorials, and her grades fell from Bs to Cs and Ds.

'I work because I need the money - my heart isn't in the work. I just didn't want my parents to have to dip into their savings to fund my education,' she said.

She added that her $1,000 monthly earnings go mostly towards paying for school and for daily expenses like food. She barely has any savings.

She tries to eat at home as much as possible with her parents in their 4-room flat in Bedok.

Jasper Chen, 18, also feels a twinge of anxiety whenever his father mentions job insecurity.

This prompted the Ngee Ann Polytechnic student to do freelance work to supplement his pocket money.

'At one point my dad said his job was shaky, and the food factory which employed him was in danger of closing,' he said.

His father used to be the sole breadwinner but his mother now works two jobs - school canteen helper by day and fast food restaurant helper by night.

FINANCIAL CONCERN

His parents, who earn less than $2,000 a month combined, support him and an older brother, who has just completed National Service. They live in a four-room HDB flat.

Though his parents' financial worries have not affected his schoolwork, he says he is still concerned.

To supplement his allowance of $50 a week, Jasper does web design and administration. He gets a one-time fee of about $2,000 to design a website from scratch, and about $300 a month for routine web administration work.

He said: 'What my parents give me is enough for basic expenses, like my lunch every day. I usually have dinner at home, so I don't spend that much on food.'

His earnings go towards other expenses, such as clothing.

'I want to be able to buy the things I want, but I realise that it will be hard to get by if my father becomes jobless.'

Jasper takes about three hours a day to do his freelance work at home.

'The money is a big motivator, but I also see it as building my portfolio because I want to continue doing this in the future.

'My parents work hard, and I feel for them. I don't think I can just sit around and do nothing, so the least I can do is earn my own spending money.'

But he sometimes finds it difficult to accept the reality of not being well-off.

'Many of my friends own iPods, and I feel envious whenever somebody flashes one at me - it's inevitable,' he said.

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