A new study reveals there are distinct lifestyle differences between student who go into debt for school and those that don’t.

In a nutshell: Those who borrow have less time for extracurricular activities. Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed takes a look at the report:

A study released here Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association suggests that students who borrow are likely to have notably different experiences while in college from those who are able to enroll debt-free. And there are two distinct patterns for student borrowers, one with many more negative associations.

The study was based on surveys of students that asked them how much time each week they spend on certain activities. The data come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, which tracked students from nine liberal arts colleges, 14 private research universities, four public research universities and one historically black college. The authors — Daniel Rudel and Natasha Yurk, both graduate students at Indiana University — note that this sample may skew in favor of well-prepared, academically oriented students. But that may make the findings all the more striking.

The students were asked about hours spent in both academic and non-academic activities: studying, attending class, lab work, work for pay, watching television, listening to music, athletics (both participating and watching), attending parties, socializing and sleep, among others. When comparing just those who do and don’t borrow, the results aren’t shocking — those who borrow are more likely to hold jobs for pay and work longer hours at them, for example. But as the researchers examined patterns, they found three patterns among students, with those borrowing ending up in two of them:

• “Serious Student” (about 38 percent) is one of the groups of student borrowers. These students focus on academic and work-related activities, and are less involved in other activities than are those in the other two categories.
• “Disengaged” (about 29 percent) is the other group of student borrowers. These students are the least likely, on average, to be spending time on either academics or student organizations. They spend more time than do others on media (television and music) and on sleep.
• “Play Hard” (about 32 percent) is the category that is much less likely to include those who borrow. This group prioritizes time on athletics, student activities and partying, with lots of time also devoted to music. They spend less time on academics than do serious students, but appear to spend enough time “to get by,” just not enough to excel.