While the number of higher education students doing paid work is increasing, there have been contradictory findings on the impact of student employment on student performance (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1998, Perna, 2010; Riggert et. al., 2006). Our study focuses on the impact of student employment on students’ careers and commitment in the Eastern Region of the European Higher Education Area. We used the PERSIST 2019 (N= 2199) database. We assumed that paid work increases the chance of attrition and has a negative influence on commitment. Regarding commitment to one’s studies, there is no significant difference between working and non-working students, but, regardless of country, students who work regularly have much closer connections with faculty. They also get better results, which means that work related to one’s studies and keeping in contact with faculty have a positive effect on student performance.