To Work or Not To Work
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| Thu, 05-17-2007 - 7:37am |
Another thread down below made me start thinking about this. A couple of posters said that they felt it was important for children to help pay for their education. I worked during high school part time and all through College part time, but believe me, my money was just extra spending money.
Our 16 yr old has worked all yr, but truely not more than 10 or 15 hrs a week, once again, just enough for him not to have to ask for money all of the time. Actually, I really don't want him to work too much this summer. I think that kids need a break in the summer....re-charge time. During the school yr, between school, school work, more theater, this last yr he played football too, there is no way my child could make a contribution to his college financially. Now, we are planning, I will be working to help get him through, and we do hope that he will recieve some scholarship money (we tell him that is how he will help).
I guess my point to this is that I would have to disagree with the fact that all kids should work to help pay for college (if they don't have to) We want him doing all of these extra things while he can...while he is a child.....work comes quickly enough.....
Soooooo Ok, do I really have my thoughts messed up on this one LOL
Julie

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Julie-- I don't think you're messed up. I don't want my son working either. He works like a fiend in school--sixth in his class, 3.99 GPA, lots of extracurriculars--advanced chorale, theater (both on stage and behind the scenes), Boy Scouts (working on Eagle), etc. He needs the summer to decompress. As you say, his contribution to college will be scholarships, and one of the things he (and I) will be doing this summer is looking through FastWeb for various scholarship for him to apply for.
He mows our neighbor's yard in the summer, but mostly for pocket money and Scout expenses. He will also work at our Cub Scout day camp on the archery range, and spend a week on Mackinac Island (MI) as part of the Governor's Honor Guard. With those things, plus working on his Eagle, his summer will be full enough without him working.
Elizabeth J
I've felt both our daughters should work a few hours a week while in high school to support their spending/driving habits. My older daughter worked a lot during the summer and was able to save a lot of money to use as spending money during her freshman year at college. This worked well for her. We didn't want to see her working too much during the school year while in college because we felt that her studies, campus time, etc. were more important although she did find a work study position on campus (assisting a professor) that gave her a little more spending money throughout the year. I believe she only works about 6-8 hour per week.
My younger daughter is headed to college in the fall and we're hoping to have her continue to work during the summer in hopes that she too will save for college spending money although she feels that she'll want more free time to play during the summer.
We've paid for their education as we felt it was important and they try to pay for all the extras.
sorry - somewhat OT, but you mentioned BSN - my ds14 is thinking of that. Is it a good career path? Thanks so much!
Sue
I agree with you,partly.
My kids do not work during the school year because school comes first. It isn't "part time"
and it is very important that they put the becessary time into their homework. I've seen too many kids working part-time whose marks suffered. They were not learning responsibility because they were not meeting their primary responsibility which is school. Anything you do "half-assed" is not done well.
My oldest in university also does not work during the school year. She would not be able to do so and keep up her marks.
During the summer, I expect my kids to work or take summer courses.
In some programs, kids are able to work part-time during university/college. But in the more demanding programs, it is not possible. The work load is too high.
I too paid the shot when I was in school; I was completely self-supporting. BUT I didn't work during the school year. Sure, I was in debt but it was a "good debt". It was worth it
and my marks were high enough for grad school.
There is more to get a degree than "getting the paper". You are suppose to truly integrated the material. Would you want to see a doctor who went to medical school with a "part-time" mentality?
Actually when reviewing resume of new hires (engineers), I prefer students who
(1) Didn't work during the school year and mininize extra-curiculars. Kids load with "extras" make me nervious. They sound like they cannot make a committment & follow thru.
It's more like a "shopping list" of activities. It is not the quantity but intensity of committment that matters. Unless they have IQs of 160+ (which is highly unlikely), something has to give.
(2) Kids who don't work in the summer also make me nervious. It doesn't matter what they did,just work. Kids don't need 2 or 4 months to decompress. I would wonder how they would handle high pressure atmosphere of high tech. And they do need to have experience working as an "employee".
Thanks to all for your thoughts, I agree with everything that everyone said :) I would love for DS to be able to work during the summer, some of what the problem is is that many employers want a kid to commit to the whole summer (understandably), but with my DS who is actually planning on going to college for Theater and braodcast journalism, these summer acting opportunity's are very important for his resume. He will be tied up with them for all but maybe three weeks. Don't get me wrong either....when he's not busy, I find things for him to do...mow the lawn, babysit his little sister, fold laundry etc :) and payment for all of those things is having his parents pay for his education :) Thanks again for everyones thoughts...I love this board.
Julie
I don't allow my children to work during the school year. In return I expect them to take several AP classes and do well in all of them. Also, I want them to have the time to do extracurriculars, volunteer, recieve tutoring if needed, and still have a social life. I only allow for them to work during the summer, which has worked out so far. Neither of my children will be paying for college so I want them to take a lot of classes and do well. Connor, freshman in college, has not worked so far this year because we wanted him to get acclimated with college life and being away from home. When he gets home next month he can get a job, possibly at the same place as last year if he wants. In future years I would rather him intern to gain the necessary experience.
Adelaide
My DD has worked part-time during the past 2 yrs. We told her that if she wanted her own car (which her grandmother gave her), she would have to work to pay for the gas & insurance, plus she uses it for spending money for going out. She has worked the past 2 summers, but part-time. I don't think anyone hires kids for full time work, like they did when I was in h.s., but then I worked office jobs mostly, and she is working in retail. We never really thought that she would be able to contribute to college because the price is just too high. We discussed the cost w/ her and convinced her that it would be better to go to a state univ where the cost was only (Only?) $17,000 per year compared to a private college which would cost $30,000-$40,000/year. When she got out, she would have minimal loans and since she's going into nursing, she will have a good paying job. She got scholarships totaling $2500 for this year. Apparently, being middle class, we don't qualify for a lot of financial aid, but she did get one loan.
I think it depends on the family situation and the amount of other things that the kid is doing. If they are really busy w/ a hobby and the family doesn't need the money, maybe it's not that important to get a summer job. Last year, my DSD, who was 16, did absolutely nothing all summer. It really burned me up! She now has a job only 6 hrs. a week after school, but she does enjoy working. I feel that she really wasted the summer. Even w/ my Ds, who is 11, obviously he can't work, but I wouldn't want him sitting around all summer just watching TV, so part of the time, he's going to camp. He's going w/ his father on vacation for one week and he'll probably visit my mother overnight too. I think if kids have too much time on their hands, they just get bored and don't know what to do w/ themselves anyway.
My 22 yr old-who is self supporting except for PT schooling - told us last weekend that he resented it when we made him pay for things but he now appreciates how he learned to handle money at a younger age.
We DO pay for their schooling 100% which I dont agree with but DH takes great pride that he planned and we are able to do this. They did pay for half their cars, insurance, cell phones, etc. as teens. When DS1 lived at home and wanted faster internet, we said only if he paid and he did-in fact the whole set up was in his name which-didnt think of at the time-taught him how to set up utilities and gave him a credit rating when he went out on his own
I wish we insisted they set aside a % of work income for fun money for school; something to make them 'part' of it.
My kids like to work. The downside is they prefer work to school. DS1 worked 40 hr weeks his junior and senior years in high school-his choice. His grades were good but not great. Would he have had great grades if he didnt work? Frankly, I dont think so. He didnt like high school. He graduated with a low-mid B average and took a fair number of advanced classes as well as taking computer classes at the local college half his day. This isnt a weak student but he wasnt about to sit and study to get the B into an A. Sitting in school all day was already enough of that; he rarely cracked a book once he got home.
I dont have the answer because I still wonder myself. I see the good we did-both my kids feel they are more self sufficient than their peers and that has been a source of pride for them. Yet they are certainly not on the fast track to success in terms of GPA and top college acceptance that society seems so sold on these days
DS1 is transferring to a 4 yr college this fall-night and weekend classes. The adviser said that with his test scores and class grades he should be applying to a more highly rated University. He said 'thanks, but no thanks'. He wants to keep working FT(actually is getting a promotion in June)
Its going to be the 4 yr degree that took 6 or 7 years but he is a happy productive self sufficient young man who seems more mature in many ways than the FT college students he works with.
Many paths...
Edited 5/18/2007 8:59 am ET by windrush54
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