<p>"my older sister got all the babysitting jobs. and there aren't any more babies left really. I live in a pretty nice neighborhood (read: lots of senior citizens)"</p>
<p>Well, they need help too. Maybe some of them are unable to mow their own lawns or weed their gardens and their children can only assist them so much themselves. Or maybe they have a dog but have a hard time walking the dog everyday because of a disability and would be willing to pay something for those types of assistance.</p>
<p>for heavens sake do'nt do gardening unless you have experience and know what you are doing- although if you are interested you may find someone who will mentor you so that you can learn more.
One of the best things is do find a job that mirrors what you are already doing. Like to knit? Perhaps lead a class. Organized at studying? tutor or hire your self out as a study skills coach. You might not be great with kids one on one, but I bet you have friends in same position. Perhaps arrange to have parents night out, with up to 10 or so kids in someones basement and two or so of your friends to supervise.
My 14 yr old daughter is at work right now at the zoo, it is a volunteer job, but it gave her sister great experience and recommendations for jobs that paid that she was really interested in. I expect it will do the same for her sister.
It sounds like you need to do some brainstorming about what sort of work enviornment you want, it is Ok to try lots of jobs, but try and stick with one long enough so that you can use it for a recommendation to get work that may interest you more.</p>
<p>Wabash said
[quote]
i know my dad makes 90,000 and my parents still say i need to look dor FinAid.
[/quote]
Yes, you should definitely look for financial aid. Although $90,000 sounds like a lot of money, by the time you take off taxes and basic living expenses it is not a lot! Our household income is about that much, and we qualify for a nice chunk of financial aid. In fact, all the schools dd applied to awarded her need-based FA, or merit scholarships that equaled or exceeded our financial need. You should definitely apply for aid, and you may get some. We did.</p>
<p>Celebrian,
You are considering applying to some of the country's most competitive colleges. You certainly must have some skills or talents to be doing something like that. It's simply not possible that you're not good at anything.</p>
<p>As mentioned before, you probably could be in great demand as a tutor, particularly of middle and h.s. students. You also could be tutoring h.s. students in some of the subjects in which you excel. </p>
<p>When I taught college, some students made money by baking cakes and selling slices. The students were not master chefs. They simply made box cakes, iced them nicely, and hungry students/faculty with sweet tooths were happy to buy them. While you might not be able to do exactly this idea, you might be able to do some variation -- if you use some creativity.</p>
<p>Okay, I see your point. I truthfully don't excel at anything. And all these competetive schools are nothing more than a "fool's hope" for me, in the great words of gandulf</p>
<p>I think the upper middle class gets screwed here. My household income is about 110k a year or so. My parents got a state pre-paid college plan when I was born. The only problem was that they didn't realize that I would be as successful as I have been. They paid for a 2 year community college/2 year state university plan. I am now looking at small liberal arts colleges and UCs. They just can't afford to help me much. </p>
<p>Does them both being PhDs make the situation look worse to the colleges?</p>
<p>There is an article in today's NYTimes about $100K, not being that big income threshhold anymore especially in high cost areas. Did not target college tuitions, but it is true that 6 figures does not indicate the wealth it used to. Especially with private school costs getting close to that amount pretax. </p>
<p>Visirale, it is not easy for anyone to pay for college. But the more money your family has ,the better off they are, overall because there is more flexibility. Someone whose family is truly in the lower echelons are often struggling to make ends meet in the essentials. Never mind paying ANY college costs, forget about savings. And yet those kids, even with zero EFCs are generally expected to come up with something. Pretty tough to put any money into college when there are a thousand and one necessities at home being unmet. So I would hardly say the upper middle class get screwed. No one I know is getting too much money from financial aid. </p>
<p>As for your parents both being PHDs, it isn't going to matter a whit for financial aid. It's the bottom line on the financial statement that will determine that. If your app is such that you are highly desirable,THAT might make some difference, particularly in the packaging of your aid, and in schools that do not offer 100% of need, but what your parents do is not going to impact anything in the financial aid department. They say for admissions purposes, things like your parents' educational level, your address, your school, your ECs all give them some background on you, and it will not appear as remarkable that you are a great student if you come from an academic household as it would if you were a first generation college applicant, for instance, but that is more a tip factor, not something major. Hopefully, your parents can get their money out of the college savings plan, and at least those are some assets available. You will join the vast majority of families who have some savings to apply to the college costs, will start an austerity regiment to pay some of the costs out of current income, expect the student to work and take out some loans, and borrow the rest in order to pay for college. Unless you get a merit award, you cannot expect to get much or any financial aid, given your information. But, you know, if you are a successful student, there are LACs that give scholarships, and even if your parents can just pay 2 years of a UC, and a cc equivalence amount for 2 years, that is a very good amount saved if you do end up at UC if you are a CA resident.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I guess I was a little too quick in saying that the middle class is "screwed". </p>
<p>It must be nice to be in the upper echelons of society and not have any worries about paying for college.</p>
<p>One girl at my school has very rich parents. Her dad owns a chain of very popular/semi-expensive eating joints. Her mom is an editor for the Orlando Sentinel. They make weekend trips to Hawaii sometimes... Anyway, they put aside over 200 grand for college and college related expenses for her not long after she was born. Must be nice :P.</p>
<p>I'm not a CA resident... I just really like the UCLA campus from my visit there with my uncle to see about a cancer research program for his kidney cancer. Beautiful campus, and I love the area. And to my surprise, I just read that it was around 23 grand a year for non-CA residents... and that's A LOT more reasonable than 40k a year at almost everywhere else.</p>
<p>I was off base in saying that it is not easy for anyone to pay for college. Yes, there are those who are so wealthy that it is not an issue. But even families who are very well to do feel the payments to private colleges. H works with some bankers who are definitely in the upper echelons of income, and they are known to mutter how the ONLY ones who will sink that kind of money into that age of a kid pretax has to be the desperate parents. True, as the market value for job pay for the 18-22 year old group would not cover the costs of the high priced colleges. </p>
<p>I feel it is sad that the parents' willingness and ability is such an important component in the college selection process. You are pretty much out of luck in going to Harvard if your parents will not play ball in the college financial methodology, and I have known kids who have had to plan accordingly. My close friend went through a terrible divorce and her ex husband decided to refuse to pay a dime for college, and she did not have the money to do so. The daughter had an acceptance in hand to a private college, and at the last minute enrolled at a local state school and commuted because her father refused to even file the FAFSA (not that it would have helped, he is a surgeon). What on earth did that messy, horrid situation have to do with the young lady's qualifications for college? Everything in the world, as the tuition had to be paid. It is an unfair process, but the costs have spiraled to the point, that I don't see the government stepping in and paying for college tuition. The state schools are subsidized and most colleges receive federal funds of some sort to offset costs, but the bottom line is still astronomical. I cannot believe what some of the state schools cost these days, and many of the private school will talley up a $50K+ cost if your really count everything. We will be paying our first full freight next year, and it will be a deal. we have been fortunate so far with all of our kids as they have all gotten merit awards, and the oldest ones financial aid.</p>
<p>Always have cd's in your backpack, so many people will pay a dollar for each.</p>
<p>A good job that doesnt require a car is having a paper route. I had my first one in 5th grade and then expanded my routes. In 7th grade i was making over $100 a month for around 6 hrs of work a week.<br>
Once my hands got too dark I started to hire people to do routes. I would just manage the routes. I had 2-3 kids doing everything for me. I would take 15-20% and would also give them incentives for getting more subscribers. I would make $5 for a new subscription and I would give them $3 for outside their route and $4 for inside their route. I was a good deal and it worked well from 8th to going into tenth. </p>
<p>The pet sitting, lawnd mowing, and handy jobs are good too. But are hard to find these days and are not stable at all. One job i even had was to take peoples trash cans from their back yards to the street and back into there backyards. Some people would just rather pay a few dollars a week to a kid to do that instead of them having to mess with it.</p>
<p>In 11th grade I worked at a golf course(cart attendant 20-20 hrs a week) , then went to NASA SHARP, and now work at a nicer golf couse. </p>
<p>GOlf courses are nice places to work at. Look for jobs at one near by. Caddying is a great way to make money but places only need caddies during tournaments. The golf cart took over many teenage boys summer jobs.</p>
<p>"A good job that doesnt require a car is having a paper route. I had my first one in 5th grade and then expanded my routes. In 7th grade i was making over $100 a month for around 6 hrs of work a week"</p>
<p>What year was this? When it was safe for kids to run around their neighborhood without an adult? Just wondering.</p>
<p>Im in 12th grade now so it would be late 90's to early 00's. Most people should be able to walk around their neighborhood feeling safe. I would not advise having a paper route if you lived in the projects.</p>
<p>Were do you live and when you were in 5th grade were you not allowed to walk to school, to a friends, to a park, or just in your neighborhood?</p>
<p>celebrian,
I have been wanting to offer this piece of advice to you for several days, but kept hoping that your comments would take a different turn. I would give it to my own kids. I understand that everything in your life is not perfect, but from your posts you sound like a very negative person. You repeatedly state that you are not good at anything. Your sister gets all the babysitting jobs, your neighbors are mean, you are afraid of lawnmowers, you can't get to a retail establishment, you can't deliver papers, work would cut into your studies, etc, etc, etc. (none of these are highly skilled jobs, btw). The truth be told, you don't sound like you actually want to work, and I think that you even stated that you are not eager to get another job. That is ok, but if you really need money choices have to be make. This negativism drains your energy and is counterproductive to your goals. I would encourage you to be honest with yourself about what you want, and don't let a negative attitude be a stumbling block to achieving your goals. I can think of five kids right now who either suffer significant learning disabilities, have serious family financial problems or live in crime-ridden city neighborhoods. But they are successful. Why? Postive attitude and determination! Be proactive! These attributes will take you far...you can do it, too!</p>
<p>ok, i just thought i'd give my opinion on this thread.</p>
<p>i come from an immigrant family. my parents came to america with basically nothing in 1981 and worked really hard over the years to now achieve a 74k income for a family of 4. we used to take care of three aunts and my grandparents too. my family is not poor by any means, but neither are we rich. and where i grew up, no opportunites were spoon-fed, neither could i afford any extra classes or things like that. but that did not deter me from trying. i have applied for numerous scholarships, and sought out as many opportunities as possible. i did the best with what i had. and where i come from (orange county, CA) a 74k income is not relatively a lot, but is "average" in most parts of the county. </p>
<p>the thing is, i know my parents CAN afford sending me to a state public college (like uc berkeley or ucla). but i dream of attending colleges like stanford (that is, if i get accepted). i know i will get some financial aid from private colleges, but not enough. plus, my sister is going to ucla right now and will be attending grad school in two years. but 74k is a few k over the limit for Cal Grant.. and other aid. </p>
<p>so i accepted it. i am proud that i will probably go to a state public school, proud that i made it this far for a first generation american. and all those scholarships i apply for will make it even cheaper to go to UCLA or Berkeley. all i can hope is that after i graduate college i will make a lot of money so my children can go to their dream colleges regardless of cost.</p>
<p>so to all of you out there, i think you should just do the best with whatever situtation you have. and just know that the college you go to or don't go to will not completely determine your future. good luck!</p>
<p>At $74K a year, and multiple dependents, and two kids in college, the EFC for each kid should be such that a school like Stanford that provides 100% of defined need will likely come out to very close to the cost of the UC. Have you gotten back your numbers from FAFSA? Unless your family has a large amount of assets, salted away, you should be getting a goodly amount of aid.</p>