Hi everyone, I was completely shocked by my acceptance today and I am almost certain I will be attending in the fall. I received very generous aid, but about $2,000 will be from a campus job. I was wondering if any current students have/had a campus job, and what that experience was like (and whether that has affected your studies/social life). Also, are the hours somewhat flexible? I’d love to work in the library or something. Thank you!
I initially had the same concerns as you, but I ended up loving mine. I worked in the library for 1-2 hours each weekday morning, a schedule I set myself and which helped structure my day (job->class/precepts->lunch->relax/hangout/dinner->classwork).
They don’t make it obvious, but you do not have to take an on campus job if it is part of your FA package. The money from your job doesn’t go to paying tuition or room/board. Its your own money for personal expenses. So if you don’t want and want to just rely on mommy and daddy for spending money, you don’t have to take it. I enjoyed having my own spending money to eat off campus, go to New York, etc.
Exactly. Princeton isn’t going to monitor whether or not you take a campus job.
Another point all families should consider: Princeton offers parents long term low interest loans in an amount up to the the total parental contribution. As a hypothetical example, if the FA office determines a family should contribute a total of $20,000 ($15k from parents, $3k from student summer earnings, and $2k from student campus job), the parents could borrow $15,000 from Princeton, leaving total out of pocket expenses of just $5k “from the student”. Princeton doesn’t care if the student contribution is covered by the student, Aunt Tillie, the parents, or any combination.
Students may also obtain an interest free loan (until 6 months after graduation I believe) for any portion of summer earnings (or possibly on campus earnings…you’d need to check on that) that the student is unable to earn. For example, one summer my son could not work due to a study abroad and training for his sport. They added half of the amount in additional grant and the other half in an interest free student loan. He simply had to fill in a form indicating why he was unable to work.
Thanks for the advice/insight everyone - I think a campus job is a good choice for me. I’m looking forward to being a tiger 
@hoagiehaven I also got a campus job as part of my fantastic financial aid package, I’m definitely going to take it as I wouldn’t have any other source for personal expenses but I was just wondering whether you were assigned the job or if you could request a specific area that interests you, such as in the admissions office?
@Homeless2Harvard I don’t remember exactly how it worked as an incoming freshman. I opted out of the job freshman year because I thought it would be too much stress, but then I got a library job in the fall of my sophomore year.
I would give the Student Employment office a call (contact info is here at https://puwebp.princeton.edu/StudentEmployment/info/seo.jsf). Also, once you get your netID this summer, you can log in and see what’s available. I would definitely take the initiative to try to get a job that interests you before getting assigned to something like PUDS (Princeton University Dinning Services). I loved having an hour or two in the library each morning to listen to music/podcasts while replacing books in the stacks.