<p>This is coming from a hs senior who's only "worked" 1 day a week for two years. Assuming I take the limit for the # of classes in the fall, how much could I expect to work? How much could I expect to make a month? I may get a work study thing on campus, but it's only 2k/academic year. I'm assuming the limit is a standard #....</p>
<p>I ask because it just dawned on me that if I somehow get 1k each month, I would not have to borrow outside of the Direct loans, at least for this year.</p>
<p>To me, 1k is a ton. My mom said that I may be able to "borrow" from her.</p>
<p>It would be for the TMS thing. This way, I figure I could avoid paying unessesary $$ on interest fees that would otherwise come from the PLUS loan.</p>
<p>I plan on modifying my habits, too. Good Will, store-brand everything, etc. The hardest thing will be food - I like organic stuff haha.</p>
<p>You won’t get 1k/month. </p>
<p>Let’s assume you have no taxes taken out (ha). That is ~$250/week. Even making well above minimum wage (we’ll say $10/hour), that’s 25 hours per week. That’s way too much. </p>
<p>Fwiw, I’ll break down my jobs after taxes:
One is 16 hours/week- ~$220 after taxes every two weeks (this is a work-study job).
One is 15-20 hours/week- ~$270-370 every two weeks.
The other one varies so we won’t include that. </p>
<p>I work like a crazy person (by college standards) and gross just over $1k/month (after taxes and such) and one of my jobs pays nearly double minimum wage. It’s not going to happen. </p>
<p>You’re most likely going to make ~$300 per month (that’s around 10 hours/week at 7.50). I wouldn’t work more than 10 hours, especially as a freshmen.</p>
<p>If your mom is fine with it, borrow from her before borrowing any official loans. Why is she taking out the PLUS loans if she can pay? PLUS loans are in HER name and it’s really dumb to accumulate interest when you could pay.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s what I realized: I’d pay more in the long run with loans.</p>
<p>romani, what do you do to earn double the minimum wage?</p>
<p>Work for the state. Library assistant.</p>
<p>I worked about 35 hours per week through most of college, taking 16 credits per semester, as well as being an unpaid research assistant and doing an honors thesis/study, so I didn’t lose out on those opportunities. I made $8/hour working in retail (I was only offered 6 hours/week through work-study, which was a bit of a joke for me, and not worth it), I made roughly $900/month after taxes. But this is not what a typical student would want to do. I was not overwhelmed in any way, but I also didn’t have (nor really want) much of a social life. I commuted, so I was never on campus after class - I went right to work and then home. </p>
<p>I would work fewer hours freshman year and gradually try to increase that once you know what college is like and what you can handle.</p>