My daughter does not work while in school. She works during the summer and those funds she uses for any extras. She has all the food she needs at the dining hall. She does not spend much money on going out, and her incidentals are mostly covered by us.
My sibs and I all worked summers and had part-time jobs at college. So have our kids. The experience of juggling studies and work, especially in the case of my kid who is a theater tech/design professional, really paid off after graduation when life and multiple concurrent gigs need to be balanced.
D18 didn’t work her first semester, just to get acclimated. She was bored- her major is not that challenging. She just got her first job- she told them no more than 20 hours a week. She doesn’t need the money, but she needed something for a resume.
I think one of the best jobs is at the library on campus. Super flexible and closes during breaks. Check the library’s website 2 weeks before move in to see if they are accepting applications.
D didn’t work during school time until her junior year. She had two campus tutoring jobs. Her grades were excellent. I think she would say that she thought working was worth it. Since she finished high school, we have not given her spending money. She earns her own money for going out, clothes, etc… It’s a positive for her, definitely. Our son has worked the last two summers and will work in college, but not as a freshman. We want him to get the hang of being organized and stepping up to the rigors of college work.
S1 and D were both good students and worked as tutors. S1, as a lapsed EECS major, worked for the business school helping mostly with math and programming. D was a general tutor for the university helping with pretty much every course she had taken. She had a lot of flexibility with her schedule so could pick the less popular times and sit there, paid, doing her own homework. That is one of the secrets to a good campus job. She also helped out with individual tutoring through the diversity office.
S2 spent his first year as a late night chaperone for campus police. Shifts were 9:30 until 1:30. I do not recommend that, the forced sleep deprivation, except that on easy nights he could sit and study some. This year he works for the multimedia office helping with presentations, videos, picture editing, and a few other things. It is better. Both jobs are work study and 12 hours/week, the maximum before it starts affecting grades.
Our kids both worked about 10 hours a week all four years. Both had jobs that didn’t interfere or conflict with class time. DS worked as an usher for a major orchestra. It was evenings but early enough that he could still go,out with friends. DD worked in undergrad admissions beginning her second quarter. She really loved her job.
Both earned enough money to cover all books and discretionary spending.
Plus, they both had valuable work experience on their resumes.
The first round of campus jobs goes to financial aid students as work-study jobs. Really study-study-work jobs. Everyone gets the word ‘manager’ in their job title from day one. The next round goes to Dean’s List and merit scholarship recipients who are guaranteed either research or internships but both are paying jobs. Tutoring jobs were also plentiful as the private schools my children attended had free tutoring for everyone. Peer tutoring was the lowest level. Plenty more choices for free tutoring were also available to students. The local economy also realized they could hire students for ‘gal friday’ website cleanups and the like for ‘cash in the front pocket’ jobs. Funny that most of the cash jobs were at law firms.
At one of my kid’s schools, they have the job search down to a science. They hold a campus wide job fair for internal campus job; students have to dress up, interview, have a resume, and get feedback. Great preparation for real job fairs.
I think working during college semesters is penny wise and pound foolish, unless it’s an internship/co-op that would help their resume. Working on a high GPA is far more valuable in the long run than whatever he’ll earn at a near minimum wage 15 hour a week job.
Our son is paid a salary to go to school, and every cadet has a full-time job training to become an Army officer while earning his or her degree. Duties include: drill, inspections, formations, garrison patrol, all-night “Q” shifts, summer field exercises (air assault/airborne, sleep deprivation and survival skills, war games, navigation, marksmanship, etc.), supervision of lower-rank cadets, tutoring, disciplinary and honor board reviews, all the administrative duties required as they move up the ranks each year from private to lieutenant, and all manner of duties that operate and secure the post 24x7 — in addition to a full course load during the school year (rarely fewer than 21 credits/semester). He can’t wait to “relax” into his full-time professional job in the Big Army after graduation.
My D’s both had/have jobs.
D16 got a job teaching at a nearby religious school her first semester on campus. She worked about 7 hours a week for the first two years. She was abroad first semester so had to give up the job but is planning on subbing for other teachers.
D18 got a job in admissions. She is training to be a tour guide. It’s perfect because she’s earning money and making friends. It’s a close-knit group of people.
My kids were responsible for their own books and spending money. They could handle it pretty much any way they wanted to. Both went into college with some money in the bank (they’d saved some money over the years from gifts, and had some graduation money as well). I also insisted that both work the summer before they started college, just because I thought some work experience that wasn’t just for parents or relatives was a good idea, and I knew the money would help them as well.
D1 didn’t work freshman year, but she was offered a position in the writing center starting sophomore year, and worked there sophomore and senior year (she was abroad/off campus junior year). She also worked for pay summers after freshman & sophomore year, and had saved enough to fund expenses for an unpaid internship summer after junior year. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, so it sure didn’t hurt her.
D2 never worked during the school year. She went to a notoriously rigorous undergrad school, and was always really scrambling academically. Any spare time she had was spent in the physics lab after freshman year, too (she got some course credit, but not nearly as much as the time she put in). 
She worked every summer after starting college on campus for the summer, and saved much of that money for the school year. I gave her bit of grocery money (no campus meal plan) in the summers she was on campus (I would have been paying for groceries if she was home). She paid the fee to live in the dorm out of her summer earnings, and still banked about $1,500/summer.
Neither of my kids ever spent much. They are pretty frugal, and both managed to graduate from college with some money in the bank that came in quite handy for apartment deposit fees later on. I think it was really good for them to own paying those expenses, and also good for them to make choices of how to earn the money. Kind of training wheels for adulting.
The research shows that students who are actively/meaningfully involved in something when they are in college besides their academics tend to do better academically. That could be a job (on or off campus), a sport, music, service and volunteering, etc.
My daughter does not work at a job during the school year. She did do REU programs during the summer. She earned a large four year merit scholarship and the total cost of her four years was less than half of what we budgeted. She is frugal, has prepared most of her meals for the past three years. We send her $300 per month which covers food, incidentals, entertainment, and weekly private flute lessons. She autosaves $25 of that allowance each month. We fund her phone and holiday travel to our home at Christmas. Since entering college she has been deeply involved in music, in multiple groups with a regular schedule of rehearsals, has arranged music for various groups, accompanied, and played in the pit for 2-3 productions a year. She also did a club sport for three years. She will graduate with an engineering degree in May at the top of her class.
I don’t know about that. As an employer, if a student had no work experience of any kind that would concern me.
Co-ops and internships are ideal, but a lot of work can help a resume. There’s something to be said for a student who can work and study at the same time and do both well. Even minimum wage work offers the opportunity to develop leadership skills, responsibility, working with others, etc etc.
And of course, many students simply need the money. There’s a student contribution, books, travel, incidentals, food - whatever. Not all have families that can cover all that.
Many campus jobs do develop skills useful to employment. Accounting and business majors often can find similar work in campus offices; communications majors will benefit from being tour guides; exercise science majors are a natural fit for the school gym attendants.
My college junior didn’t work her freshman year while she adjusted to college studies. Now, she works 2 to 3 days a week at a pizza place, makes $13/hour and can bring home $50-60 in tips per shift. I don’t really track her study habits and grades, but I don’t think the 18 hours or so of work really impacted her studies.
We have been able to reduce the amount of room & board money we’re giving her so it has opened up the possibility of taking an unpaid internship if there is a good opportunity, or potentially saving additional money for grad school.
@jazzymom , since your son does not need to work, it may be better for him to focus on his studies, at least for his freshman year. He will get better at “doing college” as the years progress, and then if he thinks he can handle it, he can get an on campus job. My daughter didn’t work until her senior year (other than in the summer, of course). Your $50/week should be more than enough, assuming all of his meals are covered.
My D worked during her sophomore and senior years- both on campus jobs which worked well with her schedule. When she wasn’t working, we gave her about $50/week.
Both my kids working during college, though not during the school year as freshmen. They did work the summer before and after freshman year.
Both had held paying jobs prior to college, including during the school year. So they both had some savings when they left for college. One worked as a lifeguard at an indoor pool before school (6-7 am shifts 2-3 day/week) and on weekends; the other worked weekends as a docent and party room assistant at a children’s museum.
Kidlets paid for their clothing, personal expenses, car insurance & maintenance, and sorority dues during college. If they lived away from home during the summer, they paid their own COL (rent, food ). Parents paid for tuition, room & board, books, transportation to & from campus and cell phone. I would occasionally put $25-50 in their student account to pay for stuff like printing fees and laundry.
I think working helped them learn better time management during college and having CV with excellent supervisor recommendations certainly helps their post-college employment.
My D has worked full time summers since she was 14 and part time during the school year as well. She has been responsible for all “fun” money since she started high school. In college, we discussed her only doing 5-7 hours the first semester and she did that. She has work study and colleges really strive to make the hours they schedule be convenient. She picked up more hours and more jobs each semester and does whatever she is comfortable doing. One semester she worked about 20 hours week, 10 work study, 5 tutoring and 5 pet/house sitting and various other jobs. She also volunteers with Big Sisters and has a “little” that she spends e/o Saturday with.
Work provides much more than money. In our case it was absolutely necessary that she be working as much as possible from 14+ in order to go to college. But she now has a work ethic unrivaled by any kid I’ve met and that will be nearly as beneficial in her future endeavors as her college education. And I’ll add a humble brag…she is a 4.0 student awaiting an invite to PBK.