we are trying to crunch some numbers to see if going to a co-op school will help with tuition.
How much can a student earn on an engineering co-op?
What major? Which school? What are your HS stats?
Some freshman never get eng internships. Some might not get them until they are juniors, some kids will strike out on their own and find jobs.
Many kids never make it past the first semester of engineering, factor that into your math.
Our friend with a son at Northeastern made enough to cover his commute with a little left over. The real perk was it was a great company and they hired him when he graduated.
let’s assume best case scenario - he makes it in engineering - is at one of the school’s known for coops (purdue, northeastern, drexel, u cinn, clemson , RIT etc.)
Just wondering how much people earned on an engineering co-op
As a general rule coop salaries should cover the cost of living while on coop and have some left over for spending money for the next academic term. They would likely not be enough to help with tuition. If the student can live at home while working on coop then there woud be more for tuition. I could not find reliable engineering coop rates but here are some figures for computer science at Northeastern:
Academic Year 2018-19 Salary Averages
Student Level
Average Salary
Midpoint Salary
Average top 25%
Undergraduate First Co-op
$24.05
$24.00
$31.00
Undergraduate Second Co-op
$27.28
$25.00
$39.00
Undergraduate Third Co-op
$31.80
$30.00
$44.00
Graduate Co-op
$37.26
$36.00
$42.00
CS doesn’t =engineering. Cs seems to have way more $ potential.
@Sybylla Agreed but I could not find Engineering figures.
$20 / hour
https://www.engr.uky.edu/students/student-success/career-development/co-op-students
UK is a good mid-tier school in a low cost-of-living area. The $20 is probably skewed high by CS majors, which are about 20% of the Eng enrollment.
My company doesn’t pay more or less by degrees. First time co-op/intern is $26/hour. Not competitive but not terribly low either.
Student work earnings beyond quarter time in the school year and summer jobs paying high school graduate pay should be considered a bonus, rather than a requirement for college affordability, if at all possible, since not all students will get the better paying co-op or summer jobs.
Here’s the link for Purdue’s engineering co-ops: https://opp.purdue.edu/students/salaries.html
Note that for my D and most of her friends, the co-op companies are also paying for housing on top of their salaries.
My D did a 5 term coop at Purdue and made anywhere from $21.75/hr to $25/hr plus a housing stipend. At 40 hours per week she was making anywhere from 870-1000 a week. She also accrued vacation pay. That’s nearly 3500 to 4000 per month. This started about 7 years ago. She graduated in 2018. The housing stipend covered the cost of rent and the rest of her expenses were pretty modest, maybe 700-800 per month. She saved enough to pay the OOS differential, graduated debt free and with some money in the bank. The earnings are not counted towards her EFC and that helped a lot!
Also consider the opportunity cost of delaying graduation with a co-op. If a school has a strong record for employment, the co-op could be a bad deal financially.
I suspect summer internships should be about the same as co-ops.
My D’s Purdue MechE post-Junior year engineering internship this summer is $2100 bi-monthly, which is about $25\hr plus $1500 housing allowance for the summer.
Her roommate ChemE’s is a bit less, $22 I think, but includes housing and a car for the summer, so it nets out to about the same.
You also have to consider the value of the coop itself. When my D interviewed for positions she was asked few questions about her education but a lot about her work experience. Her starting salary was at the upper end for her major. It added a year to the time it took her to graduate but gave her 22 months of work experience.
Co-op students typically have higher starting salaries for their first jobs and more offers to chose from because of their work experiences.
I’m a little surprised that companies aren’t paying more for engineering co-ops. My S earns at twice the hourly rate working as a sophomore TA.
^^ Wow - Your son makes $40-$60/hour as a sophomore TA?
What is sophomore TA?
^I meant to say he’s working as a TA as a sophomore. His effective rate is even higher. He has to hold fixed office hours but he can do his own homework when no one else is around.
Yes, I’m very familiar with co-ops. They’re great for many people, but not everyone.