<p>I live in a small city in the Midwest where most kids learn to drive in their mid-teens. My son was a fine driver in high school, and now he is a freshman at a university in a very large metropolitan area on the east coast. Recently he surprised me during a phone call by saying he is in process of getting his commercial drivers license there so he can start making money on the side as a taxi cab driver.</p>
<p>He said he was able to get a (provisional?) commercial drivers license without taking a written or driving test on the strength of his midwestern drivers license, and apparently, he said, there is a way to rent a car and practice as a cab driver in preparation for the full license. (No, he didn't have any experience as a cab driver in high school, and it's not a family line of business.)</p>
<p>My jaw dropped and I've been sputtering to myself since. He's only been in city for a few months. He's carrying a full time class load at a demanding university. He has zero driving experience in the city. I think the common perception is that driving in that city is quite difficult, and I also think that there are plenty of job hazards with being a cab driver.</p>
<p>I'm curious whether you've gotten surprising news like this from your kids off at college about a job that seemed iffy. How did you react? I was so surprised at my son's news that I didn't say much myself.</p>
<p>I think it’s actually helpful for college students to have part time jobs. Even with a full class load at a demanding university, it can be a struggle to manage your time effectively (you would be surprised how much “free” time students have, meaning time not spent in class. It’s not really free time of course, but it’s not easy to learn how to fill it efficiently), and if you have at least some obligations outside of studying, you tend to manage your time better. </p>
<p>This is a pretty unusual job though. I’m sure he didn’t come up with this idea out of the blue. One of his friends or a friend of a friend is probably a cab driver. I think there’s no harm in letting him at least try it out, and frankly, I don’t know that you can really do much to stop him at this point. He may fail to qualify for the full license in the first place, and even if he gets it, he will probably decide after a while that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and he’d prefer to find another way to make side money. Either way, he’s likely to follow his own inclination, so encourage him to be careful and let him realize on his own that it’s probably not the best plan.</p>
<p>“He may fail to qualify for the full license in the first place, and even if he gets it, he will probably decide after a while that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and he’d prefer to find another way to make side money.”</p>
<p>That really depends, actually. He might love it. Cab drivers make excellent money. Also, since they’re independent contractors, ** he’ll be able to set his own schedule to work around his classes and homework. ** The only thing he’ll really have to worry about is dangerous customers-- cabbies can be in a vulnerable position, since they carry cash and have their hands and eyes occupied while driving. My dad used to be a cab driver. He carried a baseball bat in the front seat with him. Don’t freak out, but remind him to be careful when he’s working. Also, tell him to make friends with restaurants, bars, and strip clubs but only take home the employees. They tip well and don’t cause trouble. ;-)</p>
<p>I freaked out my mom taking a job at a shady restaurant-bar in bad neighborhood near Boston when I was in college. But, I learned how to stay safe, made sure that the bikers that hung out there would be on my side in a fight (it only takes as much as learning their names, their preferred beer, and sincere eye contact), and made EXCELLENT money. My mom came to the city to visit me one day after my apartment got broken into, and she came to have lunch at my work while I was on shift. Later, she told me how proud she was of me, how well I was handling the men, not letting them get to me, brushing off their insincere compliments with a smile. She saw her little girl all grown up.</p>
<p>A final word, remind your son that taxes aren’t set aside, but he’s still going to have to pay them at the end of the year. If he has a good night (300+) set aside 2/3 of that for taxes and DON’T TOUCH IT, NO MATTER WHAT. He’ll be thankful when he’s not working extra shifts in March to pay Uncle Sam.</p>
<p>We didn’t really want our kids to work as freshmen. BOTH got really flexible and well paying part time jobs that they really liked. Less than 10 hours a week. We figured since they sought these out, they would be able to manage the time well…and they did. Both continued to work through college with increasing hours…but their employers were flexible when they needed time off or a different schedule for school things.</p>
<p>My D got a job at the student store at her U last summer and has kept it through this school year (sophomore year). I think it has really helped her grow up in many ways: she is more conscious of the value of a dollar, hence more careful with her money. She is paying for all her extras like ski trips and weekend trips. She even has a 401K. Furthermore, there is some discussion that working in the same job over an extended period is as valuable to future employers as doing internships. It distinguishes her from the LARGE number of students who have never worked a day in their lives.</p>
<p>Oncampus student job is WAY different from taxi-driving. Who is going to insure him? Will your car insurance cover him if he is driving professionally? I would tell him that this is NOT a good idea, and suggest he find something that is closer to his career goal. (And most taxi drivers do NOT make excellent money!)</p>
<p>Well it’s all relative. Compared to pretty much every other job a college student could have, taxi driving probably does pay a lot. And, as others have said, you set your own hours, unlike other jobs. Plus, there are few career related jobs open on most campuses. </p>
<p>I think that if I was a mom, I would definitely be surprised and maybe nervous. I would not agree to cover him on my insurance. Let him figure that out (I’m sure if he’s thought it through this far, he has an answer for that). I just think he’s going to do what he wants to do, and living in a different city, the OP will have little ability to compel him to do anything. It doesn’t sound like it’s worth withdrawing educational support over, so I’d encourage him to be safe and then wait and see if it works itself out.</p>
<p>where i live Taxi driver make $300 to $400 a day… its not bad! and its cash which is even better my H is a limo driver( self-employed) and lately decided that he wanted to rent a cab sometimes and go work as a taxi, because he knows some people who make really good money driving a taxi… . i am a little concern for his safety… but common sense is key most of the time and he has a lot!</p>
<p>D3 “wakes the pianos up and puts them to sleep at night.” She’s an assistant to the piano tuner, which apparently involves filling humidifiers, checking that the pianos are in good shape and in tune, and a couple of other mysterious things. She wheels a large cart around the music building. Not the job she originally wanted and definitely not terrific hours, but it’s her first paid employment for anyone other than family/friends, so I’m pleased she’s getting a taste of responsibility. </p>
<p>D2, at 4foot9, surprised us her first year when she got a job as a security guard! I’m not sure if the plan was that she’d kick the bad guys in the shin or what…now she’s worked out a much better schedule juggling ushering and monitoring the darkroom (as a photo major, she can work on her own projects if things are relatively quiet during her shift).</p>
<p>S never surprised us. His passion is audio, and all of his paid employment has been in that field.</p>
<p>after my dear m-i-l’s memorial service, my then 83 year old f-i-l annunced that he had been an artist’s model to work his way thru college…his grandchildren’s jaws dropped. as did his son’s.</p>
<p>sdgirl66, has your son checked into the insurance requirements associated with this part-time job to make sure he will be covered? I don’t understand about this “practice” driving with a rented cab before he gets his commercial license. Will he be an actual company employee or an independent contractor? As a male under 25, he may find insurance to be too expensive to buy on his own, if it is even available to him, for this venture, and it might well eat up any potential profits.</p>
<p>I am very surprised at the job my daughter held last year as well as all of theo ther things she does when not in class…and I mean that in a good way :D</p>
<p>Well, yes, I was totally surprised when my son told me about his idea to make some extra spending money. He was thinking of working as a male model for art students. Yikes! He’s so skinny, he could be a skeleton for the biology students, but male model?</p>
<p>My kid is an RA and also in charge of setting up for all of the chem labs on campus. Beginning in April she’s also spending a few days a month as a practice patient at the medical school in town - big money and “somebody has to do it”.</p>
<p>At least the med school uses paid “patients”. Her PA class practices on each other. There are only two men in a class of 40, which means each guy will have to undergo 20 prostate exams… without the $50/hour the med school pays.</p>
<p>limabeans, that’s exactly the kind of body that art classes look for: average, if not a little different! The type of body people think of when they hear “male model” isn’t want art students want. They want a model who will give them a good idea about what a certain body type (in this case, a skinny man) looks under his clothes. Where does this line go if there’s NOT a bulging muscle here, etc?</p>
<p>Anxiousmom, they do in East Coast metro areas (at least in the Northeast). Even in my little city north of Boston, the average driver would make $100-200 on a weekday night and $200-500 on a weekend night (which is very good money for a part-time no-degree job). I’ve never been to Texas, but I’m guessing if the drivers in your area don’t do well, that means that most people drive cars? It’s not like that in East Coast cities. Our roads are too small.</p>
<p>ETA: you’re all right about insurance and other costs, though. Make sure he looks into those and takes a hard look at how much he’d realistically have to work for the bulk of his earnings to be take-home pay.</p>
<p>I’d be careful about the safety/danger of driving a cab, from possible armed/unruly/drunk customers and those who may try to leave w/o paying. There has been quite a bit of violence against taxi drivers that I’ve read/heard of and it doesn’t seem like the safest job, even discounting the danger of driving in busy city congested streets.</p>
<p>Our D surprised us by getting a job her 2nd day on campus. She called & proudly told us that she was hired as the only non-cinema, non-work study student hired to help watch the videos being made for the accounting school. She held the job until budget cutbacks the next year had them only hiring W/S students exclusively. She did enjoy it, tho it was very low wages it had a good environment and she made some good friends & contacts as well as learning more about cinema.</p>
<p>^^^ (Adding to my post above) Before taxes and expenses, though. Also, this was over 5 years ago, gas prices might have made those figures go WAY down!</p>
<p>Our S waited until he had been on campus for two years before getting a job in a research lab in EE, his field. No big surprise there. I have read/heard of others who have been paid pretty well for being models for art class and also “Peel-o-Gram” strippers, but am glad my kids have not surprised me by one of these jobs. D is exploring to get some summer job, she hopes, in LA.</p>
<p>We didn’t want our D to work her freshman year; she had earned a scholarship and we thought she should at least take her first semester to get settled in. Imagine our surprise when she called us the first week to announce that she’d found a job on campus that she was really excited about, working in the music department concert office as a “crew chief.” She does a variety of things – all of which are giving real-life, transferable job skills: box office, house manager, publicity and promotion, staging, assisting performers with tuning, broken strings, etc. Now a junior, she still has this job and is one of the senior staff. </p>
<p>This arrangement has worked very well for orchestragirl. The job is very flexible in terms of fitting her work hours around her full course schedule, and she also finds it a personally satisfying way of staying involved with music even though she’s not a music major. Because she works during the school year, she hasn’t worked summers; after freshman and sophomore year she took extra classes at the local U, this summer she’s doing a fulltime internship.</p>
my H is a limo driver( self-employed) and lately decided that he wanted to rent a cab sometimes and go work as a taxi, because he knows some people who make really good money driving a taxi… . i am a little concern for his safety… but common sense is key most of the time and he has a lot!</p>