<p>We give our college students a “loan” of $150/month – or $1500/ school year – to spend on movies, Starbucks, going out, etc. which they are to pay us back after they graduate from college or from summer jobs. Depends on each child’s “spending habits” whether $1500 is enough – One daughter still had money left when the year was over, another daughter had to borrow more.</p>
<p>If they are living in an apt, we pay $100/month for food expenses (which is less than what we paid for meals when they were living in the dorm, but cooking on their own in an apt costs less). So about $250/month for food and spending all together.</p>
<p>NY state gives $200/mon/person for food stamp, that’s according to USDA Thrifty Food Plan. The plan estimates how much it costs to provide a household with nutritious, low-cost meals.</p>
<p>They learn all that goes into running the business – if they work an early shift they see what is done at the start of the day, if they work a late shift they see what is done at close of day. They learn about payroll and payroll deductions. They learn about food costs and profit margins. They learn about customer service and marketing. </p>
<p>And yeah, my son also learned how to make really great pizza. (The place he worked only served mediocre pizza, but he figured out how to improve upon the product). </p>
<p>The path from new-hire to assistant manager can be very rapid at some of these places, where turnover is high – it is not all that rare to see a high school senior who has worked steadily for 6 months or a year to be working supervising others, including many who are much older than themselves.</p>
<p>Yes, there’s a lot of drudge work along the way – but an intelligent person can learn a lot from observation. I always enjoyed hearing my kids tell me things like – “I figured out why they do <strong><em>. I always thought it was because </em></strong><strong>. But now I realize that there is a different reason, it is because </strong>_<strong><em>.” – or “They are doing things all wrong at the place I work. It would be much more efficient if they did </em></strong> instead.”</p>
<p>“Some kids are heavily into extracurriculars. It’s hard for the student body president, the editor in chief of the campus paper, the manager of the college TV station, a varsity athlete at a Division 3 college, etc. to hold down a job too.”</p>
<p>I respectfully and ardently disagree.</p>
<p>No amount of extra curriculars should preclude any teen from having a SUMMER job, and if they do, they ought to cut one of them out.</p>
<p>Too many kids don’t learn the importance and responsibility of holding down a paying job. I respect a kid who gets up at the crack of dawn every summer morning or weekend, or works afterschool a whole lot more than I do someone who meets an hour a week afterschool on an EC.</p>
<p>Some of these kids haven’t a clue as to what it takes to actually work for their money, and that’s sad. The importance of holding down a paying job for teens is underrated, IMO.</p>
<p>BTW, we pay full tuition and board, but spending money comes from our kids savings, which is considerable since they’ve had jobs for years.</p>
<p>We did buy groceries when son moved off-campus, just set up a joint bank-account that you can transfer funds to online then your child can use her debit card. Not only is it convenient, you can see where the card is being used.</p>
<p>I have told him he needs to get a summer job to fund the extras for his school year. This is so he:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Doesn’t spend all summer sleeping in and playing video games.</p></li>
<li><p>Learns how much he has to work to at a low level job to save even a modest amount</p></li>
</ol>
<p>3.Thinks about how he is spending this money when he is in school - expensive coffee drinks may not taste as good when he remembers how much he had to work to afford them.</p>
<p>Depending on how he does with the job, we may or may not kick in additional funds. I want him to make a successful transition from high school to college. He will be in a demanding major and learning effective study habits and keeping up with assignments is more important to me at this point than him holding down a part time job.</p>
<p>DD has worked on paid internship and paid summer job teaching students in academic day camps during high school. </p>
<p>She has also done paid research and IT help desk jobs in both semesters during her freshman year at her college. </p>
<p>Still what I tell her repeatedly is that it make more sense to be unpaid but learn than paid doing irrelevant jobs.</p>
<p>Work ethics are important but you can get those from unpaid internship better than flipping burgers. </p>
<p>Certainly if funding becomes an issue then DD is responsible enough to find a paid job and that is what important than forcing children to do irrelevant jobs even when finances are not an issue.</p>
<p>Not everyone major at colleges are same. Some of the majors like EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) are very demanding and it might make sense spending summer learning in unpaid internship or even paid classes than holding jobs that will involve no brain activities.</p>
<p>You want your children to be highly skilled professional but expect them to go 3 months without any brain stimulating activities by forcing them to flip burgers/scoop ice cream.</p>
<p>In my opinion it is better for the children involve in demanding majors to spend times learning/reinforcing concepts about their major than spending time doing irrelevant jobs.</p>
<p>It’s not either-or. And life just isn’t about developing the mind. You can gain some very important skills by working at those jobs that you think are “below” you. Humility is an important life lesson too. </p>
<p>My S has spent his last summers doing a particular “intellectual” EC. This summer, he wants to find a job. He’s looking both at jobs that reinforce his particular area of interest, but also menial jobs such as being a busboy, scooping ice cream, etc. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. It will teach him some important life lessons. My D had a retail job last summer. I think she learned <em>tons</em> about life from dealing with the public, dealing with managers, etc.</p>
<p>It’s possible to do sports, have all AP classes, and have a few excellent EC’s AND have a job.</p>
<p>I work about 14-15 hours per week. Because I have sports practices and homework throughout the week, I worked it out with my managers to work two seven hour shifts per week, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.</p>
<p>My parents need this money so I can use a car and it has taught me many valuable skills, such as time-management and the value of a dollar. I have learned how to do taxes, manage a budget, and keep an emergency fund for care repairs, gas, etc. </p>
<p>And I work at a pizza chain. When looking for a job, I was grateful for any job. Fast food was not below me. And it never will be.</p>
<p>No job is bad job or a job “beneath” one and you don’t have to do a job to understand to respect it. I know lots of children who have worked at fast food center and still treat not only the people who work with them at those center as well as other low paying job holders with disrespect.</p>
<p>On the other hand I know lot’s of children who have never worked at such jobs but still treat other human irrespective of job, race, or economical status with respect.</p>
<p>I think it is more the upbringing of the children that teach them valuable lesson of respecting fellow human beings.</p>
<p>I think POIH has a point. I think it is upbringing and personal insecurities that lead to attitudes more than anything.</p>
<p>I spent my high school years in an ultra wealthy resort community working service jobs, one at an exclusive country club, and I have seen it all. </p>
<p>Extremely rich people who treated me like a treasured part of their family. Another very rich family, the husband and kids were fine, but the wife acted like I was about to damage all her prized possessions.</p>
<p>Other families at the club, the wives were busy starving themselves and being with their catty friends, the husbands were leading active sex lives on the side, and the kids were ignored, being brought up by the help, and acting out.</p>
<p>Upwardly mobile types that treated me like something nasty on their shoe, probably because I reminded them of where they came from, that they were trying to put behind them. </p>
<p>I think the example parents make for their children is most important in the attitudes they develop. I do think that working a low wage job does impart valuable understanding about money and budgeting , and the importance of education.</p>
<p>I suspect we parents have opinions mostly based on personal experiences and biases. The hardest job I held was paper-boy from 12 years old: up at 3:30 am every day, bicycling around the neighborhood with papers hanging off me that weighed at the start of the route more than me, regardless of the weather. I also worked all though medical school about twice a week in all-night shift work.</p>
<p>I appreciate the value of a strong work ethic, I really do. That said, I prefer that my kids ‘work’ at school rather than a minimum wage job. I tell them that their current job is excellence at school. Now that they are starting college, I will encourage them to find outstanding internships in the summer regardless of pay. If that does not pan out, then any old job will do just fine. My son’s bank account is $2500 richer from the national scholars award, and I think it was a great concrete example to him that education and studying is rewarded. Likewise my daughter was able to choose a school she is happy to attend, because of merit scholarships that made cost of attendance within our budget. These lessons and rewards are not lost on either of them.</p>
<p>Teaching frugality through low-paid work is an interesting idea, but I am skeptical it works in general. Looking around I see working kids who have the lion’s share of their expenses paid by the parents, and spend every cent they make working on entertainment. My kids budget their birthday presents throughout the year, and receive a weekly allowance of $15/wk if they appease their mother in assigned chores. They can be heard to grouse at not having weekly income from a job, but both know exactly how much money is in their bank accounts, and a moment’s reflection usually occurs before things are bought. Well, except movies and sodas. Neither kid has car insurance. They will use zip cars in college, but have learned to take advantage of public transport for daily needs. My son says that taking the bus is fantastic – he gets to meet and talk with people way outside of his insular HS and neighborhood experience.</p>
<p>Will my kids grow up to be modest, ethical, hard working, frugal and highly paid adults ? That is the plan ;-)</p>
<p>“You want your children to be highly skilled professional but expect them to go 3 months without any brain stimulating activities by forcing them to flip burgers/scoop ice cream.”</p>
<p>I doubt very much that my children’s synapses will stop firing if they take 3 months off of “brain stimulating activity”. Come on, everyone needs a break!</p>
<p>Heck, one of my kids works as a nanny/dog sitter/chauffeur for family friends, just thinking of him driving them to JFK and back in rush hour without any car damage or getting lost is enough stimulation for me. </p>
<p>Oh, and he has a very nice used car that he bought with his own savings 2 years ago, so there are some fringe benefits to a summer job.</p>
<p>Part of REAL life is that we must spend a decent amount of time doing mundane things…even if we’re geniuses, CEOs, or what have you.</p>
<p>I am reminded of when the older President Bush was inaugurated. The night before, his entire family (including grandchildren) were staying with him. The youngest grandchild was very sick that night, yet President Bush insisted that he take “his turn” staying up with the little one that night. Imagine…you’re about to become president of the US, yet you don’t think you’re “too important” to do mundane things like stay up at night to take care of a young sick grandchild.</p>
<p>Interesting thread. I ran across it while searching to see how much money kids need for spending money so we could plan ahead a bit. It seems that it’s less than I figured, which is good.</p>
<p>My oldest has been going to a local college and living here at home, but plans to transfer next year, and live off campus. My other daughter also will be starting college, and she is going away for school and living in the dorms. Both girls have held jobs for some time, and will continue to work next year. The oldest works in the college library as a regular employee, not work study, but other daughter has worked a demeaning low paying job at Subway (according to some) for 2 years now. She also had a second job for a time, but that got to be too much. Both girls are straight A students, and the younger of the two is involved in countless EC activities. Both also have active social lives. They are both responsible for their own spending money, and gas for their cars. I pay their cell phone bills, car insurance etc. This system has worked well for us, and for the most part will continue when they are both away at college next year. I was thinking about $50 a week for each of them as a way to help, but after reading this thread I now think $25 a week will be sufficient. We aren’t made of money in this family. I can’t and I won’t just hand them everything they want. My kids have all learned valuable life lessons by having jobs in high school, and now college. They both do an excellent job with time management and learning to prioritize things,getting good grades in school, while still having fun. I want their first experience away from home to mirror life as an adult and that means living within a budget. I don’t want that budget so tight that they can’t enjoy their college experience, but if they have to “starve” a bit, well that’s ok too.</p>
<p>They want more than that they can spend their own money. The one in the dorms will have a meal plan, and the other will have her own apartment and can cook. I have already told her I would buy her basic groceries. I think $100 a month, not earmarked for any sort of bill or expense is plenty. They will both have jobs, and both will be home at least once a month to restock anything they might need (paper, food, underware ect) on my dime.</p>
<p>I don’t think $25 a week is enough to feed a college student–it might work for the one living off campus if you’re going to be pretty liberal in terns of what she can restock when she comes home.</p>
<p>I find it odd that with one breath you talk about both of them holding jobs (including a demeaning low paying job for one of them), and then in the next breath saying that you don’t want to “hand them everything they want.” It seems to me that they’ve already learned responsibility, since they work and keep up good grades. Of course, a lot depends on how much money you have available for them, but I’ve gotta say your plan sounds stingy to me.</p>