<p>Many of our kids are getting to the point of deciding on which offer to take from which school. We are evaluating how much FA, and whether it is loan or merit or scholarship. Our son is evaluating options and his older sister is going to graduate in the end of April, undergrad. </p>
<p>I thought I'd share an idea with you. There is an opportunity for students to gain valuable leadership, great experience and lower the cost significantly at schools and they really need to think about it from the beginning of the college year, IMO. This opportunity is to be a Resident Adviser for the Res Halls (we called them dorms in my day...my D has corrected me for 4 years).</p>
<p>It isn't something you can count on for your S or D, but it might be something they would consider. The universities usually look for the RA's in the 2nd semester of the year. That means the student must have good grades the first semester and be aware when the school asks for applicants for these positions. My D applied and was an RA for two years, so the cost of college was significantly lower. Interviews were difficult and the training was excellent.</p>
<p>This year she has an apartment, but knows that the experience was worth it in many ways. </p>
<p>Good luck deciding on which school & this might be a way to reduce some college expense.</p>
<p>Usually very competitive as many schools will cover 90% of your room & board this way.
That was usually the opinions of my two that are out of college, too much competition for those positions! I doubt if my other two will pursue it either.</p>
<p>I think it’s a good idea and worth investigating…carefully! One would want to know the on-duty/on-call and other expectations placed on a RA (such as organizing social events for the floor) and certainly the temperament and time-management/study skills of the student. In addition to the ability to maintain good grades, it’s very important to have a good attitude in general and decent people skills. If they don’t enjoy listening and helping people, it’s probably going to be a miserable year even if they get beyond the interview process!</p>
<p>I was an RA and enjoyed the experience and made some lifelong friends. I think my D, who is very upbeat and the queen of organization, would be a great RA but she does not care for the idea at all in a dorm situation. Her friends that are RAs this year seem to spend loads of time helping confused freshmen and being surrogate parents! She also doesn’t want to be put in the position of policing other’s behaviors, though may reconsider if she moves into an on-campus apartment with only upperclassmen.</p>
<p>I knew about this option, but it would not have been a good fit for my first two kids. I think it may well work for my #3, but as SLUMOM points out, it’s a competitive position. The other perk is RA’s usually get a double size room with no roommate. Probably not something to count on when figuring out if a college is affordable or not, but something to think about instead of another job.</p>
<p>Sk8rmom, point well taken. It isn’t easy, but the experience is excellent. My D was finished after 2 yrs, but it was an excellent job while she did it & I agree you have to work well with people.</p>
<p>Becoming an RA is not something anyone should count on when deciding on affordability of the school. Because of the perks involved, it is usually a very competitive position.</p>
<p>Agreed…RA jobs are extremely competitive at most colleges. DD applied twice and never got a job. Instead she was fortunate to work in undergrad admissions and as a student ambassador. At her school, these positions were amongst the highest paying and competitive on campus jobs. Something else for college students to consider…but not any more a guarantee than hoping to get an RA job.</p>
<p>My students who are RAs do get certain financial perks (like housing) but they work harder than anyone else (and pretty much everyone at my school works at least part time). The hours are brutal, the demands tough (RAs, even of legal age, are not permitted to enter local bars, for example), there are unpredictable crises like the need to accompany a freshman to the emergency room the night before your big midterm. There’s a lot of competition to become an RA, and the ones I know are among the most mature and organized people on campus, but it’s definitely not for everyone. </p>
<p>It can, however, be a great stepping stone for the student who’s looking for a career in counseling or university student services.</p>
<p>D’s school only takes juniors and seniors for RA’s. D applied for next year, interviewed, and I’m hoping she gets the job since it includes free room/board. I think she’s a natural–a real social organizer, big sis type, involved on campus, etc.–but there is plenty of competition.</p>
<p>My daughter is an RA (her school calls them "Residence Interns, but same job), and it has been a worthwhile experience for her. I think that she has learned a great deal about herself and who she wants to be/what she wants to do, as a result. We don’t qualify for need-based financial aid (a bitter subject that I will not pursue here), and this is one of the few jobs on campus that do not require that qualification.</p>
<p>She gets 50% off her room bill, and a salary that is equivalent to the other 50%, so it amounts to a free room. That is nice, but I have to say that she has more than earned her compensation. She has had to deal with a sexual assault and an attempted suicide, along with the more garden-variety passed-out drunks, smokers (tobacco and other substances) in their rooms, and 2am partiers. Not a job for the faint-of-heart!</p>
<p>The other point is that these jobs are very rarely available to Freshmen, and are not commonly offered to Sophomores. Most RAs are Juniors and Seniors.</p>
<p>Just a warning - I mentioned the possibility of this to my D when she was a freshman in college (thinking it could save some $). Turns out at her school, RAs do NOT receive free housing. It’s evidently considered a privilege to serve in a leadership position!</p>
<p>Not all schools offer free room and /board to their RA’s. </p>
<p>D was an RA. She enjoyed the experience, but it was a lot of work, It was a competitive process for a job that did not offer free room/board (but you did get a single). She got paid a stipend. (x-posted with college-query)</p>
<p>I hope she gets it and also she has a good experience. My D was finished after 2 yrs, but it was an excellent opportunity for her. She isn’t majoring in Spanish, but with many native speakers from DR her Spanish is now excellent. Her school did have the room/board benefit (thank goodness!).</p>
<p>At my college the biggest deterrent to being an HR (we called our RA’s Head Residents, so different acronym) was that 1) you had to get to campus early in the summer, which for those of us with summer jobs or internships was not really an option and 2) you had to move out of your house as you usually weren’t allowed to be HR in a house where you already lived. Since house attachments and loyalty tend to run deep at Smith (not to mention that’s where most of your friends live) it was a little bit of a disincentive. </p>
<p>Of course, if you are an HR you get paid, plus you get free room and board. And you get to live in what used to be the “House Mother” suites, so your room is huge and with its own bathroom. Also, I knew lots of HRs who didn’t do anything and instead pushed all of their responsibilities on to the unpaid, volunteer, elected House Presidents. So in that way it’s a pretty sweet gig. Get paid, get a $10,000 discount on your bill and not have to really do that much work.</p>
<p>:-) I should caveat that some of the HRs were great. I just tended to get really lazy HRs, and I also tended to be on House Council (one of the elected leaders of the house) so I got to experience the joys of covering for lazy HRs (both in social and in house disciplinary matters. Which is not/not the HP’s job). Not all of them are like that though.</p>
<p>At the school my son attends one does not get free R&B. One may have a 2k discount on R&B or a single room for the price of a double. Also, one will lose the ability to earn money during August (effects internships) because one must be on campus for all of August.</p>
<p>When I was a freshman in college, the RA had to put much time into the postion for the first couple months, but then did not after most of the students had adjusted. I imagine being an RA in a mixed dorm that has few or no freshman would be much easier.</p>
<p>Just a word of caution - some colleges want their RAs to be counselors, while others want them to be cops. It is really hard to build up trust and be a supportive person if the college seriously insists that the RA report any alcohol use on their floor, for example. I know someone who was required to stop and report all drinking on their floor as a RA, and they hated being in that position.</p>