<p>SHe said he had the money, but says it know needs to go toward the car. My point is, did his two day a week job, that took up two hours of drive time a day, plus gas, was the money he made enough to make a real dent in his tuition.</p>
<p>And $$ that were for tuition are to go to fix car, maybe car doesn’tneed to be fixed, if it was used to go to a job that basically covered the expenses of the car, plus a little extra.</p>
<p>OP said sone was going to make it work till car got wrecked. my question is, if we take two day a week job AND car expenses, reapir out of the equation, can son stay at same school. </p>
<p>Seems he was actually doing a pretty good job- 2 jobs, and b- average.</p>
<p>Agree, if I was this man’s parent(s), I would not want him to transfer, potentially loose credits and move home when clearly he is succeeding at peicing together, school, co-ops jobs, on campus job and off campus jobs and off campus living expenses during co-op periods. Seems to be there needs to be a plan to keep him where he is whatever it takes.</p>
<p>^^ I agree. There has been a great investment to date and too risk losing it at this point and possibly wind up with no degree, needing health insurance and a bunch of loans with nothing to show for it would be penny wise/ pound foolish. Forgo the car, find a commutable job or on campus if possible, take whatever loans possible and get it done. Once he graduates and hopefully gets a good paying job with benefits then buckle down & pay off those loans. Easier said then done I know.</p>
<p>Yep. He sounds like he’s doing fine in school and with taking off a year, there’s a real risk that he’ll never go back. Yes, he’s been kind of irresponsible. He’s young. I don’t believe in bailing them out forever, but I’d do whatever I could to get him through college. Then he can sink or swim after he graduates.</p>
<p>NJ has a terrible public transit system if you are going in reverse of rush hour traffic. If you are heading east in the morning and west at night you do ok. But S is going the other way - he lives in Hoboken and works in Parsippany.</p>
<p>He worked for Zimmer for his last co-op and we were so excited that he could keep working for them when he started back to classes. In this economy having a good paying job, and possibly a guaranteed job @ graduation is a good thing.</p>
<p>He totaled my car a couple years ago and because it was mine, it didn’t seem to affect him all that much. This time it is his car, and his insurance, and I think it is really sinking in that he has really screwed up this time. It is time for him to grow up.</p>
<p>Lakeland Busses out of Port Authority go back and forth to Parsippany all day and well into the evening. I took that Parsippany bus for years when I commuted into the city. Most people who take mass transit into the city from Parsippany (and there are thousands every day) take the bus as NJ Transit does not have a train station in Parsippany. The busses are fast, reliable and affordable.</p>
<p>It’s really not an unbearable commute, as the PATH train from Hoboken to 33rd St. is only 12 mins; the subway lines (many) to Port Authority run constantly, and the busses probably run on the half hour or hour. </p>
<p>Hope your son can make it work. Transferring in his junior year does seem a large price to pay for totalling a car.</p>
<p>There is actually fairly frequent train service from Hoboken to Morris Plains on NJ Transit throughout the day. I believe the Zimmer facility is less than a mile and a half from the Morris Plains train station. No doubt a car makes for a quicker commute on most days, but I think the commute is doable by public transit if that is the only option.</p>
<p>If the student transfers to another school or takes a year off, he’d be quitting the Zimmer job anyway. I think a cost/benefit analysis would be worthwhile; I doubt the two-day-a-week job is worth more than transferring or taking a year off from school, especially since he’d be leaving the job anyway, and that should be factored in. It’s not just the cost of replacing the car: it’s what happens down the road if he does replace the car – he transfers or takes a year off.</p>
<p>From what limited information is available, it looks to me like replacing the car is not worth the cost.</p>
<p>If he does end up taking a year off, look into taking at least one or two courses at another university during the year and counting them towards his Stevens degree. This is likely possible (perhaps with a petition to his dept) and might be better than either taking a year off with no school, or actually transferring and probably losing a lot of credits.</p>
<p>Check local community college or tech school; he might be able to take enough very low-tuition classes in something useful or interesting to him to be considered a student and be covered by his parents health insurance or be able to get cheap “student” health insurance.</p>