<p>Over the years of following CC and just recently, I have noticed that some posters indicate that students should be able to contribute at least $3000 of their summer earnings to defray their actual tuition costs.</p>
<p>I am talking about most students whose summer jobs pay minimum wage for 12 weeks, not students with paying internships.</p>
<p>Many, if not all schools, expect students to already pay a portion of their summer earnings as ‘self help.’ Taxes are being withheld. Summer expenses will need to be factored in. And yes, even the thriftiest will have some type of expenses during the summer.</p>
<p>So, where does a student get that extra $3000? </p>
<p>The college students that work for me are making $10/hour. If they do 40 hours a week for 12 weeks, that’s $4800. They are going to have to hustle for that money – work the unpopular shifts, show up, no vacation times, pick up the holiday extra shift, and be willing to pick up an extra shift when a less motivated kid wants to go to the beach. Mandatory deductions will reduce that – but not that much. If they don’t expect to owe federal taxes, its possible to claim exempt from federal withholding. </p>
<p>I should note that my business does not hire for summer only. Normally (I should probably say always) the college kids have 2 years of experience with me before leaving for college – so when they come back after a year away they are seasoned staff and can take on more responsibility. They are paid accordingly. These jobs are not available for new hires.</p>
<p>My kids worked at LEAST one job during the summers. They earned at least $3000 each summer. In addition to their regular jobs, they also picked up baby sitting and house sitting jobs.</p>
<p>Yes all of mine managed to clear $3000 in the summer working from end of May until the second week of August. I The lowest I recall (from doing their taxes) was $3200 and the highest was $4800 but that summer that kid worked 2 jobs but that kid wanted to purchase something expensive and we told him OK, but he needed to pay for it out of his pocket. All three kids had to earn their college spending money during the summer so they didn’t need that $3000 for tuition, room and board, but they wanted to have spending money and enough that would last the college year. </p>
<p>My kid has a research internship on her campus (summer after freshman year). It pays $4,800, but she does have to pay something for her dorm room and cover food. I told I would give her some food money, since without this she would be home raiding my fridge anyway. But she is paying for her own housing. She will end up with about $2,500 from her summer’s work. She has work study during the school year, too.</p>
<p>One of the best summer jobs a kid who is athletic can get is being a referee. Once qualified in his sport, most sports pay between $25-55/game (usually an hour). My nephew will work (and really, really work, two 10 hour days) a weekend tournament and make $1000. He’s a hustler and also works at a food truck and teaches private swimming lessons (also good income), so will have no trouble clearing $5000 this summer. </p>
<p>If you’ve spent millions and driven a child to soccer, baseball, football, hockey, lacrosse, etc over the years, see if you can get some of that money back.</p>
<p>My son has a job at Tufts that pays (I think) $10 an hour. The first year he made less, had to work in shifts and had to pay a nominal fee for his dorm room. The second year he didn’t have to do the graveyard shift. This year his room is free. They also feed him one meal a day.</p>
<p>Another good job…lifeguard. Around here, there is always someone looking for a certified lifeguard. Pay is $10 plus per hour. AND back at college, your kiddo will also likely be able to get a life guarding job. At my kid’s college, these paid over $10 an hour. </p>
<p>The best job is the steady 10-12 hours per week during the school year which is generally easier to find than a summer job. If you do find one at around $10/hour it shouldn’t be too much trouble to clear $3k over a 10 week period with a nice tax return as soon as you file the following year. </p>
<p>My child is working as a Nanny making $350/week for 10 weeks, plus a few hours a week as a personal assistant, occasional weekend/evening babysitting, house sitting and misc. She will have at least 3200 saved by end of summer. If total earnings are expected to be under the exemption amount, they can fill out their W-4 accordingly and only have FICA/Med withheld instead of waiting on tax refund. </p>
<p>My other child waited tables many summers and also had no problem making at least 3000. Key there is getting enough shifts. </p>
<p>The point is many kids 'work" in the summer when they aren’t in school. It’s all about choices and whether a parent expects a kid to pay for a piece of their college education or for their toys - doesn’t really matter. Some parents want to pay for everything for their kids. Some kids like having their 'own" money and not being accountable for how they spend it. There are many variables and no real right or wrong, BUT a young adult or even an older teen can earn $3000 in the summer if they want to. Two of my three kids worked 10-12 hours all four years of college because they “liked” not having to rely on their summer earnings and liked being able to work 20-30 hours a week in the summer if they wanted to. My third would rather work very hard in the summer and not have a part-time job during the college sessions. Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes. I personally have a more difficult time buying into a kid who says that '“can’t find a job.” That would concern me if I were a parent of that kid because I’d worry that they’d graduate from college and say they “can’t find a job.” Learning how to find jobs and get hired is a life step. You might as well get that learning experience out of the way before the degree is in the hand is my opinion. </p>
<p>Between summer job he has had since high school, working there over breaks, and job on campus, my kid clears about $4500 a year. He uses that to pay for his books, gas, entertainment, clothes, etc. Since we pay his student contribution he doesn’t have to hit a specific amount. This summer he has an unpaid internship so is only working at his paid job a few nights a week and weekends, so won’t make as much. One summer he also got a grant of $2400 from his college for an unpaid internship and he also worked at the paying job. </p>
<p>I never paid any such thing. I worked or did research abroad for all of my college summers, and received a cost of living stipend which was less than $3000 for the whole summer. One year I got only that, but didn’t have to pay housing and had some meals provided. The next two years, I got about $500 more each month, but had to pay housing which was about $470 a month, and had to provide all of my own meals. I was living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, so, if I came home with any money at all, it was only enough to cover my school books.</p>
<p>Among my friend group, going home and working a minimum wage job would be very unusual. I have the impression that we were not alone in this, and it would have been somewhat strange for most students. It was definitely not uncommon for students to have very high paying internships. Why don’t you pursue one? </p>
<p>Does your school only have 12 weeks summer vacation? Mine had 17 and while I know other schools are on different schedules, that’s quite a bit shorter of a summer. I would confirm first of all that the summer is only 12 weeks. </p>
<p>$7.40/hr<em>40hr/wk</em>17wk=$5032, though obviously there’s payroll taxes and such that come out of that. Even if they can’t get that, they can get something. So if $3000 seems impossible just save up what is possible. </p>
<p>It’s definitely possible. I have two very different kids at very different schools in very different majors and both are making that easily. One is likely to make double or triple that, actually. Neither of them makes minimum wage either and never did. </p>
<p>My kid has summer internship that paid $5000 for 8 weeks. She slept in a shared room with her sorority friend on a floor in a mattress that the rent cheaply from the frat house. I think she paid $200 a month. No cooking facility whatsoever. She did that for 2 summers. </p>
<p>What region you are in can make a big difference. It’s really tough for teenagers to find work in our area. Most of what was “teen work” 5 years ago is filled by adults now. We even have a couple theme parks but they rarely higher under 20’s and those are usually performers they WANT to be younger. My 17-year-old works as a camp aide for 9 dollars an hour (35 hours a week but only offered 6 weeks of work this summer because she’s still underage and there isn’t as many places they can use them.) Unless she can grab a few “subbing” days, she won’t be breaking 2K this summer. She has savings from past years of work on her side this year… plus graduation money from generous family.</p>
<p>I’m not too worried about her as she has lots of connections and I suspect 3K won’t be too difficult after she’d turned 18. However, I know a lot of really great, hardworking kids who have struggled… particularly those that don’t go to schools with summer grant programs for unpaid internships.</p>
<p>Really, coming home and looking for summer work would probably be very tough almost anywhere. One of mine is a lake lifeguard so that’s reasonably good paying summer employment with full time hours and after the first year many come back for less than the full summer. His best friend is leaving already to do a summer abroad program after working for only around a month. But, it was probably a 2K dollar month. The other was hired when a new restaurant opened near school and is working 5 days a week during the summer, but it’s not really a strictly summer job, either and she doesn’t come home because she has a year-round lease, anyway.</p>