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And yet, my S actually has a summer job. Imagine. The horror.</p>
<p>The horror? All I’m saying is employers generally want seasonal help to be available during the season and I don’t find that at all surprising. A parent getting all outraged if the kid can’t go on a family vacation is a little surprising. Unless, as you said, he doesn’t need the money anyway. Then, it’s a toss up. </p>
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Seriously? A parent telling their kid he can’t go on the 22-person once-in-a lifetime family junket to Europe because he has to stay home and earn $250 is surprising to me, but I guess it’s all in what is important to you.</p>
<p>No. Families going on European junkets are not the same families who are worried about coming up with 3K. This thread is about kids who need this money to pay for school and can’t find jobs to earn it. If grandma will hand him the money, great. There’s no problem. Money is very important to people who really need money. And, I know plenty of families who can’t even think about taking a vacation and have never been to Europe and aren’t going anytime soon because the parents need to work two and three jobs to keep food on the table. Those are the families with this problem. The ones for whom the kid’s summer earnings are significant.</p>
<p>Get a job at Publix. Publix has a tuition reimbursement program that is very helpful. They also have many other benefits that they offer to part time employees. I strongly recommend a job at Publix for students.</p>
<p>Many summer jobs are reasonably flexible once you have proven yourself to be a valuable employee. My kids could take time off without a problem and a couple of kids have already left to do summer ed programs, etc. Mine juggled 3 out-of-town leadership events with work which basically meant dropping shifts or getting them covered. But, going on the interview with a list of conflicts is probably not a great idea. </p>
<p>It’s not so cut and dry. There are kids who have athletic commitments, who may have family commitments like helping out at home for a week or so, may have other opportunities that have a long term benefit. If it comes down to whether not getting a 12 week job that can net the $3k and then some, needed for college and taking an opportunity, yes, absolutely, such a person needs to take the job. But there are jobs that are rife with kids taking off time all of the time, but the job at the onset won’t hire if you say you are planning to take that week off. It could be orientation at the school where you pick your courses, a great opportunity with long term gains, etc that you know ahead of time, but if you say so, you don’t get the job. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, There are some jobs where you CANNOT take off the time. You go to some location and you stay there the full 12 weeks or whatever, and you are not permitted to take ANY time off other than for catastrophes, like death, injury,etc. But around here, I can name a dozen places that will let kids off for just about any reason–allow shift swapping, but if you tell them up front you need to start sports practice at the tail end of the summer so your hours then have to so adjusted, or that you are planning to take a few days off to go to great grandmom’s 100th or to be the best man at your brother’s wedding, or you have committed to take care of your disabled sibling so mom can get some respite one weekend so you will swap shifts most likely, you won’t get the job. The ones who say they have NO such plans get the jobs and then they can do pretty much as they please once they start work. </p>
<p>“No. Families going on European junkets are not the same families who are worried about coming up with 3K”</p>
<p>Not quite true. When I was on the board for a community music programs there were many families who were very low income, but very invested in getting cultural opportunities for their children, and succeeded. That they were in that program pretty much was a sign of that. One can say that families interested in their kids learning to play the violin and making it into the local youth orchestras and such are not the same families who are worried about coming up with $3K. </p>
<p>I got to know many such families well. Yes, my friend was low income, and coming up with $3K was not possible for her for any reason. Her DD was very good friends with some well to do kids, and she was invited to come along to a lot of functions with most expenses paid. To give up a European junket, for example, would probably not happen over $250 that is the actual loss of pay to take off that week. Yes, there are some situations where there is no out, but if there is, one takes it. </p>
<p>Not that there are not financial consequences for this. My son got a great opportunity to go to what actually comes down to a European junket, come to think of it at a greatly reduced price with some classmates and a family. Not an opportunity that comes up often. And the itinerary was a dream come true. So he did give up his last weeks of work that summer to go. He also had to come up with some money for the trip, though a tremendous bargain, still cost. So he took out student loans to cover what he had committed to pay of his education, with the intention of repaying them by working during the school year and taking on extra hours next summer. All of which he did, but it took him about 50% more time than he had planned to repay that loan, and gave him a first hand lesson on how difficult it is to pay back money, how things keep coming up in life. He had to really stint on his spending and work more hours that school year, and also took a second job the next summer. But it was worth the experience he got on that trip. And there was a kid who came along whose family has very little. It was even more of a sacrifice for him and his family to do this, but they did.</p>
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<p>I think you’ve moved the target a bit here. The original post had to do with a Family trip to Europe, an extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins involved) trip. This is quite different from sending a single child with the youth orchestra to Europe.</p>
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Very true. At my job, many times I’m able to change my schedule once it’s already set if there’s a conflict, just based on my place in the store. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse my D ran into that this year because she was going on a mission trip before returning to school so her time was shortened by a couple weeks. While a couple employers appreciated her honesty they didn’t hire her but finally one did because of the honesty. It’s such a hard thing because she didn’t wasn’t to lie about when she would be leaving the summer employment. </p>
<p>If I was your daughter, I wouldn’t even tell my employer about the trip. I would tell them the last date I was available and leave it at that. </p>
<p>Some years ago, my daughter had a service trip in Africa. She also wanted to work that summer but I told her that it would be difficult to get a summer job if employers knew she would have to stop working after 6 weeks. She decided to try and get one anyway to earn some extra money for her trip. She was honest about how long she could work but was never hired.</p>
<p>I believe students have to commit to at least 10 weeks of work during the summer to make it worth the employer’s time.</p>
<p>I think $3000 is do-able, but is not necessarily easy to come by, especially for kids entering/in their first year of college. My son just graduated HS at the end of May. He was busy with academic and athletic team commitments until June, so by the time he was available to start working, all the college kids were already back, so jobs were harder to come by. He’s working as a lifeguard again … and as a 3rd year guard, he’s earning a whopping $8.50/hour. So if your kid is a lifeguard earning $10/hour, consider yourselves lucky. He’s working between 30 - 50 hours per week, depending on how the schedule shakes out, and with time off for a short family vacation in August, he’ll end up having worked about 10 weeks this summer. So that’s $3400 gross, which will be a bit less than $3k once you take out SS/Medicaid. He’s responsible for his spending $; we’re still paying for his gas (to/from work) and his phone; he’s not spending much at all – saving to have money to spend while in school. </p>
<p>We’ve told him we’ll pay for tuition/room/board/books (minus his scholarships); spending money/stuff he chooses to buy while at school is on him. </p>
<p>Since lifeguarding was discussed in detail upthread, this seems like a fine place to tell you all what happened yesterday while lifeguard son was on break. He and a buddy were just about to sit down to a couple of granola bars when they heard a report of a drowning at the dock come over the radio. The dock is a pier outside of their designated swim area. The two boys immediately ran over. He said it was a five minute sprint away from the break room. Two other lifeguards were already on scene so they talked to the family who told them exactly where the drunk 250-pound man had jumped into the water and failed to come up. They began pattern diving in a search for the body. The beach was closed and more lifeguards arrived to help. The family was freaking out. A crowd of over 100 people had gathered. Police helicopters were buzzing overhead. An ambulance was waiting.</p>
<p>They found the body and dragged it up. No pulse. My kiddo began CPR. He’s an EMT. Another young man did the chest compression part of the procedure. The family was going nutso. The victim was gurgling and vomiting. And, finally breathing. They put him on a stretcher and 10 of them carried this guy to the waiting rescue vehicle while the crowd cheered and the family ran around gratefully hugging them all. Last we heard condition is critical. But, he would have been dead. Next, a morning of critical incident counseling to make sure none of these kids are traumatized by this incident. This job is being done by 17-year olds. Mine’s 19 now and a second year. He called it the most dramatic day of his life. And, if the victim had not survived they would be feeling pretty awful right about now. Instead, they are quite proud of themselves. Luckily. Either way, they earn their pay.</p>
<p>However, there are many, many days where they literally just sit on the beach and soak up the sun. Most days, actually.</p>
<p>" He’s working as a lifeguard again … and as a 3rd year guard, he’s earning a whopping $8.50/hour. So if your kid is a lifeguard earning $10/hour, consider yourselves lucky."</p>
<p>Is this at a pool? Open-water is a whole different ballgame. It pays more, usually double. But it’s alot harder, too. </p>
<p>Flossy, your son did an awesome job. You must be so proud yet sorry he had to go through that. We frequent the Outer Banks and I’ve seen at least four ocean rescues over the past couple of years. They don’t publicize the frequency of trouble due to pressure from the tourist industry. The fatalities usually receive a small notice in the paper. They all seem to be middle aged men and alcohol is often involved.</p>
<p>It’s hard but not impossible if the kid is living at home and understands that their summer is mainly going to spent working, not playing. My D pays for her own gas and movies/snacks/etc and clothes (essentially everything except her room and board here.) She works retail jobs with varying hours, but probably not more than 30-35 hours a week. (The key is to apply for those jobs early… like back in March/April/May, and let the employer know you can’t work daytime shifts until after graduation…) Pay is around $8.75 or so. She is on track to save the $2500 her school asked her to contribute, and could have saved more if she’d hustled a few more shifts or spent less on herself.</p>
<p>@Flossy
I am ashamed to say that once I told my daughter that she should get a job as a lifeguard because it didn’t look that she would have much to do. Thank you for sharing your son’s experience. This had to be a scary experience for all involved and I am happy that these lifeguards were able to save this man’s life. They more than earned their pay.</p>
<p>@staceynei
It is a difficult task for many students, not impossible, but challenging.</p>
<p>“My D pays for her own gas and movies/snacks/etc and clothes (essentially everything except her room and board here.)… She is on track to save the $2500 her school asked her to contribute, and could have saved more if she’d hustled a few more shifts or spent less on herself.”</p>
<p>Approximately how much money will your daughter have remaining, after her $2500 contribution her school asked for? </p>
<p>The point about hustling for that summer job EARLY is really important. So many students discover that, when they start job hunting in June/after high school graduation/after returning from college, the pickings are slim to non-existent. Then they complain that they can’t find a job, or that they don’t like the less desirable jobs that are available, etc.</p>
<p>As I noted way upthread, my son earned his referee license while in high school, and made a track record reffing games in high school for various leagues. The coaches got to know him, and during summers he was also able to staff some of the local soccer camps; the ones for little kids, especially, are more like day camp. Soccer was a great and fun source of income for him, and he never understood why more of his friends didn’t do similarly–there are a lot of jobs in sports, and getting the licenses to referee is not all that difficult-- a month of weekend mornings and a couple hundred dollars in fees for the classes and license. There are opportunities in basketball, baseball, hockey…</p>
<p>He is able to set his own schedule, and to pick up extra income when he has extra needs. He has a real world job now, and makes real world income–but he keeps his hand in reffing the occasional game because he likes having access to extra income for some extras in his life; he recently worked a weekend tournament so he could easily afford to go on a vacation in Puerto Rico with friends without impacting his normal budget.</p>
<p>Another thing he mentioned to me last year was how his experience as a referee frequently came up in job interviews–a lot of fodder for easy conversation, a lot of examples of real world experience in handling situations that set him apart from many other job applicants.</p>