<p>I have noticed that colleges expect a summer savings contribution every year. The amount the colleges expect would require full-time employment. For those students who go away to school, it is nearly impossible to return home for the summer and find full-time employment. Can appeal to financial aid office reduce this amount?</p>
<p>No…if the school has a student contribution, the student is expected to somehow MAKE that contribution. Many students also work up to 10 hours a week during the school year.</p>
<p>The time to look for a summer job is during the March vacation, not in May or June when the student returns home.</p>
<p>Many students work two…or three part time jobs. Or they work and then do something like babysitting as well. </p>
<p>Also, this student contribution usually increases each year…just FYI.</p>
<p>Are you saying that working during the school year is money that is considered part of the summer savings contribution? My package already requires working during the school year in addition to the summer savings contribution. </p>
<p>I maintain that it is extremely unrealistic that a student could secure full-time employment for 13 weeks in the summer, unless you have connections. I might add, even if you were able to secure a full-time job you would not be able to spend one cent to meet the expectation.</p>
<p>Several part time jobs? Not likely…especially in this economy.</p>
<p>Sometimes that summer job may be working at a day camp, mcdonalds, the mall, the beach, etc. At the end of the day, the student is responsible for a student contribution. If the student does not get a job for the contribution, some parents make up the slack (I am not one, because they should have some skin in the game when it comes to funding their education). Please remember that if the student does not meet the contribution, the financial aid package is not going to increase and the student may end up with a short fall.</p>
<p>My D got hired in late June as a night stocker at the Walmart in our neighborhood. Working something like 33 hours a week (they don’t want to provide benefits), but for a couple bucks an hour more than minimum wage. Even if you don’t look until later you may find something. The kids in best shape are those who had a job during high school/summer after and can come back to it. My D may try to do that next summer at Walmart (just after freshman year), then look for internships/other opportunities starting after sophomore year.</p>
<p>My kids have found summer employment the last 3 summers - there are plenty of “summer” type jobs available - they may not be ideal but the kids make money. Get your lifeguarding certificate (which requires over 40 hours of classes and studying). All outdoor pools hire just for the summer.</p>
<p>I have a part-time job currently and continuously have asked for more hours. Working for minimum wage makes it very, very difficult to meet the expectation. Jobs are not plentiful in this economy. I would bet very few students meet the expectation.</p>
<p>Hopefully next summer I can get a paid internship.</p>
<p>Simplystated, another thing you can do is trim the expenses over which YOU have control…books, personal expenses, travel, clothing, etc. if you can trim these costs, you will need less money overall.</p>
<p>I know very few kids, even high school kids, with just one summer job. “The economy” doesn’t keep them fm working, but it does put them in a position to cobble together full time hours from several jobs. </p>
<p>My college student d has 3 (on nearly full time at 38-39 hours a week, and two part time, about 15 more hours per week). She keeps the part time ones during the school year and the other is a seasonal gig at the city pool (she’s worked her way up to manager, which is great experience since it involves scheduling, handling deposits, and dealing with the public without supervision–head of aquatics works in an office downtown). Even those summer jobs you take just to earn money can turn into something good. Unfortunately, it’s meant the end of family vacations, etc. can’t ask for a job and then start asking for weeks off at a time.</p>
<p>Hs d is a lifeguard and water safety instructor for the season, but works one night a week at a job she keeps all year. In fact, most of the guards have second jobs, often in restaurants or at grocery stores because of the flexible hours.</p>
<p>It is certainly not easy to come up with your student contribution, but lots of students find ways to pull it off. As mentioned above, start looking in March, look for seasonal work, look for employers who would rehire you again next summer, you may need two jobs.</p>
<p>Agreeing with the lifeguard thing - it’s one of the most lucrative jobs for teenagers and a wise investment in training. My kid gets a 40 hr work week, holiday pay, OT, He is at a large, busy state park, so he has learned some valuable skills. We do not get summer vacation together either, but I feel so fortunate that he is gainfully employed and able to contribute to his education.</p>
<p>Ordinarylives working during the school year is not the problem. Being able to come home from school and find a FULL-TIME job is rare. I am familiar with camp counseling and those jobs are not full-time. I know several camp counselors and they would not be able to earn the summer savings expectation.</p>
<p>Juggling several part-time jobs without conflict is nearly impossible and employers are not in the business of making these sort of deals with temporary workers.</p>
<p>Thumper,</p>
<p>Budgeting is not the issue. An unrealistic summer savings expectation is the problem.</p>
<p>You have no choice but to find a way to earn that student contribution if your school requires it. I mean really…what would be the basis of your appeal…that you couldn’t find enough hours to work? That will not be considered unless there is a good reason…like you were hospitalized, or something of that sort. </p>
<p>So…you have two choices…either earn the money and/or cut expenses. OR ask your parents to pay the student contribution.</p>
<p>It is not going to go away simply because you didn’t earn the money. And it WILL increase every year.</p>
<p>Simply stated, we’re parents. We get how difficult it is to pay for college. As someone who works with low income students in a TRIO grant, I see way more than the average parent. Is it tough to cobble together several jobs? Yes, but it is not nearly impossible. Many kids pull it off every summer. And this is one of the reasons why you probably aren’t going to be able to go to the fin aid office and tell them thier requirements are unrealistic. They’ve seen too many kids pull it off. </p>
<p>Sometimes, we have good advice about approaching fin aid with requests. We certainly would never tell you not to try, but in this case, I don’t think you’re going to get very far.</p>
<p>Another recommendation for life-guarding. My kid did the training and started working as an assistant lifeguard when he was 15. Each summer he worked his way up (same as Ordinarylive’s daughter) all the way to pool manager for the city pool. He earned enough those summers he was in college to earn his $2000 summer earnings expectation, plus some more to have a little in the bank when classes started in the fall.</p>
<p>My kids have tried so hard to find jobs this summer and both have had extreme difficulty. My kids do go to call-backs but are never hired. They were able to find summer jobs last year, but this year has been tough. There was one case where one daughter applied online, for a movie theater job, where the manager personally knew that dd#2 was an extremely good employee, good personality, etc.and told her to apply but in the end, he didn’t hire her.<br>
We have a pool and my girls do swim, but the competition for local pool jobs is fierce.</p>
<p>There was a thread about this some time ago. Someone gave a link to an article. The article was about low income students that had to work like dogs all summer & not able to take advantage of medical research /internships like others. I agree, they do need to have some skin in the game but what about the opportunities that they miss out on during the summer? Has anyone been able to do both successfully?</p>
<p>At some schools (especially those with deep pockets and large endowment), students can be paid for medical research or internships that will help to meet the student contribution. In addition, some schools will offer paid student research to high achieving merit scholarship recipients. At the many well endowed schools, there are stipends to help fund unpaid internship, research. </p>
<p>My D’s school and a few others have funds for educational enrichment that provides grants to allow students to pursue educational opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to them and levels the playing field that low income students, who normally would not be able to to something unpaid, will be able to do an unpaid internship/research.</p>
<p>It’s a difficult situation. My son just got an apartement for housing that has a 12 year lease, so he wants to stay there next summer. The rent is a sunk cost, he is arguing, and subletting is not legally permitted according to his lease without permission. But he has a great job here. he can eat for free as I don’t charge for the food. He gets other amenaties as well. If he goes there, he not only has to find a job there, it has to make up for food, transportation (unless he gets it within walking distance) and for any of the other costs of living that we tend to absorb for our kids. He’s senior in his job here which is a mile and a half from here, so he get s a very nice hourly wage that is going to be a challenge to match. It is extremely doubtful, he’ll be able to save as much if he stays at his place over the summer. </p>
<p>It’s a tough go for those with no money. To get certification for life guarding around here, the fee is steep. ANd each year CPR recert is required as well Fine for those with some money but when you are at ground zero at the onset, it’s not easy. My son wants to get a certificate for training other lifeguards on top of his cert, but it’s another huge amount of money, not to mention time.</p>
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<p>My son is fortunate enough to be attending one of those “well endowed schools” and is being paid for a 10-week research job this summer. And while it is an amazing opportunity and I certainly not complaining about it, he won’t be making much money for the reasons cptofthehouse mentioned: he’s paying $1250 for a sublet, plus all the food, transportation and incidental costs of not being at home. He will be a junior next year, so his expected contribution jumped a good bit.</p>
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<p>Not news, but yes.</p>
<p>Sorry for stating the obvious. I was musing and commenting about the fact that to MAKE money one often has to have the money to invest in the job. My kids have lifeguarded, and with multiples doing so, it was a sizeable hit on my part to get them certified. It takes that first pay check to make up for that payment. We’ve been fortunate in that my kids can get 12 week job out of the certification and where the work is very close to home, and they bag their meals, making it all gravy other than the start up costs.</p>
<p>I have a close friend who lives in an area where these jobs, any jobs are snatched up by older folks who are looking for any work, and the pay is minimum wage. To even get a job is a coup in her area; work is that scarce. So her kids always worked at or near the college, but then had to pay for the living expenses of doing this.</p>
<p>If you have close friends or family that can take in your kid for the summer, and they live where there are jobs available, that can be a possible solution. My son moved in with my brother’s family during his job search as many of the opportunities that he was seeking were in that locale and he was also able to find higher paying and better prep work for a career job there, than here. We were fortunate in that he welcomed him and refused to take any room and board from him or us and basically took care of him for several months until he found something. Even then, there was the upfront cost of an air ticket to get him there.</p>
<p>It’s sad that those who “work like dogs” over the summer are the lucky ones in that they can find jobs at which they can work a lot of hours and get money. Around here, there are jobs, but the lower paying shift jobs seem to focus on giving workers as few hours as possible and mixing up the shifts so that it’s difficult if not impossible to get another job in the mix. My older kids worked as many as three jobs in the summers and gave private lessons as well, but were only able to do so because they could coordinate the hours. When my one son got a part time position at a store, they wouldn’t give him more than about 20 hours a week, wanted a number of part timers to mix it up rather than fewer full time folks, and he could not predict his schedule from one week to another. If he put in requests, there was a decent chance they were ignored. He’d have to call and try to get the times given switched and would often just lose the hours he could not work.</p>