<p>I'm curious about what everyone is planning for their summer before college. (Or, what their kids are planning. . .) More summer programs? Work?</p>
<p>We told my S it was time to "get a job." With all the summer training, plus some unpaid community theater work, he has not had the opportunity to do the traditional summer job stint. It seemed like an experience that would be helpful in the long run (as fishbowl has pointed out!). And, we thought it would be nice if HE provided the spending money he needed in college (interesting concept, huh?). He did get a job, but not the kind we thought he'd get. He's currently performing in a production of RABBIT HOLE at a local professional theater and the entire cast is moving on to do it again in another city! They're taking him along!</p>
<p>My parents also are expecting me to come up with my spending money for college. I'm gonna have to start saving now, that's for sure! But I'm planning on hopefully being in another show before school on top of getting a job this summer. Luckily, the job I have lined up is a waitressing job and the resturaunt is only opened breakfast and lunch so I'll be able to work and go to rehearsals and extra dance classes this summer! I'm hoping to learn some basic tap this summer. I've been in ballet for a couple years as well as being on my school's competitive dance team, and I think it will be extremely advantageous for me if I can at least get down the basics before I go to school.</p>
<p>It'll definitly be a busy next few months ^_^</p>
<p>Funny coincidence...my son was in Rabbit Hole in Portland this year. I'm sure he wishes it was moving on with him included! Now he's looking for a "real job" for the summer between freshman and soph year in college. The theater opps he had this summer didn't pay much, if anything.</p>
<p>My son will be working as a lifeguard. This will be the first summer NOT doing technical theatre. We figure he will have a life time of sitting in a dark control booth (he will be going to school in the fall for BFA stage management). Let him get a little sunshine this summer, of course with a good helping of sunscreen!!</p>
<p>D will be working as a student worker at an elementary school during the day and rehearsing and performing as Polly in "Crazy For You" in the evenings. She will also be collecting all of the dorm stuff for her freshman year at OCU.</p>
<p>My D will be out looking for her first real job! We need to setup a checking account with a debit card for her. I trust her and I think in general she's good with handling money. I've heard all kinds of stories about the kids getting in trouble with credit cards at school. Any advice on what I should send her to school with?</p>
<p>Good question MTDad! I, too, wonder what parents do about money for kids away at college. My S has his checking account debit card and carries one of our credit cards with his name on it. He's been very responsible with these. </p>
<p>Should this be a new thread? I'll bet it's somewhere on CC--somewhere among the "regular" college stuff, which I don't usually read.</p>
<p>My son has been working at the local grocery store since he was a freshman and picked up a second job in the kitchen at a local bible camp a couple of years ago. So he will be working as many hours as they will give him. He gave up his spring sport(track) and auditioning for any shows to try to earn as much money as possible to help with his college tuition. He has had a checking account and debit card for a couple of years, now. Even so, I am worried about his spending in college; and reconciling his checking account without me to help when he can't get it to balance.</p>
<p>MTDad, I know, like letsfigureitout says, that there has been a thread about this in the past, but I seem to have trouble locating it, but here is what we did. </p>
<p>We set up a checking account (with an ATM/debit card) for our D for her daily needs and a checkbook for larger expenses (medical, books etc.). She also has a savings account, where she sets aside things like her birthday money and the majority of her earnings. We are able to monitor her accounts online, and deposit her allowance on a monthly basis, so that she has to budget and spread out what she spends. We all bank at the same institution which helps speed up transfering money from one account into the other, when needed. We also made sure that the bank has a branch office close to where she intends to live/will be going to college, but I don't know how pertinent this may turn out to be yet. I just remember having some issues once with an out of town bank that I wanted to avoid :).</p>
<p>In regard to a credit card, I think this is a very personal decision as I have also read those horror stories of kids running up their cards, and I guess that each situation may be different. Our D has a tendency to 'help people out', which at first may sound lovely, but we have tried to cap that somewhat. At this point, we are leaning towards giving D one when she leaves, with the understanding that it is for absolute emergencies (and fashion emergencies don't qualify :D), although I personally think that her ATM may work just fine, even in those type of situations. </p>
<p>With an occasional snafu here or there, all this has worked out just fine over the past couple of years when her independence kicked in. Prior to that the checkbook would just sit on her desk at home :D.</p>
<p>letsfigureitout--
That is wonderful news about your son doing Rabbit Hole and taking it on to another city. What a great experience. My D is looking for a real job. She usually does housesittig/petsitting for several neighbors as they go on vacation. This may be the first year in MANY years she does not do a summer show. One venue is closing for renovations and several directors who have mounted summer shows are taking off this year. There is talk of a group putting up a show at a semi/pro venue which she will audition for if this happens.</p>
<p>Yes, lauriemom, it is a great opportunity for my S! The only problem is the timing. He had to miss a bit of school for rehearsals (which were during the day!) in our town (but his school was very accommodating). He is missing most of his prom because he has a show that night. And, he is leaving in a week to live out of state so he'll miss the end of school and all the graduation parties! They have canceled a show so he can come home for graduation day. . .but even that will mean driving all night or making airplane connections and keeping our fingers crossed.</p>
<p>It IS a great introduction to the life of an actor who relies on regional theater for a living. You have to like travel, exploring new cities, and a degree of loneliness, not to mention living on a meager budget.</p>
<p>I have been thinking about the money issue as well. My only concern with the ATM/Debit route is that, if you are out of state, there will not be a branch and banks charge fees (sometimes exorbitant ones) when the ATM is used - both at the ATM location and at the home bank. That tends to eat up funds too quickly. A friend of mine gave her daughter one of those debit cards that you can continue to add money to and this is how it has worked very well for her. I am considering this possibility.</p>
<p>DD - this is another reason why we wound up using Bank of America (to avoid those additional charges and ATM fees), because they had branches both in our itty bitty town, and close to our D's campus :D. It may be interesting to investigate what banks there are close to campus because adding $2 or $3 to every transaction can indeed add up quickly.</p>
<p>DisneyDirector...I live in a rural state and NONE of the banks in my state are in NYC or in Providence where my two D's attend college. They opened up accounts at banks in their college cities but maintain the home account and we can deposit money in the home account and they can write a check and put it in their account at the bank near the college and use that ATM card to avoid the fees on the home bank ATM card that they also have.</p>