Great theory. Let us know how it works out for you.
In the mean time, the people that actually hire people- not in theory but real, living people and hires- on this thread want work experience.
One of your first tests of independent adulthood- trust the people who have been there, done that or the people who are 19 and have a “theory”? 
You have to be extremely frugal (or antisocial)to make it on $1000 in a year, IMO. My very frugal kid who mooches everything off everyone spends way more than that, and my kid who is more of what I would consider an average spender goes through close to $3000 per year (and we provide almost everything for them, from toiletries to whatever).
@math112233441 You asked what college kids spend money on: (1) Booze (2) Dates (3) Dates with booze. Even if you don’t drink now you might start in college. Or you bf/gf will be a drinker and want to drink while on dates. A heavy partier can spend tons of money on alcohol per year.
I am always hungry and spent a ton on food in the evenings and overnights. My parents paid for tuition, books, room and board, toiletries, and car insurance and I still went through about $2000+ per year in the 1970s. In today’s dollars that is $7294 per year according to the calculator. Much of it went to drinking; a meal every night about 10 pm; dates; and frequently a meal around 2 am after partying. Then there was gas money for road trips with buddies to play the horses or visit another college.
[qutoe=BernardAl]For instance, I majoring in computer science. I should focus on school work throughout the school year and then apply for software engineering internships during the summer
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There are a couple of problems with that statement.
First- I’ve have been hiring interns for 30 years, and I wouldn’t say that I will disqualify someone with no work experience but, as others have said, I will generally not hire anyone who has not worked at some sort of an entry level job.
Secondly- Many (most???) internships are now unpaid. We haven’t paid for at least the last 10 years and I only know of 1 kid out of dozens of my 3 kids friends who have ever been paid for their internships. Because of that you either need parents who are willing to pay your way while you work for free, or you need to have money saved up from another job to support yourself while you work for free for someone. For many people the option of having their parents pay everything (gas, food, rent if the job is away from where you live, etc) is not an option. So, it is either work at something outside of your field of study, or you don’t get an internship.
$1000 is not much to go on.
I am very frugal and still had a budget of $250/month. Granted my meal plan only covered 10 meals a week, so $200 would have been reasonable if I had a full meal plan. That budget was pretty hard to stick too - I could only go out with friends on rare occasions, I didn’t get to eat out very much. I could afford toiletries and the food I needed and my textbooks but that’s about it. I couldn’t imagine halving my budget, which is what yours would be.
And your budget of $1000 has NO wiggle room for emergencies. I had to habe a root canal this school year - insurance doesn’t cover it, so I was out $900 bucks. 4 months of my budget- your entire budget! You might not need a root canal - but chances are, you’ll have an emergency room visit, a broken laptop, get a speeding ticket, need an expensive over the counter medication, have your phone stolen or some other emergency that will cost you a lot of money.
Don’t live on such a tight budget if you don’t have too - it makes life’s little setbacks a nightmare.
@romanigypsyeyes, you can develop work experience through outside of class projects. That is one of the abilities of the computer science field. Whether it’s coding a calculator app or coding anything.
With all due respect, you may all have more experience than me but I know how to distinguish between what’s right and what’s wrong.
I will message you when I graduate and tell you about my theory. Till then!
@TV4caster, once again you can develop experience through your own developed programs or through several kinds of projects. With projects under your belt, you can create a portfolio of what you have created and maybe you create a blog post of the difficulties in completing your project(s). In doing so and demonstrating your ability to code, you are eligible to apply and eventually land an internship. I am solely talking computer science. For other fields it might be different.
Most internships in the computer science and or engineering field are paid. Again you can get an internship in the field of your study if you can demonstrate your ability that you understand whatever you are studying.
I am low income student thus I go to school for free (including textbooks and parking passes). With Fasfa and the Cal Grant, I use that money for food or emergencies (I try to cook at home as much as I can) and lately I have stopped using my car and started riding my road bike to school. I am not bragging and I sorry if I am. It’s one of the pros of being poor in a sense (that sounded odd). But once I transfer, I think I will be have to take loans but hopefully by then I will able to internship as a software engineer at a well-respected company like Twitter.
@BernardAI - just as when you were in high school, you needed to do well in your humanities classes to be competitive, you can be sure that the employers “like Twitter” will be picking among kids who have also shown a more comprehensive work history. Sure, it’s important to do well in math/CS (in HS) and your classes/apps (college) but remember, at the next level you are competing with those who do well in those AND the other stuff. Which includes work, for college students.
OP, your disdain for the well-meaning parental advice offered here brings to mind this image:
OP, while I agree many posts were harsh…I would suggest the next time you simply want advice on what kids spend $$ on, you simply ask that. When you go on to explain why you don’t want a type of job, and that your parents want you to get one, and even saying you know that sounds spoiled…well, you are going to get different answers!!
I’d say you will need about $800 a semester…my guess. Another item to buy: holiday gifts cards for family when you go home!
What are your parents paying for while you are at school? Is a credit card going to be available to use for fun? Otherwise $500 at a minimum will be needed per semester and you will have to budget carefully if that is all you have.
My D’s roommate for the last 3 years is an only child from extremely wealthy parents and she has had a job on and off during the summers. Probably more off than on. Her parents supply her with a credit card and she uses it for pretty much anything she wants even bar night with college friends. Not sure if your parents are going to do the same with you but I’m assuming not since you are asking what you might need to spend money on during the year.
The main biggie that takes $$ is spring break if your parents aren’t picking up the cost of that trip should you choose to go with your friends.
“I have developed this theory that you shouldn’t work as an undergraduate unless you need the money. You can work only if it is in the area you are studying.”
DS is a an Electrical Engineering major. He did not have a job in high school and his first job is a 3 term co-op making really good money. So it is possible to go this route and I can see this working for a CS major if they have decent grades. However there is a risk involved and depending on the area you are studying I wouldn’t advise it.
“With all due respect, you may all have more experience than me but I know how to distinguish between what’s right and what’s wrong.”
If you knew the answer already, why did you ask for input?
If a minimum wage job isn’t what you want, create your own work! Be creative. As a musical theatre major, I offer audition coaching/voice lessons/etc… to kids over the summer (and sometimes Skype sessions through the year). There are also summer theatre camp counseling jobs, babysitting, and the like. Use the talents you have to do work that won’t feel like work. Think outside of the box and try out your entrepreneurial skills! (Or is this just an artsy fartsy, “starving artist” talking? :-/ :-?? )
Getting a job is an essential task that must be done at some point in your life. It will give you perspective and keep you grounded in reality by experiencing what the majority of the population has to deal with on a daily basis. It sounds to me like you have a sense of entitlement. You have everything provided for you so why do you have to work? News flash, if you don’t have ambition and drive outside of your college classes you will be in for a rude awakening when you get out to the real world. Also, having the time to do nothing over the summer is not something that is expected and required it is something that is earned. If you don’t like minimum wage then you’ll need to show people that you have skills worthy of higher wages. Of course it sounds like all you’re good at so far is school and disappointing your parents with your lack of ambition which explains why you were only being paid minimum wage.
@BernardAl I don’t know if anyone has said this but you sound like you feel you will just be able to land an internship based on your grades. That is almost never the case.
You got a taste of reality and found it unappealing. Nothing wrong with that, but I would never hire you simply because of your desire to not join the rest of the real world.
I’m about to make a college freshman and am looking for a job. If anyone knows any openings in Sacramento please let me know. I want to work!
@pizzagirl, I don’t recall asking for input. I just was simply stating my position to her statement.
The statement I disagreed with was, “One of your first tests of independent adulthood- trust the people who have been there, done that or the people who are 19 and have a ‘theory’?”
While some may have more experience, I do not think it guarantees one with more knowledge.
@5umtim3s, I did not state one can land an internship solely through one’s grades. I said one can create projects outside of school thus being eligible for a internship.
@johnchervanev , again, try snagajob.com I’m not sure what they have in Sacramento, but my kids had great luck on Long Island. Also, consider applying to places that have a branch close to your school if you’re going away. A neighbor worked at a local CVS pharmacy, and was able to transfer to one close to her school when school started in the fall.
And try every single store, restaurant, supermarket, fast food place you can get to. MANY have online apps. That’s convenient, but it also means you don’t make any sort of an impression. So, after you apply, either drop a note or drop in (at an off time, not during the lunch rush) and speak to a manager. Let him/her know your application is on file, but you wanted to be able to give him a face to connect to the name.
For what it’s worth, a number of employers will contribute money towards college for employees. (Starbucks is one, but I know there are others.) Many will also hold your job while you’re away at school.
That’d be great if it actually worked like that. My daughter is majoring in business. She applied for hundreds of summer internships, and landed none despite a high GPA. So she was a lifeguard last summer and is a waitress this summer. I think her summer job experience is teaching her life skills and shows employers that she can work as part of a team, has customer service skills, etc. It’s certainly better than nothing. When I reviewed and interviewed applicants for financial analyst positions at my prior company, lack of work experience was most definitely a negative. All other things being equal, I’d interview a student who spent his summer as a camp counselor or a grocery store clerk before a student who spent his summer self-studying finance.
During college I spent a couple thousand on road trips during breaks – Fall break, Spring Break, Mardi Gras, random holiday weekends, etc. Mountain cabins, beach houses, city hotels. Might be an expense you’ll have but aren’t considering right now. Of course, these are not necessary by any means, but for me, they were absolutely some of the best parts of my college experience and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I was able to go behave like a college kid, which is a type of behavior that probably won’t be acceptable ever again, hehe.
I could have skipped them and probably had a slightly higher GPA, but who cares? My first employer never even asked for my college transcript, and my work experience (in research) that funded these trips is probably what got me the job.
Oh and I’ll second what some others have mentioned about another unforeseen cost – dates and alcohol. Boy, does that add up quick. Looking back, maybe I would have cancelled some of those dates, haha.
