Why do high schoolers work?

<p>Why do people work when they have so many other things to do? Why do they want money if they can get loans/scholarships/etc. and pay it off when they get out of school? I mean, they get so tired and exhausted from working, and I'm pretty sure they don't like it right?</p>

<p>Does working at a fast-food restaurant improve your application or give you any meaningful experience? Do you just want extra money to waste on things you want to buy? Please tell me why you work. Just curious =D</p>

<p>Work experience is meaningful, but most kids I know work to get money...usually to waste it on random stuff.</p>

<p>Working at McDonalds gives you meaningful experience? You mean social interaction with different kinds of people or the repetitious tiresome work that you do there? lol, I just don't see the light in working other than gaining money for...</p>

<p>I love working. I prefer to earn my own spending money. I <em>hate</em> asking my parents for money for movies and clothes. They are always offering me money, so it isn't like they are stingy. Nevertheless, I like the feeling of having earned my own money to pay for some of my things myself. I plan to pay for my own gas and insurance when I finally have my driver's license (I have my permit right now).</p>

<p>My 13 year old brother has a job now, too, and he begs to be able to go to work. My parents want him to take at least two weeks of summer to just hang out, but he really wants to go to work. They had a fight over it.</p>

<p>Whether or not it looks good on my college applications does not change my desire to work. I actually make my choices based on other reasons, not just college grooming.</p>

<p>I hope I'll be able to find a good job when I go away to college. I probably won't have a car, so that may limit my possibilities.</p>

<p>For what it is worth, working in a fast food restaurant has no appeal to me. I created a more interesting and better paying opportunity for myself because of that.</p>

<p>My brother's boss called this morning. He has done such a good job so far this summer, his boss decided to give him a raise to the usual salary that people are paid at that business. He will now get $10 an hour. As he was expecting only $8.00, he is thrilled! The boss wanted a commitment from him to work at least two week-ends a month during the coming school year. My brother agreed to that.</p>

<p>'Why do they want money if they can get loans/scholarships/etc. and pay it off when they get out of school?' Because they don't want to end college with a s***load of debt maybe?</p>

<p>I need $ to pay for IB testing, college applications, music lessons, and eventually my college deposit... fun...</p>

<p>Personally I have only worked in order to be able to list it on an application :p. It has not proved to be "meaningful" in my life, but it fills up the "Do you have any work experience?" blank on future college/job applications.</p>

<p>Um, obviously I work for money. That tends to be what jobs are for. I need money to save up for car, pay my cell phone bill, spending money, eventually to pay my insurance and gas(if my family's economic situation improves, I may get some help with this), etc.</p>

<p>I work to help support my family, my mom is a single mom who only is working part time atm, and I give all of my pay check to my family</p>

<p>EchoX: if I was your mother, I would quit funding your play time. Actually, all my kids work, starting with paper routes (7 days/wk, 5:30 a.m.-7 a.m., 365 days/yr) at age 10. Now as teens and 20's, they all work all the time. No college debt for the older ones, and now, they get chosen for internships more than others who have demonstrated "no work ethic." Employers and even graduate schools like to know that you are a "go-getter," in every way, not just academics.</p>

<p>Some of us work because we have to start buying our own necessities.</p>

<p>Loans = the devil. I will NEVER pull out a loan for college. </p>

<p>And how the hell do you expect to live in college? You're going to need money for clothes, food, etc. are you not?</p>

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Um, obviously I work for money. That tends to be what jobs are for. I need money to save up for car, pay my cell phone bill, spending money, eventually to pay my insurance and gas(if my family's economic situation improves, I may get some help with this), etc.

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<p>This is a good example of what the average teens works for. None of these are necessities, but many teens have a car and cell phones they have to pay for, unless the OP is an exception?</p>

<p>My parents wouldn't let me get a job, because they said that it (my job) would "ruin the summer." ...what the...?!?</p>

<p>I (will) work because its fun, and it'll look good on my applications, and I like money.</p>

<p>I'm trying to get together some money for a real vacation to Europe next summer. My parents also prefer that I don't sit at home all the time, and so since I started working, I don't have to do as many chores as before.</p>

<p>But I also don't work at a fast food chain or anything like that. The people I work with are amazing, and it's really a good experience to get to know people in the real world. You also learn how to manage money and bank accounts. You probably won't learn everything about a checking account on your own, so it's nice to have a parent to help.</p>

<p>I think it looks better having work experience as a teen rather than trying to get your first job at 18 or 19 and not having previous experience when most high schoolers these days have jobs.</p>

<p>Most people I know have jobs to earn extra spending money, save for buying a car, save for college, cell phone bills, clothes.</p>

<p>I do get tired from my weekday job but I would rather be working than sitting at home watching tv.</p>

<p>I also think it does make your college application look better, it generally shows you have some real world experience.</p>

<p>bah...I'll work when the time comes ( during college I guess, and still only a few hours). I'd hate to spend my vacations in some job. Meanwhile I'll just mooch off of my parents ( score! lol, and they're happy about it too)</p>

<p>I work at Food Lion and even though I don't earn enough to really save big time for college (I'll rely on financial aid and scholarships HOPEFULLY for that one) but the extra spending money helps me get through. I have to pay for gas for my car and I have to pay my parents for insurance. Also it's nice to be able to just see a movie or buy clothes with the money instead of relying on parents who never fork anything over lol. </p>

<p>If I could choose I would choose not to have a job, but I don't really have a choice!!</p>

<p>"Why do people work when they have so many other things to do? Why do they want money if they can get loans/scholarships/etc. and pay it off when they get out of school?"</p>

<p>I don't feel like having as much debt as possible coming out of college. maybe that's just me though...</p>

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Loans = the devil. I will NEVER pull out a loan for college.

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<p>This is also an unhealthy attitude. Look, not all loans are bad. A properly set-up mortgage, for example, can be very very good debt.</p>

<p>Look at every Fortune 500 company's balance sheet. They all have debt. That's because people who are smart with money know that you have to use leverage to really maximize your equity.</p>

<p>Don't fear loans. Just be smart about them. Trust me, you'll probably never make it through grad school without loans.</p>

<p>I like money? I mean, I'm also a workaholic, so I just love the feeling of working.</p>

<p>Besides, I'm a normal teenager. I like spending money on clothes and stuff.</p>

<p>I don't work, I have a job but I don't think I'm going to take it. </p>

<p>Go social security!!</p>