<p>xiggi, thanks for the nice discussion. I understand the WS is part of the FA - part of the school’s help. </p>
<p>Every year, every school (those I know of) will come up a COA. That is met by FA, and family obligations. The FA includes grant, WS and/or loans, depending on the school and family need. The family part includes student contribution and parents’s contribution. The savings under student’s name, earning from previous summer, estimated earning from this past summer, etc are all figured into how much is the student contribution. </p>
<p>I am very proud of both kids who works very hard each summer to meet their contribution. DS worked some 48 hours this week, for example.</p>
<p>No one is turning this thread ugly. It is just a statement that study abroad is a privilege, and not a right, and that if study abroad means that a student is unable to work and pay his or her expected contribution, either the parents have to pick up that contribution or the student may have to forego studying abroad. That’s all. Best of luck to both of your children.</p>
Dad II, this is the truth of the matter for most kids. If I can’t raise the money personally to go abroad, I will not be going abroad. I would love it if everyone who wanted to study abroad could(really, I think it’s very important), but that’s just not the way it is. For kids from low income households, study abroad is difficult, and a loan is a NECESSITY normally.</p>
<p>
I"m glad you’re proud. This is what many college kids do to make ends meet. Maybe if you could help them more with school and not spend so much on Hawaii, investments, or electronics, they could use that money for Study Abroad? Just a thought</p>
<p>OR… the STUDENT can pick up the extra burden of earning more. At least in his example, Dad II is only talking about $1000 – ($3000 full year’s allotment; one semester spent abroad). So the burden would be on the student to earn $1000 more. That’s not very much money. A resourceful student should be able to figure out ways to earn the money needed.</p>
<p>I would check to see what other resources are available from the school. At D1’s college, there were specific scholarships that could be used by those on significant financial aid so that they would be able to do things like semesters abroad and summer internships/travel.</p>
<p>Re post #25 – but if your daughter’s overall work-study grant is less… then the shortfall with the study abroad semester is less to cover as well. </p>
<p>Whatever it is – work-study is simply a job, offered as a means to cover expenses-- and generally intended as a way for the student to cover ongoing, incidental expenses while living on campus.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that colleges counted first generation as first generation to go to college, not first generation to go to college in the US.<br>
I’m not sure what being first-generation has to do with anything related to work-study or study abroad?</p>
<p>When D1 studied abroad in Australia, her tuition was actually less than Cornell, even after Cornell tacked on $5K to U. of Sydeny tuition. On top of that Sydney’s tuition was for foreigners. They make a lot of money by admitting non Australians to their Unis. We saved money by her going abroad, just to give people some prospective on cost of tuition in the US.</p>
<p>LOL, ellemenope! You sound plenty generous to your dau.</p>
<p>True story: I know of one family whose s. went to France for a semester abroad. They whined about the cost of their s. going abroad, then decided that the rest of their immediate family should travel over in December to spend the holiday with him. Of course they claimed they couldn’t afford to pay their way, but it wasn’t fair that they couldn’t spend the holiday with their son, so came up with the brilliant idea that extended family should all travel over together— and the extended family should pick up the tab. Um… no.</p>
<p>Not sure what the real question is in the OP-- if the school has offered work-study as a way to defray the COA (as part of their FA package) and the student, for whatever reason, can’t, or chooses not to do the “work” part, then the student is responsible to cover the cost of the money that would have been acquired by the work study. The school should not be expected to write off that amount simply because the student chooses to avail themselves of the opportunity to study abroad. It is not an entitlement, just as, in the example above, if the family chooses to travel abroad to visit them for vacation instead of going to Hawaii or wherever, that is a luxury they should be fortunate to afford-- not an entitlement to be paid by someone else.</p>
<p>All of us, as parents now rather than being students, are learning the ins and outs of the “how to pay for college” game. This is new to most of us, regardless of whether we are first generation anything or not.</p>
<p>Leftovers can be from home-cooked meals or nice dinners out too.</p>
<p>Still wondering, dadII-- what did you expect to be the answer? Your OP was a reasonable question, but post #4 was the predictable post that got people’s hackles up. Were you expecting the cost of the WS to be forgiven simply because your d wanted to study abroad? Why would you think that?</p>
<p>As oldfort mentioned, sometimes the cost of study abroad is actually cheaper than studying at the home school. In that case their might not be a differential to pay, so it might be absorbed. But if not, and there is, for eg, $2k due in lieu of the WS that is not performed, then … well… that is the student or parents responsibility.</p>
<p>If the student is away from the campus then he/she can ask for more WS hours during during winter break, spring break, and summer. It depends on each school, but it’s doable. During my first year in college I worked more hours than the allowed WS and the FA office threatened to cut my aid. It was not my intention to go over the allowed amount. The office where I worked did not keep track of my hours properly and I did not know how much I had worked until I got the paychecks.</p>
<p>*ek4, I bring leftovers for lunch at work everyday. We rarely eat out. *</p>
<p>Good for you- but I sense that you feel very aware that you perceive yourself to have less money and status than your peers, but at the same time you have a hard time acknowledging that in terms of income and education level, you are still above many Americans both immigrant and native born.</p>
<p>You might eat at home, but for some of us, the only vacations we ever take are camping vacations close to home- which can be had for 1/2 tank of gas and $10 a night campsite rental, so any vacations that require a cruise or airfare, let alone a hotel and restaurants can seem pretty plush. </p>
<p>The first time I ever was on an airplane with my spouse was last year, and I have known him since 1976 & we have been married since 1981.</p>
<p>I am not using that as an example of our economic status, but to illustrate we all make choices regarding our finances. For instance I * like * camping and I * like* eating out, & I try and budget accordingly.
When Ds travel, they earn their travel expenses before hand- mostly
( I did have to exhort D to ship her stuff back home instead of lugging it all around the world- it didn’t need it’s own airline seat)</p>
<p>*When D1 studied abroad in Australia, her tuition was actually less than Cornell, *
My D is planning to study abroad in Australia, but I think we just pay the regular tuition to the school ( but instate- not Cornell level) also study abroad required as part of the major she is planning on- at this point in time.</p>
<p>Looks like Stanford is pretty generous for kids on FA going abroad, according to what EK posted. I’d check with them to see how the FA will be affected–I’m sure that they would be able to give you a preview.</p>
<p>Dad II, I am first gen college in that my parents both attended college as non traditional students while working (my father on the GI bill after having served in Viet Nam, my mother as a young working woman and later on while raising her kids). Neither of my parents did the traditional live at college between age 18-22 that my sister and I did. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, it seems common sense that if a student ELECTS a luxury like studying abroad and is unable to then work for her student contribution, that the family will either a) have to make up the difference or b) tell the student she cannot study abroad. It is the sense of entitlement that galls – that D is entitled to study abroad without sacrifice.</p>
