<p>I'll have two kids in college this year. Early on, we discussed how much we were willing to pay for college. Both kids have stayed within budget. Both were awarded work-study. D's work-study is offset by scholarships. S, who was not awarded work study last year, has worked the last two summers in the mountains half a country away. At the end of the summer, he will net the same amount as the work study awarded. He finds college challenging and although has fun and loves to hang with friends, he seems to study quite a bit and has made the dean's list both semesters. I'm comfortable if he decides to decline work study opportunities if he contributes a similar amount from summer earnings. But, since he is only in cell phone range or access to electricity and a computer on occasion, I have not discussed it with him. What do others do? If WS is available, do you require your kids to work during the school year?</p>
<p>I required my sons to work during the school year and summer, which is what I and virtually all of my friends did when I was in college. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect students to do this. It’s possible to do this while also doing well in school and participating in ECs even if one is in a demanding major. Work study jobs in general aren’t that hard and often one can study while doing them.</p>
<p>I would suggest that this would be a good teaching opportunity about the need for a monetary reserve. Tell you S that whatever he earns through WS (if he has made it up through the summer job), you will put it in a reserve fund so that he can take a vacation in Costa Rica or buy a car etc. Remember he is going to be graduating soon and will need some money after that to get started. That may be an incentive for him to work a little bit as he knows that there will be some extra spending money after he graduates.</p>
<p>Or you could just expect him to earn through work study the money to pay for his entertainment and similar college expenses, which also is a good way for students to learn responsibility and budgeting.</p>
<p>Yes. My job is to pay room, board and tuition and cell phone ($10 on family plan). His is to pay all personal expenses, books, entertainment, etc. The work/study amount ($1800 at his school - very reasonable), plus his summer earnings cover that and allow him to give us about $1000 for his summer earnings contribution - which goes right to his school.</p>
<p>By having to pay for his entertainment, books, clothes, and similar expenses, son has learned to squeeze a nickle and is more careful about his spending habits than I am.</p>
<p>My S will be joining college this fall and is working during the summer. He wanted to go out with his friends to a mid priced restaurant and I took money out of his pay check and gave it to him. Whenever he goes to that restaurant with us, he always orders appetizers, salad, soft drink, dessert etc. Yesterday, all he ordered was an entree, the friends shared some appetizers etc and his expense was half what he would incurred if Dad was paying the bill.</p>
<p>I do expect him to pay for all the above items, pretty similar to anxious mom. Summer earnings seem to cover those types of expenses. Plus, I don’t have the expense of room and board over the summer. He goes to a public school with a COA below what is budgeted and I’ve offered the difference towards things he may need at graduation such as grad school, car etc. So, the question is whether I require him to take a WS job. It may be a moot point as I know he wants a new guitar and mandolin and would love to get a fiddle and banjo.</p>
<p>ETA: I am not generous with birthday and Xmas. New instruments are on his dime.</p>
<p>My kids work summer jobs. About 2/3 of what they earn goes directly to the college towards their tuition/room&board. They also have workstudy jobs during the year. what they earn there is just their personal expenses money. We don’t send them anything additional during the year.</p>
<p>But I think each family is different, and kids are different. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong here.</p>
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<p>We will require son to work summers. I would like for him to get a job during the school year (5-10 hours per week). I did this and maintained a 3.5. There have been national studies that show that the kids that work up to 15 hours a week have much better GPAs than those who don’t work at all or those who work more than 15 hours a week. </p>
<p>A lot of kids find that too much idle time causes them to become less disciplined in their study habits, not more. But if you think your son needs the extra time to study and will take advantage of it, I would consider letting him skip WS. As 'renof2 said - everyone is different.</p>
<p>D1 has not worked summers, but each year she has applied to and received funding from grants or programs to support internships, research, etc. which cover summer living expenses. </p>
<p>During the school year she has done WS to support her day to day expenses. WS has not been extremely time consuming since she has an outside scholarship that offsets about half of the full WS allotment. This year she is going to be a freshman counselor, which earns her room and some board, bringing our EFC to zero. Because being a counselor takes time, particularly at the beginning of the school year, I have told her to do WS to the extent it is possible after her other responsibilities and not to worry about having some money left on the table this year.</p>
<p>We require D1 to work both summer and school year even though she is not on work study. My reason is for her to gain as much work experience as possible. The money she’s earned in school (10hrs/week) is really not that much after tax. For the last 3 years she has worked in an office, not related to her major(s). But her work experience has helped her get her current internship. Her GPA is not close to 4.0 at all, but it shows she is reliable, able to manage her time…everything a job would require. In this tough job market, I would encourage every college student to get job experience. I think it is especially the case if a student appears to be from a well to do family.</p>
<p>I simply did not send spending money to my kids. Whether they worked or not was up to them… but they weren’t getting $$ from me. My deal with them was basically that I paid the bill that came from the bursar, and nothing else. Obviously if a kid earned extra money during the summer, they may feel they’ve got enough saved up and not have to work. Also, both my kids at times managed to figure out ways to make extra money doing various odd jobs – often at rates better than work study paid. </p>
<p>I agree with oldfort that the work pays off in other ways – we’ve been discussing this on another thread as well – down the line kids with more paid work experience on their resumes have a leg up in the job market. </p>
<p>I didn’t tell my kids what to do over the summers, either – but I didn’t fund them for anything.</p>