My kiddo works summers to help pay her way, but she also works during the school year while she’s taking classes…
She’s in a demanding major (pre-med microbiology) and has found that 10 hours a week is the most she is comfortable working during the school year. Her university employer gives her a great deal of flexibility to work less on weeks with tests, and more when she has more time…but it averages out to about 10 hours a week…which she uses to buy groceries and incidentals.
Any other working students out there? What number of hours works well for you? How many hours is too many?
It sounds like your ad has found what works for her. Why second guess?
D in cinema worked what hours she could get–generally just a very few maybe once a week or less if she was slammed with school. Never found out how much S worked during school in engineering but I’m sure it was an amount he found was ok for him. He worked JR and SR years only during the school year, doing research and preparing papers for publication. He also worked full time in the summer before JR and SR years and part time the 2 years prior.
It really depends on the kid and also the type of work. I think my DD probably worked 15-20 hours a week, but she had a variety of different types of jobs and was a poli sci major – so less hours needed for classwork than a science/pre-med major.
My daughter tutors but it’s not every week and it is only about 1- 2 hours when she does it. She also works 12 hours a week in a lab ( very flexible hours) and runs a weekly review session ( 1 hour) for an intro class- these two things are done for credit and not for pay, but they are done in addition to her regular course load so it is time consuming. She is a science major but not pre-med ( although that could change and she is taking all of the prerequisites).
It sounds like your daughter’s work schedule works for her.
My D works somewhere between 10 and 12 hours a week between her work study, grading and tutoring. Both are very flexible and that makes all the difference in my opinion. She also works two jobs all summer. She decided not to work one semester and she was bored and broke.
We strongly encourage our kids not to work the first semester – get settled, figure out your new life, and then reassess if you like. We are fortunate enough financially that they don’t have to work during school if they don’t want to – summer jobs provide them with enough money – but a flexible on-campus job of up to 10 hours/week after that is fine if they can handle it. That’s just more burrito money.
And, on the other hand, working on campus that first semester provides another outlet for making friends. In particular majors you often are in the same classes with the same students and it can be a little isolating, especially if you don’t play sports or join another club. I guess it also depends on the time management skills and work ethic going into college, some kids are still on that learning curve, others have it down already.
My experience (Microbiology major/I was Pre nursing at the time)
Spring 16 20-30 hrs/week 13 credits -> 3.2 GPA
Fall 16 8-12 hrs/week 14 credits -> 3.9 GPA
so ~10 works for me best
Back decades ago, I had work study and worked the full 15 hours/week I was allowed. I was a sociology major, not pre-Med. My jobs tended to be very easy and I enjoyed them.
When I was an undergrad, I worked ~20 hours/week during the semester while maxing out my credit load at 15-16 which was higher than the norm and did fine.
However, I must tip my proverbial hat to several conservatory/double-degree classmates who worked just as much/more while overriding that max load by necessity(Carrying 18+ credits a semester).
That’s exceedingly hard if one was just a conservatory major…especially if one’s a piano major with its notoriously high workload and cutthroat levels of competition among piano majors when I attended. It’s worse if one’s a double-degree student as 18+ credits will be a routine one will need to commit to for a minimum of 5 years.
And yet, some excel…especially the international students who carried such heavy loads while grabbing as many shifts in the college cafeteria* as possible to defray living expenses/whatever their outside scholarships/conservatory scholarships don’t cover.
International students at my undergrad when I attended tended to gravitate towards working in the college cafeteria as servers/dishwashers as it's considered the least desirable job for US citizen students eligible for work-study and it's one of the few jobs where having work-study award isn't required whereas most of the more desirable on-campus jobs did require it.
My kids usually worked 10 hours a week @“jesse’sgirl” . We were clear that they had to earn their own discretionary spending money…and neither ever complained about being short on cash.
So…to answer your question…yes, 10 hours of work will pay before spending money…and it will also teach a student to live within their means.
OP- that sounds like enough. 10 hours doesn’t steal too much time form academics and relaxation. Science classes, especially chemistry, need a lot of lab hours compared to other classes (plus time for lab reports/preparing for them). Ideally not having to work at all is best- use the time for fun /enrichment classes one won’t get later. I wish I hadn’t been on such a tight budget, now plenty of money but can’t roll back the clock. No matter where your D ends up professionally she can never repeat the undergrad college experience.
Costs- so individual. Different schools have different mandatory meal costs and prices for going out. Different students have different standards for clothing, shoes et al. Some of us couldn’t afford much- the work helped pay for needed things- books, tuition, room and board basics… Others can’t imagine not having nice clothes from more expensive stores et al.
Much better to have time for that extra class one would not otherwise take. Things like various lit courses, art history, music-symphony and other social science and humanities courses. Medical school does not allow for formal classes in those (probably not most grad programs as well) and they are useful decades later. I have no regrets about the breadth in my education before medical school.
@jesse’sgirl, 10 hours a week ends up being around $100, my D puts half in her savings and spends half. Her savings ends up being used for bigger ticket items like Christmas gifts, concert tickets, a new pair of shoes that catches her eye but certainly the $50/week covers gas, pizza, movies, hygiene items, etc.
“Does 10 hours a week end up enough to support the student’s spending money at college? (Of course with region, meal plans, etc. it varies.)”
My kiddo makes $12/hr, and it ends up being enough to buy groceries and most things she needs spending money for. She doesn’t need a car in her college town, so she’s really just buying food and the occasional inexpensive outing. Works great for her.
