Since it’s more common for international students to work on campus during the summer to help pay for college, can you share your experiences? is it easy to get a few thousand dollars to pay for college after spending money for roam&board on campus during the summer or renting a place outside of campus and on food? I know it varies, but let’s talk about a liberal arts college in a small town.
The short answer: NO.
If you are thinking of paying off some of college cost by working on campus, do NOT count on it. It’s not easy for interntional students to get jobs on campus.
Assume you did get hired and the pay is like 8$/hr and you work maximum 40hr/ week for May, June, July. That is like 3840$ before deducting tax. I don’t know dorm costs of every college, but theoretically, it MIGHT pay off the cheapest dorm or decent off campus housing rent.
However, can you really work 40 hours/ week? In fact, can you even find a job that can give you that much hour? I would say it’s very unlikely.
You will be limited by your visa as to how many hours you can work.
I think you might be limited to 20 hours per week if you can find work.
It’s 20 hours /week during fall, spring and 40$/week during summer.
Honestly, I doubt there would be jobs in college that would offer 40hr/week
Summer oncampus jobs are competitive and very hard to find because EVERYONE wants one…
Looking back at my own undergraduate years… Most on-campus summer jobs at my liberal arts college paid $3,600 for 10 weeks of full-time work. The college offered subsidized summer housing to students with a job on campus, for $1,600 including 10 meals per week.
HOWEVER, that summer housing and summer meal plan only covered the 10-week summer session. Summer break was about 14 weeks long. We were still responsible to find our own housing and pay for our own meals for the remaining 4 weeks.
That all said, I had maybe $500 left at the end of the summer.
Some colleges I know of offer abundant jobs for international students during the summer, but I have no clue how many hours per week. Let’s say someone has only a few thousand dollars, say 5,000,left to pay, will working during the summer cover some of it? maybe 2 or 3? Also, for a small town, i thought that renting an apartment with other classmates and eating would require 1500 or so at most during the summer period…
Can you not return to your home country and work there? It might be cheaper
“Some colleges I know of offer abundant jobs for international students during the summer” – some may, but not most. Also, your work hours are limited by your visa - the maximum is 20 per week. Let’s say you earn $10/hour. Do the math. Is that enough to live on – having to pay rent, food, health insurance – much less save?
Again, do not count on working on campus. When you apply for colleges, you have to provide financial statement forms they give you and they will say the same thing: do not assume you will work on/off campus.
@paul2752 – is it even legal for international students to work off campus?
The thing is, currency exchange rates are quickly fluctuating and I’ll have to pay much more than when i applied when I go to college. So, providing a couple thousands through summer jobs will help. And by the way, the maximum hours to work in summer are 40 hours per week, not twenty.
And no, I cannot work in my home country because it will never pay much, since it’s paying in the local currency
If you haven’t started college yet, I suggest you stay home and instead re-apply to colleges that you can afford. A $5k gap between your resources and your expected expenses is practically insurmountable. And in practice, students always need more money than the standard cost of attendance figure suggests. Maybe your computer breaks, maybe you need to see a dentist, maybe you will run into additional visa expenses.
And would you really want to spend your summers working 60 hours per week scrubbing dishes in the dining halls, instead of pursuing internships or research opportunities that will advance your career?
There is such a thing as life after college, and a liberal arts degree with no relevant work experience is pretty much the worst position you could be in with a college degree.
The gap isn’t $5k, this is the net price I’m supposed to pay. I currently can afford all of it. It’s just that by fall when i’ll start college it will be more difficult to afford, so I may need some money from on campus jobs during the summer. And no, reapplying next year isn’t an option. I’m, however, interested in elaboration for your last statement about liberal arts degree. If it’s relevant, I’m applying to top LACs and the $5K thing is what i said i’d be able to pay.
So let me understand – right now you have $5,000 – but you’re worried about the $5,000 for your second, third and fourth year? And you’re counting on a summer job (and, I assume, working during the school year) to come up with that money?
No. I can afford the net price of the four years right now. But as i said, currency fluctuations will make those $20,000 worth more in my local currency as months go by. So, it will be more difficult to afford college because the money i currently have is in my local currency. I illustrated above that I only need 2 or maybe 3 thousand dollars out of the whole summer period.
It may NOT be realistic for you to save 2-3K over the summer, having also to pay for your housing, food, insurance, etc.
However, it could be realistic if you work during the school year, provided you find an oncampus job.
What are your plans for after college? In the US, it is difficult for liberal arts graduates to find employment. Businesses need accountants, nurses and engineers, not history or physics majors. The job search becomes even more difficult for international students who need sponsorship for a work visa. All of the international students in my year either went to graduate school or left the US after their OPT was up.
A significant number of my American classmates went to graduate school too. Many were unemployed for a while after graduation, or took a job that they could have had without going to college (such as working as a store clerk). The students who fared best in the labor market took aggressive steps to develop their resume while in college. One girl who was volunteering for a non-profit organization throughout her college career got a full-time job as a program coordinator for a related organization. Another person who had a sequence of IT jobs in college got a job as a network administrator. One student decided she wanted to be an actuary - she went out of her way to study for the actuarial exams on her own, organized an unpaid internship with a tiny insurance firm who was willing to take a chance on her, and later got a full-time job offer from that same firm.
Btw, all of the students in my examples are female because I went to a women’s college (Bryn Mawr).
That’s the American labor market for you. Maybe an American liberal arts degree would be more useful in your home country?
In another thread, OP said he/she wants to get a STEM PhD. So, grad school in the plans, at least for now.