“New research shows that working through college isn’t going to make a dent in student debt and could ruin your GPA.”
Working to pay for college doesn’t work. Despite the fact that 40 percent of undergraduates work at least 30 hours per week while in college, tuition is too high for those hours to make much of a difference, a new report shows. "
“Students have always had side gigs. In the decades leading up to 2008, as many as 80 percent of people who were enrolled in U.S. colleges were also active in the labor market, the report said. What has changed is the cost of tuition, which soared 46 percent between 2001 and 2012, to as much as $65,000 at some schools, which makes it unlikely that any job could cover the cost of school.”
This is the ugly truth that now confronts most working poor and many middle class families these days.
It just costs too much to send kids to 4 years of college .
I actually like the suggestion that some politicians have made that public colleges, like HS’s, should be tuition free, as they are in so many other countries.
I recently had this conversation with someone who went through college in the 60’s. We were at a relative’s party. We were on the phone with our dd, who needed to get her car repaired, and is away at school.
She was mortified that we were helping our dd with college expenses.
So we got the “When I went to college I worked my way through like everyone should”. “Your daughter needs to work her way through school”.
I responded: “Well I don’t know of any unskilled, non-degreed kid that can earn $50K per year, to fund an education.”
She then said, “Well your dd should apply for scholarships”.
So I said: “Most of those are few and far between. Our daughter has tried. Once past freshman year, there isn’t much money. Many are need-based which we don’t qualify for. There just isn’t enough money for the kinds of tuition and fees that every student needs.”
She then said: “How can college be $50K per year?”
I said, “Easy, look at all of the colleges’ properties and their websites for cost of attendance.”
You can’t work your way through college in four years, probably. But you can do it over a longer period, especially if it includes community college and state schools–or if you are willing to give up some years to military service.
Yes. In other words, what was possible a generation ago is no longer possible. Yet another way we’ve given our kids the shaft. Sure, you can work through college, but you MAY have to risk losing life or limb in Afghanistan first!
A generation ago, some students were able to support themselves living on their own (i.e. without parental support) by working while having enough extra to pay the small public university tuition and books costs.
Now, it is more likely that doing this requires some parental support, such as being able to continue living at the parent’s house and commuting to the local university (with parental subsidy of the living and commuting costs).
The cost of the Penn State branch campus my daughter attended is 5X what I paid back in 1987.
There is no way minimum wage, which is mostly what she has worked, is 5X’s what is what back then. Yet, many people still expect kids to “pay” their own way.
It is possible to eventually get a degree w/ some of the above, #3, but that isn’t what people are thinking when they think kids should be able to pay their way through school.
Here in California, being a part time student is now actively discouraged, at least at the community college level. If you aren’t a full time student, your registration date for classes has to go to the back of the line, per state law. The state wants to prioritize full time people getting in and out rapidly.
If you can get in. I enlisted before college. Medical problems got me separated a month in. Military service in exchange for the GI bill isn’t an option for me or a lot of my generation. Not to mention that the military is turning people away because it has more potential recruits than it needs. If somebody wants to do it, more power to them, but it’s something a small percentage of Americans ever do, and the military doesn’t need that percentage bigger.
In other news, many graduates, if they did not get substantial need-based or merit based grants, are not getting or retaining jobs that will recover the cost of college (ROI) even if they do not have loans. This is important to some of us who are not in the top 1%, even if we have modest retirement funds set aside.
It is not that they necessarily go in with the idea that a fluff degree will get them a job, either - that rigorous degree or med school dream can move out of reach after a year or two, or a technical specialty might no longer be in demand four years after enrollment.
And then there are those who do not graduate. They are not all leaving for greener pastures (tech jobs that pay well) in a booming economy, to say the least.
This does not seem a sustainable situation for most families, barring a sudden improvement in the economy.
There is no way a child could work there way through school going to a private without some support from parents. The only way to do it is at a local school where you do not pay for housing and it takes more than four years and even then it depends on the cost of living in that area. Even if i had the money i would never dream of paying 200k for education because there is no guaranteed return. Do i want my kids to go to college? Absolutely with major financial constraints and they from an early age were made aware of this. They have to work their butts off and they know it. There are not enough high paying jobs to go around and you have to expect bouts of unemployment today. There are no guarantees today that going to college is going to bring financial harmony.
“But the earnings aren’t sufficient to even get close to covering a private, four-year school.”
I love that this is coming from Georgetown. Which buries many of its students and/or parents with crushing debt. Look what G’town did to poor old Marty O’Malley!
20 hours a week for 40 weeks at $10 per hour is $8k pre-tax. 40 hours a week for 12 summer weeks is $4800 pre-tax. FYI, you can start doing that gig when you are in high school. No need to wait until college to start working.
Most kids are not homeless – they can continue to live at home for free. Most kids do not live in remote Alaska – there are 4 and 2 year schools nearby. Most kids do not seek an esoteric combined degree in Sanskrit and aeronautical engineering. Most kids can find a 4 year school nearby for $10k in tuition sticker price, less after any aid or scholarships. Less for your local CC. It is hard but do-able.
If you want 4 years, residential at Georgetown at full sticker? Well then your part-time job has to be as a drug dealer or bank robber.
Good work G’town. You realize that you are the problem, right?
I’d love to know where all these jobs are that are paying $10 an hour. Not around these parts, that’s for sure. Minimum wage is what businesses get away with so that’s what they pay… especially when you’re in high school.
The point is that, a generation ago, it was more likely to be possible to work one’s way through college without any parental support, including living at the parents’ house for free or below-market monetary cost.
A high school and college student is not going to find a job that pays $10/h and reliably gives 20 hours per week. There are very few states with minimum wages that high. The people who make $10+ per hour in an on campus job at my school are tutors, research assistants, or interns.
A company with 50+ employees has to give health insurance to anyone working over 30 hours per week. Anyone who wants to work 40 hours per week in the summer (excluding internships) needs to find two jobs or hope that they can pic up a lot of shifts.
Teenage unemployment is at a record high, and this hasn’t decreased since the recession.
I’m sorry, but that isn’t true. According to the BLS, the Youth Unemployment rate is down to 12% from a high of more than 19% in 2010.
It seems like it would be a good idea to develop a skill during HS that would enable you to work part time in college at a higher rate than minimum wage. Common sense.