letsfigureitout

I'm curious about what everyone is planning for their summer before college. (Or, what their kids are planning. . .) More summer programs? Work?

We told my S it was time to "get a job." With all the summer training, plus some unpaid community theater work, he has not had the opportunity to do the traditional summer job stint. It seemed like an experience that would be helpful in the long run (as fishbowl has pointed out!). And, we thought it would be nice if HE provided the spending money he needed in college (interesting concept, huh?). He did get a job, but not the kind we thought he'd get. He's currently performing in a production of RABBIT HOLE at a local professional theater and the entire cast is moving on to do it again in another city! They're taking him along!

music_darling08

Letsfigureitout -

My parents also are expecting me to come up with my spending money for college. I'm gonna have to start saving now, that's for sure! But I'm planning on hopefully being in another show before school on top of getting a job this summer. Luckily, the job I have lined up is a waitressing job and the resturaunt is only opened breakfast and lunch so I'll be able to work and go to rehearsals and extra dance classes this summer! I'm hoping to learn some basic tap this summer. I've been in ballet for a couple years as well as being on my school's competitive dance team, and I think it will be extremely advantageous for me if I can at least get down the basics before I go to school.

It'll definitly be a busy next few months ^_^

PDXmom

letsfigureitout:

Funny coincidence...my son was in Rabbit Hole in Portland this year. I'm sure he wishes it was moving on with him included! Now he's looking for a "real job" for the summer between freshman and soph year in college. The theater opps he had this summer didn't pay much, if anything.

JudyL

My son will be working as a lifeguard. This will be the first summer NOT doing technical theatre. We figure he will have a life time of sitting in a dark control booth (he will be going to school in the fall for BFA stage management). Let him get a little sunshine this summer, of course with a good helping of sunscreen!!

tltl

D is working retail part of the summer and attending Broadway Theatre Project in June.

ActressToBe

I'm gonna continue working at Cold Stone to try to save up money to buy some essentials for when I move.

louisiana mom

D will be working as a student worker at an elementary school during the day and rehearsing and performing as Polly in "Crazy For You" in the evenings. She will also be collecting all of the dorm stuff for her freshman year at OCU.

AngieA

D. will be working at a Danceware Store to make spending money for school and will be Sharpay in a local production of High School Musical.

MTgrlsmom

D will be Miss Dorothy in Thoroughly Modern Millie by night, and working as a waitress at a BJ's by day .

LizMT

I am working at Disneyland<3 and doing Hamlet at a local theatre company.

MTDad777

My D will be out looking for her first real job! We need to setup a checking account with a debit card for her. I trust her and I think in general she's good with handling money. I've heard all kinds of stories about the kids getting in trouble with credit cards at school. Any advice on what I should send her to school with?

letsfigureitout

Good question MTDad! I, too, wonder what parents do about money for kids away at college. My S has his checking account debit card and carries one of our credit cards with his name on it. He's been very responsible with these.

Should this be a new thread? I'll bet it's somewhere on CC--somewhere among the "regular" college stuff, which I don't usually read.

AZKMom

My son has been working at the local grocery store since he was a freshman and picked up a second job in the kitchen at a local bible camp a couple of years ago. So he will be working as many hours as they will give him. He gave up his spring sport(track) and auditioning for any shows to try to earn as much money as possible to help with his college tuition. He has had a checking account and debit card for a couple of years, now. Even so, I am worried about his spending in college; and reconciling his checking account without me to help when he can't get it to balance.

MTgrlsmom

MTDad, I know, like letsfigureitout says, that there has been a thread about this in the past, but I seem to have trouble locating it, but here is what we did.

We set up a checking account (with an ATM/debit card) for our D for her daily needs and a checkbook for larger expenses (medical, books etc.). She also has a savings account, where she sets aside things like her birthday money and the majority of her earnings. We are able to monitor her accounts online, and deposit her allowance on a monthly basis, so that she has to budget and spread out what she spends. We all bank at the same institution which helps speed up transfering money from one account into the other, when needed. We also made sure that the bank has a branch office close to where she intends to live/will be going to college, but I don't know how pertinent this may turn out to be yet. I just remember having some issues once with an out of town bank that I wanted to avoid .

In regard to a credit card, I think this is a very personal decision as I have also read those horror stories of kids running up their cards, and I guess that each situation may be different. Our D has a tendency to 'help people out', which at first may sound lovely, but we have tried to cap that somewhat. At this point, we are leaning towards giving D one when she leaves, with the understanding that it is for absolute emergencies (and fashion emergencies don't qualify ), although I personally think that her ATM may work just fine, even in those type of situations.

With an occasional snafu here or there, all this has worked out just fine over the past couple of years when her independence kicked in. Prior to that the checkbook would just sit on her desk at home .

lauriemom

letsfigureitout--
That is wonderful news about your son doing Rabbit Hole and taking it on to another city. What a great experience. My D is looking for a real job. She usually does housesittig/petsitting for several neighbors as they go on vacation. This may be the first year in MANY years she does not do a summer show. One venue is closing for renovations and several directors who have mounted summer shows are taking off this year. There is talk of a group putting up a show at a semi/pro venue which she will audition for if this happens.