The Good Ol' Days: Paying for college by working over the summer

[worried_mom]

Back in the late 60's, I worked summers as a long-distance operator for the phone company. (Not to date myself, but that was when we didn't have direct dial yet and you had to have an operator connect you!) It was a union job and I made well over $5000 each year by putting in lots of overtime and working the midnight - 6AM shift (which paid more). That would have completely covered the cost of attending my state's flagship university.

However, I chose to attend a private school on a full-tuition scholarship. Because my summer earnings paid for room & board (plus books and spending money), I was able to live on-campus rather than commute the 25 miles from my parents' home each day.

[garland]

I transfered to an OOS public in the late 70s. Working full time in the summers netted enough for books and spending money--during the school year, I did cafeteria work and took out 2500/yr loans, plus my mom did PLUS loans. No way could I have paid for school with summer earnings.

[arkitex]

We recently did the math on this question - the cost of attending college now is way more in terms of relative potential income, than what it was when we went to college. I started working when I was 14 (part time, of course), and worked every summer during high school and college - sometimes 2 jobs in the summer. I did not work during college except in the summer. My parents paid for most of my tuition and room & board, and the money I earned paid for books, extra expenses, and studying in Europe for a semester. I did take out some student loans (interest rates were upside down in those years - you could take out a subsidized student loan for about 7 percent and the bank was paying around 13 percent on CD's). At the state universities, for a traditional college experience, there's no way a normal teenage job at $7-10/hour part time or even full time during the summer, would cover the approx. $20K required for the state university tuition/fees/room&board - and private schools are ranging from about $38K-$50K per year. It's pretty staggering. The loans available right now are also really expensive, compared to what you can earn in a 'safe' investment vehicle. But it's an investment in your child and their future. I still think the value of a college education is worthwhile - but there are so many really terrific colleges and universities out there that you don't have to go with the most expensive to get a great education.

[woami]

Wow, I never really understood how hard it is to earn enough money to pay for college. I had always figured that back in the day, money wasn't as inflated,thus, earning enough for college wouldn't be too difficult. I never really thought about how much you all really needed to work to go to a public state university, much less a private (and much more expensive) one. The replies have certainly put things into perspective for me!

I come from a reasonably affluent neighborhood, and because of that, I never really hear my friends talk about saving up money for college; instead, they talk about getting jobs in oder to get spending money for eating out more often, or buying the latest products. I feel that teenagers now ( at least those around me, me included) HAVE to depend on their parents for longer periods of time since it's getting to the point where going to college is necessary in order to hold a well paying job. It's not uncommon to get merit scholarships and grants, but there's only so many to go around.

[ellemenope]

Back in my day, kids who were putting themselves through college would often work 20 hours (and more) a week and sometimes take off whole semesters to get enough money to go another semester. It was tough--there wasn't much time for a personal life--school, work, sleep, that was it.

[Youdon'tsay]

Because I worked so many hours during the school year (32 hours/week, plus 90-minute round-trip commute), I took fewer classes so that I could still qualify for scholarship, but that also meant I had to go every summer session. I loved my career-related job, but I sure was ready to be done with the schooling by the end of it all.

[NorthEastMom2]

I worked my way through school back in the 80s - the key was having a good summer job, and savings money in HS. 2 summers I had internships paying $ 350 per week - an exorbitant sum back then !! SO for a summer I made $ 3500. During the school year I also worked 10 - 20 hours per week.

The other part of the equation is saving a lot of $ during HS. I had $ 5000 in the bank when I started college - again, that was a good amount of $$.

[BCEagle91]

I get the feeling that there are a lot of successful hard-working people on this board that built the attitude up in their teens.

[Tuition Dad]

In late ‘70s in-state university was about $2300 (give or take a little) for a year for everything. With a wage at that point of around $2.50 an hour, it was possible to cover most of the costs working in the summer and maybe part time during the year. Throw in a little help from parents or some small loans and you had things covered fairly easily. Costs at the same school now are close to $16,000 a year. It’s not easy to cover that with a summers' work.