A Good Reason to Boycott Disney

twoinanddone
Wed, 27 Jan 2016 02:59:41 +0000

“I cannot fathom why the university went along with this unless Disney makes a big contribution. The students sure didn’t get any benefit.”

My daughter just started her Disney College Program last week. She makes $9.50/hr, I think pays $75/wk for her shared apartment (just like a dorm, but cheaper), has her uniform (oops, costume) provided and cleaned for her, gets 3 park passes for every 150 hours she works, plus of course she gets in the parks for free. She gets a 20% employee discount on merchandise. There is no requirement for her to take any courses, and her college does not give credit for them if she did. Some colleges do, most do not. The only thing her college has done for her is agreed that her merit scholarship will still be there when she returns, as it has a condition that it is for 8 consecutive semesters. I don’t think it is much different than working at any other retail store, fast food restaurant, summer camp job. They have about 2000 college students do the program every semester, from schools all over the country and even foreign schools.

Will she learn ‘college material’? Maybe, but she’s not earning college credit. She’s learning how to budget for food, how to cook for herself (she lives in a sorority and has meals served), how to show up day after day for a job. I was not terribly keen on this, but she did everything necessary to make it happen, including paying the deposit, filling out all the forms herself, finding roommates. She has some learning disabilities including planning, so that was a big project for her.

Have I given Disney way too much of my money over the years? Absolutely.