What I mean by this is, it seems like in all the older generations, it was expected that college kids work at least 20–25 hours a week in factory, restaurant, drug store of other such job and that with many college kids today, they do not really do that. They are often recommended to work only 10-12 hours per week if they are in a strenuous major, like pre med, pre law, engineering, physics or chemistry. And often they have combinations of scholarships and parental assistance in paying for college while they look to simply focus all their time and energy on their academic career and preparing for grad schools, med schools and other opportunities.
Does this cause parents to really look down on these kids and consider them over sheltered? I know that some parents here were in situations where their own parents said the second you are on the college campus who are totally on your own; as a result, they ended up getting their first job within 50 hours or so of arriving at college. And now college kids are in a situation while all their time is spent doing as well as possible in their classes and doing research or student teaching or other such things. And so I wonder if parents often think, this is ridiculous, all these kids need to be working at least 25-30 hours a week in a factory or waiting tables or cleaning kitchens the way we did.
So do a lot of parents feel that way or not really?
I didn’t know many people working those kinds of hours in college. Moreover at least for my engineering kid, her homework and Lab requirements involve doing about 3 times as much school work as I ever had. So nope. Don’t feel that way at all.
I graduated 37 years ago and had only one friend who worked at all. She waitressed Sunday morning’s at the greek diner and made a ton in tips. She loved waitressing, which is why she did it. She didn’t have to work at all.
I actually think the kids today have much more going on then my generation did. They have lots of EC’s and many also work. My college son is in a sport, on student gov’t (an exec position) in two other clubs and has a job in the career dev. office where he works approx 15 hours/wk on top of a very heavy class workload.
Besides going to class the only EC’s my group of friend had at college was partying.
I think there are plenty of kids that work 10-20 hours a week (all of mine) but I don’t think any of them did more than 20. I didn’t work in college but I had some friends who certainly did but not more than about 20 hours and I know my mother worked and put herself through college in the late 40s. The only young people I know who work more than 25 are not taking a full load each semester and are putting themselves through college.
I worked more than full time and went full time but I’m an extreme minority.
When my parents generation was in college, it was actually possible to work full time in summers (maybe part time during school years) and put yourself through college.
I don’t feel the same way you do. I did work, probably 10-20 hours a week writing software back in the Dark Ages. Both of my kids had jobs while in college. In one case, he chose to do it to a) get support for his own research; and b) to get a professor to know him well enough to be able to write a recommendation. The other always had jobs, and I had to tell her to make sure the jobs didn’t get in the way of school. But, life post-college (whether grad school or finding a job) is more competitive than it was back in the Dark Ages. So the kids need to focus on distinguishing themselves as well as doing well in school.
I worked 4 different jobs (not at the same time) during my college academic years. I wanted all of my kids to work during college (so did they); two of them found jobs, but the part-time jobs that were flexible for full-time students were hard to find, as nearly all on-campus positions were reserved for the work-study students, so only one was able to work during all four academic years.
No, I don’t agree. When I was in college 25 years ago this type of work schedule would have been highly unusual. I had roommates that worked, but that was less than 20 hours a week. I was fortunate that my parents started a college fund to cover college costs for me when I was young. I have done the same for my kids, though my saving hasn’t quite kept up with college inflation. I prefer my kids focus on school and not work if possible.
My oldest is graduating high school this year so I am not sure if he will work in college yet or not.
In general, my kids want much less stuff than I did at their age. I wanted to drive and shop and travel so I worked in high school and college to do those things. My kids are happy with goodwill clothing and sparse toiletries, few extras in general. They didn’t want cell phones but DH purchased them as gifts for the family. One son eventually dropped his phone off the plan to save us the money since he mostly uses skype. Same son worked last summer and has only spent about $50 of the money he earned. They don’t really want to eat out. After a bad sandwich at Subway they both would rather just have a pb&j at home. They can take the bus so they don’t need their own cars either.
If we got rid of our family mac, or limited their access to it, then they would probably earn money to get their own computer.
They just aren’t big spenders. So no, I don’t think they are indulged in a materialistic way. I think they do have a luxurious access to information, entertainment and interconnectedness that I could never have imagined at their age.
Where’d you get your data? My roommate 40 hrs a week as a full time college student, but she had an easy major (elementary Ed), chosen, at least in part, because she needed to work that much. I don’t think 20-25 hrs a week of outside employment was ever expected amongst us old fogies. I think I see more kids working those kinds of hours now, then again I do work for TRiO.
Back in the 1980’s, I worked 2 x 8 hour days (Sat, Sun) at the copy shop every weekend. My roommate was a waitress probably 3 shifts a week usually either lunch or dinner shifts. We also did a lot of babysitting. At no time did we feel “overworked” and we were earning our spending money for fun/clothes etc. I think a college student ought to have some sort of employment, but > 20 hours a week would be incompatible with full time studies.
My D had an on campus job her first semeste, which required at least one grave shift a week. Combine that with cheerleading for a D1 school and Biology major and I just felt like it was too much. She is their on a significant merit scholarship and it was much more important to me that she keep the scholarship rather than the minimum wage job so I pushed her to quit. She is definitely handling the stress much better this semester.
Among my friends, I was the only one who worked. Most of my friends had a very generous allowance from their parents. My friends also didn’t do as much outside of school either. My kids are way busier than when I was in school. They have to worry a lot more about building their resumes. No, I think we had it easier than my kids’ generation now.
I don’t think people worked more than 20 hours a week while full time students in the 60’ through now. I worked 15, on campus but not work study. I made $2.13 per hour.
But I do think ‘kids today’, including my own, are indulged. When I was in school, I had to do everything for myself - arrange my work, my schedule, my money, school, graduation, summer school, travel. My kids expect me to handle most things for them, including paying for tuition, responding to requests for documents (FAFSA or others), travel home for breaks. I don’t think most kids give a thought to paying for college in full, including all the books, travel, shoes, coats, etc. Probably the thing that has surprised me most about college is how many kids just leave their first choice because they don’t like it, the food isn’t good, the weather is too cold, they want to be with their old friends. My nephew has about 6 friends who have returned to the flagship after a semester or year just because they didn’t want to be away anymore, giving up merit aid and athletic aid because their friends at the flagship were having more fun. So yes, I think this generation is taking an education for granted. Another thing is cars. Why do they need cars at school? Most don’t have responsibilities off campus, so the cars are just for convenience in getting to the mall or beach or food places. Why the need for cars?
On the other hand, I think my kids study much more than I did. One is an athlete and a lot is resting on her scholarships, including merit, so she studies like crazy. The other knows that if she loses her merit aid, it’s pretty much over for her and she’ll have to switch to an instate, probably a community college.
Quite the contrary. Students in college today often take a heavier load than I did (30 years ago) and work more hours at outside jobs. I did not work during college, and never took more than 4 classes per semester (though I studied hard). I do think there are far more helicopter parents today, but I think college students work more hours and have many more financial pressures because of the rising cost of higher education. OTOH, my mother (during the depression) worked her way through college. That was one of the reasons I didn’t, at her insistence. In some ways her situation (struggling to pay for an education) resembles students today more than mine.
A 2011 US Census report said that 72% of undergraduates work. 20% are actually considered full-time workers and of the remaining 52% about a third work more than 20 hours a week.
According to the report, high school students are slackers, though. Eight million out of 11 million didn’t work at all.
Lots of students worked at my urban, private college in the 80’s. It was a mix of work study and real-world PT jobs. Most worked for their spending money and books. I think it was easier to do so since the campus was urban. By JR/SR. year most came to class dressed to go to work in the afternoon.