<p>Looking for parents with students who finished their undergrad recently. My son is finishing his undergrad August 2010 which is early as he was originally due to finish May 2011. He has to decide by Feb. 1 whether to renew the lease (up September 2010) for his apartment.
He has decided he wants to go to law school but not right away. Wants to take at least a year and study for LSAT while working. In some ways I think he would love to come back to CA. He can stay with us but we live in a fairly rural area. Not great job opportunities. He could certainly find something at 10 bucks an hour or so. Would need a car. We have an old one he could have but he would have to pay the insurance.
If he stays in Boston he currently has a part time job he could keep. He would not need a car. He wouldn’t be able to save as much because he wouldn’t be living with us.<br>
My concern is that his school has contacts mostly in Boston. Additionally he says his school has a program where the law school is half tuition for students with an undergrad degree from the same school. The law school there has decent rankings.
I keep thinking about the recent Wharton grad who moved to another area and was struggling. What is different though is that he had no family support.<br>
I guess I had a dream that he would finish undergrad and get a great career job in Boston. Like many undergrads right now, that might not be realistic.
Anyone else out there dealt with/dealing with this? What factors should he be considering?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, I’d advise my child in that situation NOT to renew the lease, so as to leave either option open. If he decides to stay in Boston, he may find an apartment to share on a month to month basis and not be tied to a year lease.</p>
<p>I don’t know how the rental market is in Boston but I know in Los Angeles it is soft. Could he approach the owner or management company about going to a month to month lease once his lease is up?</p>
<p>Unfortunately Boston is not a soft market. The apartment he is in now was leased last January with payment times four months paid upfront prior to a September 2009 move in. About 30,000 undergrads live off campus in and around Boston.</p>
<p>Sounds to me like if he is about to graduate, and he wants to work and study for a yr., then he needs to get a job and be a self-supporting adult. If he likes the Boston area, then maybe he can stay there, but maybe not. It sounds tough, but we all don’t get our first choices. He may have to do something now just to get by, to work toward a better reward later. I’d also recommend he seek a monthly lease. It can be difficult. he may only have a “shoestring budget” for a while. But even that is a fantastic learning experience.
Perhaps parents can chip in a couple months’ rent to help him settle in, but he should be able to support himself now, after all his formal and informal learning. he may not get his dream job right now, but there are people supporting themselves without the benefit of a college degree.
One thing student needs to remember about rankings: the #1 magazine we refer to about rankings is in the business of selling rankings. It is their marketing job to convince the public of the importance of rankings, and the accuracy of their rankings.</p>
<p>I would have him stay in Boston as long as he has a job (he has a part time job now), even if he couldn’t save as much money. I would let him do it even if he was just breaking even. As a pre-law he should be able to get a job in Boston, probably a lot better than $10/hour. If nothing else, he could try to tutor college or high school students. I am sure there are just as many over anxious parents in Boston as in NYC area. My daughter tutors HS students for $50/hour around our area. </p>
<p>I think he would be happier to stay in Boston because most of his friends would be there. Our D2 is interested in going to school in CA. I am not supporting it because I know there would be very little chance of her moving back to NE. Where one goes to college often is where one ends up getting a job and settling down.</p>
<p>He should be able to not renew the lease and find something in boston in april/may for september. The rental market is not soft in boston, but if he’s willing to move then he can wait a few months to see if he can find something in boston to do. It is unlikely that he will be able to get a month to month lease in a decent place, but if he’s making his decision in April/May he should have a better idea of whether its feasible to stay in boston for the year. My friends who graduated with out real jobs tended to stay at home for the first year, and then move to a new city. A couple moved places and are supporting themselves in gap jobs. I think it makes sense to stay where the career network is strong, and maybe try to work as a paralegal at a firm in either boston or NYC, if your S thinks he wants to do law. With a minimum wage job, even at home he’s not going to save enough money to make a significant dent in the law school tuition, so it seems to make sense to get some work experience in the field, if at all possible.</p>
<p>The rental market is a bit softer than it was just a couple of years ago. I’ve seen For Rent signs in areas where there were none for more than a decade.
Boston is supposed to be one of the areas where there is some job growth, according to the Boston Globe, and MA has stopped bleeding population as a result.
One reason for staying in the area is the greater ease of maintaining contact with the Office of Career Services, former profs, acquaintances, and so on, who can be helpful when applying for jobs in the immediate future or to law school.
I agree that he should be able to earn more than $10/hr. That is what Harvard students earned on work-study re-shelving books or sitting at reception desks.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the input. He isn’t crazy about the weather in Boston and sometimes feels that it is more racist than he would like. We live in a beautiful area but also one of the most expensive in the country. Both my college age kids would love to come back to the area we are in but it is very unaffordable. I’m concerned that they need to understand that. California taxes are crazy, public education is not great, real estate is expensive, etc. etc.</p>
<p>If he goes to northeastern for law school, he should make sure that he likes boston and wants to be there for the foreseeable future-- it’s a very regional school.</p>
<p>Nothing drives me as crazy in posts here as parents who want their kids to move back to their home in areas without jobs in the student’s field. I know that’s not the case here. I would encourage him to use his school’s connections to at least try to find more than a $10/hr job. It will look good on his law school application.</p>
<p>Time to allow him the space to figure it out for himself. If he wants to stay in Boston he can figure out the finances too.</p>
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<p>That graduate moved to a place where there was no public transportation and he didn’t have a car. It is really hard to go for interviews when he couldn’t even get there. I think Boston is a different situation.</p>
<p>Where does he see himself spending that year? Is he saving you a year of tuition?
Are there other options beside Boston and your hometown? Coming home for the year he would be guaranteed a low paying job if he could even find one. Plus there is really no social life for a 21 yr old in your area.
If he thinks he wants to be in Ca how about him looking for work in the LA area and finding a room to rent. Depending on where he works and lives he could get by without a car but it wouldn’t be ideal.
I know it is not politically correct on CC but I know many parents who are helping their recently graduated kids out with some living costs.</p>
<p>Ha…I don’t really want him to move back “home”. That is part of the problem. I think he sees it as the easy way out. I kinda like my empty nest:)
Agreed. re mom60, nothing around here for young adults…</p>