How much can I earn in coop?

Emily2007
Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:14:40 +0000

This is a post I wrote way back about where co-op money goes. It’s not really specific to your question but will address how much you make on co-op and how students typically spend it. It’s copy/paste from this thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/northeastern-university/976473-does-co-op-money-make-difference-far-paying-tuition.html?highlight=expenses



The big expense as a student is rent. If you live in dorms, a shared bedroom breaks down to somewhere between $830-$1100/month. In off-campus areas nearby you can get your own bedroom for around $900, on mission hill it’s about $750.

Next is how much you make. I’d say on average, depending on major/field, people make around $10-15/hr. After taxes, that’s going to equal out to be somewhere between $8,000-$12,000 of income in 6 months.

Pretend you’re the guy making $9,000 after taxes, so your monthly income is $1500. Based on the people I know, cost of living in a month might be something like this:

Rent: $750
Utilities: $40
Cable/internet: $30
Food: $200 (honestly, this is low)
Transportation: $20
Other: $50
=$1090

This leaves $410 a month to save, a 6mo saving of $2460, which doesn’t really make a dent in tuition… plus you’ll probably want to have some money saved for when you’re in classes and aren’t able to work full-time.

Co-op could cover basic expenses (pretty easily) and rent (less easily, especially if you don’t want to live in mission hill), but don’t expect it to cover much, if any, tuition.



But, specifically to you, how are you planning to spend that 20/25k in loans? If you have full-tuition, parents pay food and board, brother contributes 15k… what are the loans for? Are they just for general spending/living expenses? I’m going to assume you’re thinking 20-25k just for general living expenses and answer your question based on that.

If THIS is the case, then co-op can help you cut down on loans. I usually say, NO! CO-OP WON’T HELP YOUR DEBT!

But if your meal plan/board is being covered by your parents, that means that the bulk of your co-op income can be used for basic living expenses, and you would be able to avoid taking out a ton of loans. You’d still need some loans taken out, especially for the first two years of college, but co-op would enable you to take out less.