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<p>I understand where you’re coming from-- co-op $$ is not making anyone rich. If it is totally necessary for you to save money, then yes, live at home while working on co-op. People do this, and it’s a great way to go. You live at home, have virtually no expenses, and put aside a ton of money. (You just have to manage a co-op near where your parents live).</p>
<p>But this is the thing. It’s not that you aren’t making decent money on co-op. Some students do. The issue is that life is expensive. Rent is expensive. Transportation is expensive. Now, you go out on co-op and make $10k in 6 months? That’s a lot of money for a 21-year-old. The only reason your savings doesn’t add up is because you’re spending that money to live.</p>
<p>Whenever I post my net savings numbers, people freak. I get it. They go in thinking, oh! Full time work! $$$! Dollahs! Benjamins! And then they look at my numbers and think, wait, $2k in savings per co-op? That’s not very many benjamins. But the big picture is that you’re taking in enough money to support yourself, and this is money that no longer has to come from your parents/loans.</p>
<p>A student at a normal school could work part-time for the 8ish months of classes, and make what, maybe $600/month as a waiter/barista, totaling some $5k. Then they “intern” or work full-time over the summer and put away some $3k. That’s $8k per year. A northeastern student? Say $9k on 6 month co-op, plus working as a waiter the other 6 months, $4k, coming out around $13k per year.</p>
<p>Ultimately, doing co-op and working part-time while in classes is going to earn you more than working while being a traditional student. Now. A traditional student will graduate sooner than a northeastern student, being that trads do 4 years and we typically do 5, meaning a trad student will be earning a “real” salary a year before we do.</p>
<p>So, does co-op put us financially ahead of our peers? Not really, except during the 2-3 years that we go out on co-op while our friends are full-time students working at the pizza place and interning during summers. Those few years we’re a bit ahead. Our fifth year, we’re in college and other friends are just starting their first real jobs. They may out-earn us that year, but then we pull right back up with them when we graduate (generally with a job where we know what we’re doing).</p>
<p>I mean, I could go on and on, and I’ve rambled enough on this topic. I just think we’re mixing up priorities here when we’re whining about co-op not paying tons of money. Co-op will give you some money to live off of, which is important for a lot of people. It certainly didn’t fund my designer-jean addiction, but it allowed me to pay my rent and buy groceries. And ultimately? I got a great job out of college that I probably wouldn’t have gotten without my co-op experience.</p>
<p>As for my friends who graduated a year earlier than me? They were all jealous that I got to put off the real world for an extra year. They were all jealous that I was secure in knowing what I wanted to do next and that I didn’t have quite as many job-hunting panic attacks while I was a senior in college.</p>