<p>I worked through high school and college, term-time and summers; didn’t hurt my academics or ECs. My D has worked through HS, term-time and summers; it hasn’t hurt her academics or ECs. She expects to work part-time jobs once she starts college, and full-time in the summer if she can, and we expect her to do so. Frankly, it’s given her a much keener appreciation for how privileged she is to go to be going to a first-rate school with 90+% of the cost paid by her parents, seeing how hard she’s had to work to pay a much smaller share. And the skills, the self-discipline, the responsibility that go with holding down a job and balancing one’s time across competing demands—these are invaluable life lessons.</p>