<p>Hi! I’m a college student, but I’ve just been placed in an unfortunate situation and I need some help. I’m a college student, and I will be a senior next year. I go to an expensive school, and the tuition is 40,000 per year (I’ve got one year left). Recently, my parents have essentially wanted me to get a job in a certain sector, but I’ve refused (I already have an unsteady job that brings in around $500 per week, but this happens only once in a while). As a result of this and some other differences, we’ve decided it would be best if I move out of the house for the summer (two months left).</p>
<p>I was wondering if you have any advice on how to get through this in a short time span. I hope to be out of the house by next week, and I was wondering whether you have any tips in finding cheap short-term housing, and finding a job in a short time (I don’t have retail experience, unfortunately, so I’ve been rejected from many fast-food and sales jobs…plus, working short time seems to have been an issue).</p>
<p>So, if you could give me ANY brief advice on:</p>
<p>-Cheap housing
-Transportation (I’m thinking bike)
-Cheap food
-Money management
-Short-term student loans
-and basically any advice on where to go from here</p>
<p>What unfortunate situation have you been placed in? Your parents have shelled out $160,000 for 4 years of schooling. How much do you make per year? You say that you don’t have a steady job.</p>
<p>By the way, what college do you go to. I see you are from Texas.</p>
<p>I don’t think you really need any experience to work at a fast food restaurant. They generally will take anybody.</p>
<p>I can see your parents point. You are going to be a senior in college and you only have an “unsteady job”?
It’s time to become more independent…it’s unfortunate that this has to be done in this fashion though.
I would think in terms of geography. Is there an area near you with good public transportation that has shops/businesses in that same area? Then look at bulletin boards in coffee shops, the local paper for that area, etc. and look for a room to rent. You can generally rent a room in a house cheaper than renting a house or apartment by yourself.<br>
Cheap food means going to the market, buying it with coupons and cooking it yourself. You can do some research on that on the internet…</p>
<p>You would think that for their very generous paying of your tuition for $160,000 you could work in the “certain sector” job that they want you to for two months. Sometimes we just need to do what is expected of us.</p>
<p>Do you have skills that would allow you to work as a temp? (Some agencies deal with a wide array of skills, including manual labor, so you don’t necessarily need high level technical skills.) If there are temp agencies in your area, they might be able to place you quickly on a short term basis. Decades ago, my college roommate helped pay for an expensive private college education by temping. Also, I wonder about short-term pet or house-sitting. Could you put up a flyer in local vets’ offices really fast? Finally, what is the sector in which you refuse to work? If you are truly out on your ear for the rest of the summer, and this is a sector in which you are qualified to work and in which work is available, it might be worthwhile to pursue for a couple of months to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.</p>
<p>It would be better to take any kind of job that is legal and moral rather than taking out a loan to get you through this period.</p>
<p>Look up craigslist for your area. If your parents are making you leave home, it seems a serious rift to me. Are you in a position to doss down at friends’ until you find a slightly more permanent position?</p>
<p>But I also agree that without knowing more details, it’s hard to sympathize with your turning down your parents request that you work in a “certain sector.”</p>
<p>I think I might have written my post to give the wrong impression. I shouldn’t have used the word “unfortunate,” because you all are right, I’ve been grateful enough to have parents who have put that much money into my education. As for the sector, that involves a lot of personal details and the situation is not as simple as I’ve written it out to be. In any case, we’ve both agreed that I should move out, and I don’t blame them for this…it’s what will work out for both of us.</p>
<p>I will definitely check out the temp agencies and local coffee shops. I’ve already put an ad in the local paper for SAT tutoring and musical lessons, though it has only been two days. BTW, Nester, the loans are for the upcoming year’s tuition, not for the remainder of this summer.</p>
<p>As for my job–I accidentally wrote $500 per week, whereas its actually $500 for three days of work, so around $1000 per week. It is unsteady because the project I’m working on changed partway through the summer–I was not planning on having an unsteady job. I would think that $1000 per week would be enough for housing, etc. but again, the job is unsteady and I don’t want to be left coming back to my parents unwelcomed. Again, the question was more on how to get jobs in a short-period, I have worked most summers, but the short notice is what I was having problems with, but will check your suggestions, thank you.</p>
<p>It’s not a yearly job, I’ve only had the job for the summer (it’s more like an internship). It involves research for an engineering firm, conducted online…but, the projects come at different times. I work from a rural city, but there is a bigger college town nearby, so I’m hoping to relocate there. My parents have agreed to let me take most of my personal possessions, so I will have a bike, laptop, so transportation won’t be an issue. </p>
<p>As for the school, I have been at Princeton for four years. When problems initially arose, I applied to quite a few engineering firms locally, but they were not hiring (I’m not really sure why I didn’t get hired, I’ve tried talking to the career center, so I’m still trying to find details on that, besides the point now), but I’ve continued to apply to engineering firms locally. I hope that helps, and again, I appreciate your suggestions and patience w. my situation.</p>
<p>I’m still applying for research jobs to supplement my income with the university, I will keep everyone updated on that.</p>
<p>College sorority houses may have a room you could rent before college resumes. That’s what my youngr brother did, got a room in a frat house in the summer time.</p>
<p>My son received an email for an internship today that pays between $15 to $20 an hour. This was three days ago. He received a lot of these in his email during the spring. It’s amazing that these are still coming in considering how little of summer is left.</p>
<p>Try to rent on room on a summer sublet basis in that nearby college town–many students who have off-campus housing go home or travel for all or part of the the summer and sublet their space. My son did this several summers. Try the campus housing office or general bulletin boards, as well as Craigslist. But it’s late in the summer for this, unfortunately.</p>
<p>You won’t be able to rent an apartment, as they’ll want you to sign a lease. Looking on Craigslist under “rooms/shared” is the best option. You could also check on those hotels where you can rent weekly, like $180 for a week or something. Then look for jobs within biking distance.</p>
<p>If you can occasionally earn $500 in 3 days, would it be worth it to get a minimum wage job making $100-200/week? I mean that in the sense that you need to be available to do your other job when it becomes available.</p>
<p>Speaking of craigslist, look under “gigs” then “labor”. Sometimes someone is looking for someone to help them move or something like that. You might also look under child care. Maybe someone needs child care for the remainder of the summer. Perhaps you could even live in.</p>
<p>The best option would be to reconcile with your parents. Reconcile means just that. It means that you live there expressing appropriate gratitude for the sacrifices they have made for your education…even if you don’t think they are being completely reasonable.</p>
<p>I looked back at some of your posts. Last fall you said you were a sophmore, a junior and an alum at Princeton. You also posted about going to medical school, now you are talking about engineering internship. What’s up? </p>
<p>Not many parents would kick their kid out without very good reason. My daugher, after one year of college, would know where she could get cheap housing if she were to get an internship in NYC (NYU dorms). She got her summer job(s) by contacting her friends’ parents from HS and college. She knew she couldn’t get a job on her own without any prior work experience. She contacted those parents herself, did not ask us to do it for her. She also used her ballet training to teach dance in Ithaca and at home this summer. I think you may also have some music or art training, which I am surprised you couldn’t earn some good money with it, expecially around Princeton where most parents would pay through their nose to get private lessons for their kids.</p>
<p>Is there a monastery nearby? Don’t laugh–you can find spartan digs and veggie meals at one nearby our location.</p>
<p>Sometimes an older person or couple need someone to live with them short term while they regain their strength. Room, board and the work isn’t too hard.</p>
<p>Maybe the unfortunate situation is that the parents won’t shell out the 5th year of $45K…I told our D–I don’t care what your major is, I don’t care about your GPA, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE graduate in 4 years! She laughed and obliged.</p>
<p>Sorry about the confusion in years. At one point during my posts, some people I knew suspected who I was, and I was uncomfortable with them having that much information publicly on the internet, so I made my details inconsistent. I’m a senior at Princeton majoring in Chemical Engineering and getting a certificate in Finance. I was interested in medical school at one point, since I was taking ORGO, etc. but I have reverted back to engineering (my internship is not in Chem. Engineering). </p>
<p>I’m not in the Princeton area, I’m back in Texas. All the same, I did get some responses for tutoring and music lessons, so I will pursue these further, though I am not sure whether these will be enough to cover housing. Ellemope, I have only been in college for three years, and my parents want to revoke the fourth year of tuition (hence the loans). The problem we have is a personal one, and I’m not so sure it’s very common.</p>