Paid Internships. Do You Subsidize?

mackinaw
Sun, 08 Dec 2013 11:05:56 +0000

I’m with Thumper (#156): fair is not always equal. And we’ve applied this not only to internships and summer jobs but also to early career moves. As I’ve posted elsewhere, careers are often segmented these days, with (hopefully brief) interruptions between jobs but hopefully a progression. (reference is to this thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1576590-liberal-arts-degree-better-than-specific-major-article.html)

This means job changes, relocations, periods with no income, medical/healthcare needs, and perhaps retraining or advanced degrees.

We have subsidized one of our children during these changes and interruptions. We haven’t needed to subsidize the other one, even though he has made several job shifts. We remember them both equally at birthdays, holidays, etc. One is just more needy at this stage, so we provide. And we do see the type of career progression that I mentioned on the post that I link to. Both kids are highly creative, hard workers, but random events create different financial needs and rewards.

So as long as we are able to do so, we will support our kids.