@Dave_n so glad you mentioned pack up is so much faster. That gives me hope. Hubby probably won’t be there to help so it will be me and d and maybe I can sucker her sibling to help lol.
DaveN: I am sure that your son is glad that the first year is done.
My son has his last two finals Monday. Then, he has a few days to clean up, pack up and get out! He decided that he would wait to do any more packing until the exams were complete. He also has a doctor’s appointment to find out the results of the asthma/allergy tests he had done. Meanwhile, he got offered an internship from the department chair, but it does not pay enough for him to cancel his summer plans, which include taking two classes and working locally. He got two callbacks from places that he sent applications to. Hopefully, that will lead to another part-time job. Meanwhile, I have things for him to do around the house. If he does them well, maybe there will be some coin for him.
I am also glad to learn that packing up is faster than moving in. DH and I both went on move-in day. For move-out day, DH will go alone since I will need to stay home with DD17.
DS’s last final will be Wednesday. When I talked to him a couple of days ago, I can tell in his voice that he is looking forward to spending the summer at home!
DD has 3 more days of class and three finals the following week. We were able to stop and visit her on our way home from a trip on Friday and Saturday to the NYC area that we drove to. She gave us two large suitcases, 4 totes and several smaller items so I know that move out in two weeks will be easier with somewhat less stuff. We left with a loaded car on Saturday afternoon as she had her sorority’s spring formal on Saturday night and needed to get ready. It’s hard to believe the first year is over and these kids are now rising sophomores. It’s even harder to realize that her older brother (HS-2011) is graduating in just three weeks.
Wow, I can’t believe some schools are finishing already. DS just finished midterms, he’s not done until early June.
So far I’ve hired my sons 2 friends and one of my daughters friends for summer. I need one more college kid to work w - f. I’m sure these kids are ready to kill my son. Years ago when I was looking for summer help I asked my son if any of his friends wanted to work for me. He assured me no one would want to work for me. When his friend told me she was working for 8/hr at another local place and I mentioned it was a shame she never wanted to work for me, I pay 12/hr she walked over and punched my son.
Both of my kids are handling move out on their own. We rented a car for my son to drive himself home, and my d got summer storage and friends helping her move, then bringing a few suitcases home and flying.
I’m afraid d will have to handle move out on her own as well. She has to be out on a Friday, I’m still working, and I’m out of time off for the year! However, the week before, I’ll drive down and get what won’t fit in her car. I don’t know how busy/full the campus will be on those days. Classes ended last week and finals end on Thursday. I have no idea how many stick around for May term (all students have to do 2 May terms), and of those how many are on campus as it’s a popular time for short study abroad experiences.
Eyemamom: I’ll send my son over to work for you!
What gets me is that I was listening to the radio the other day, and there was a report that kids ages 16 to 19 years are not interested in summer jobs. My son would LOVE to work! The report said that many kids spend their summers trying to improve their resumes with summer academic/leadership camps, do not have to work because their parents do not make them get a job or need the time to do summer assignments for AP classes. First, my older son did the summer academic thing as well as summer AP assignments and still held a job. Second, college counselors say that they like to see a job on a kid’s application, as it shows commitment and responsibility. Third, if I’m not kicking back and lying by the pool, neither is my kid!
Meanwhile, my son text me last night to say his first year of college is officially done. Now, the cleaning and the packing begins.
@momreads sounds like a goofy report to me, too. I haven’t met many kids who didn’t want to work, although I have met a few who were way too picky about the kinds of jobs they wanted. Then again, where I live, there’s one private (parochial) school, and everybody else goes public. Seems like there’s less race to get into the “right” college. Sure, there are always a handful of kids with eyes on the ivies, but I guess when most of the class is looking at a few state Us, improving one’s resume isn’t a necessity.
D starts finals at the end of this week and should be home around the 6th. She will be moving a lot of her stuff into a rented storage unit, but I have no idea how she plans to get all of her clothes and bedding home in her car. She admitted last night that she brought way too much stuff to school. Next year, she’ll have a smaller dorm room that will force her to limit her belongings.
She starts work waitressing at a local restaurant on the 11th. She didn’t look for an internship position. I imagine that will be on the agenda for next summer. For now, the focus is on earning enough over the summer to provide her with spending money for next year. I am tapped out financially being full pay so D understands the importance of summer earnings.
An internship in a related field is great. After that, when I hire, I prefer kids who busted their behinds over the summer waiting tables, life guarding, working retail, clerical jobs, etc. It tells me the kid has a good work ethic and isn’t afraid of menial tasks. Also, those jobs tend to provide useful skills in dealing with the public.
DD finished classes last week and this week is reading period with exams starting next week for two weeks. It’s a bit drawn out! She’s been looking for jobs and internships both here and at school as she’s close enough to commute for an internship if something works out. But nothing on either fronts yet. Hopefully she’ll have more luck with a job when she gets home. DS’11/15 graduates next weekend so I’ll pick her and a bunch of her stuff up next Thursday to bring home before we head out to graduation. Luckily her exam/papers schedule is working out so she can join us for graduation. And getting some stuff home next week should make the final move out much easier if all her winter clothes and extra bedding, etc. are already gone. I’m thinking I’ll send her back with some large garbage bags so her sheets, comforter and all can just be stuffed into those for the final move out. I’m just hoping she manages to find something for a job and/or internship soon! But she will be getting paid a nice amount to be an RA next year so that will help some with the yearly costs/spending money, just not her gas money or entertainment during the summer!
Am I the only one whose kid’s school includes a “student contribution” from summer work amount in their FA package? I mean it’s part of our EFC, but they word it as student contribution… My D needs to earn $2500 for tuition every summer (above and beyond the work-study that pays for her books, laundry, and pocket money during the year.)
It definitely narrows down the job possibilities for her: she basically NEEDS to live at home in order to make that much plus gas money at a minimum wage job. She’d need a much higher-paying job if she also had rent and grocery expenses. I feel badly that this is her situation, but we are already totally strapped coming up with our expected contribution. 
The on campus research job D applied for would have included free campus housing. It’d have paid better than her pool job, which would have covered groceries, so in the end she’d have had about the same amount to save.
Our fin aid is a little bit off the norm because technically it’s a benefit, not reg fin aid. D gets tuition exchange because I work at another college within the exchange, and she has an outside scholarship, which university policy allows to be applied toward room/board (the university does get to keep all federal and state monies to offset the cost of exchange). D needs to work to pay her expenses, but she doesn’t have a student contribution toward direct costs in the package.
Personally, until I started posting on cc, I thought almost every kid HAD to work in the summer. It never occurred to me that there were families out there that would be willing to foot the whole bill, send an allowance for spending, and not ask the kid to pitch in at all. Don’t get me wrong, I do know some very wealthy people, but their kids were working at the grocery store during high school just like everybody else’s. Don’t feel bad @staceyneil I think your situation is far more normal/typical that the one where the kid can get by without a paying job.
Thanks, that makes me feel better 
edited: duplicate post
My daughter got a job as an RA next year…will save me $12,000 so I am not going to have her work this summer. She will be attending a 7 week acting intensive and going to the beach. No part time summer job would ever make that much money.
@staceyneil, our financial aid package also includes a $2,500 student contribution line. At first I thought that was a way to reduce our need based aid (I need as much as possible!), but it calculates to the student working year round for 5 hours per week at $10/hour. I guess that’s reasonable.
I keep looking on the financial aid page to see if our aid is calculated. It’s not yet, so when I click on a total bill estimate it comes out to full pay, but nicely broken out to “Two Pay Per Year” or “Eight Pay Per Year”. I get nervous every time I click on the link, so why do I do it when I know the financial aid isn’t complete?! Such a masochist.
@LibbyT I know what you mean. I keep checking too, even though I know it wont be out until June!
Our D has to contribute the $2500 “student contribution” PLUS she has a $2100 work study line. She can barely make that during school, so she really needs to be able to save the $2500 in summer.
D finished finals yesterday, but we can’t get down to move her out until Friday. I hope she is busy organizing and packing, and not just driving all her friends (who still have finals) crazy! She’ll be home for a month, and then back to campus to work - room, board, plus a paycheck! Perfect.
One of mine has a job at a girl scout camp this summer. She won’t make a lot, but she won’t spend a lot either. Our deal is that she has to pay all her own spending money and books while at school, so if she doesn’t work a lot in the summer, she either has to work during the school year or downsize her spending during the year.
The other one has scholarships and FA that almost cover everything, but she too needs to pay books and spending money. She can’t work during the year because of sports, but she tends to spend less during the year. She’ll work this summer and will also do babysitting, house sitting and other additional jobs.