D is now a clinical psychologist. The summer after her freshman year, she came home, worked as a nanny, and took a summer school class at a local U. Studied abroad the summer after her second year. She was able to work full time in a campus lab the following summer, which was valuable experience for her grad school apps, and by that point we were paying for off campus housing year round anyway.
While internships and research experiences are important, I think there’s also a lot of value in a kid getting a job.