<p>I realize that this will vary by region and other circumstances, but having a child who have not ever worked a paying position I am wondering what graduating seniors in particular do with summer earnings and how much should reasonably be expected to be put aside in the summer?</p>
<p>My sister is having her son work. They are well off and he does not need to for ‘money’. However he has floated through high school without making much effort and she would like him to work this summer to put aside money for college (they will be full pay) so that he has some ownership in this next leg of education (if he does not save his earnings, they will require that he take out a small loan for spending money and travel cost which he will need to pay back).</p>
<p>In our case, our daughter has worked very hard and has some good scholarships. However, they will require that she maintain a certain GPA and meet other requirements of involvement to keep the scholarship. As a result we would prefer she not work during the school year, but wonder how much she should/could reasonable put aside if she were to work this summer even if part time. 1/2 of her take home? </p>
<p>Do most graduating seniors work in the summer before college or is it more of a ‘last free summer’ have fun time?</p>
<p>We have our daughter contribute to her education as well. She did not have to work the summer after senior year and before college because she worked so hard in school and this was the last hoorah. Good-bye to childhood. However, she has to work each summer after that and save spending money for the upcoming year. She worked a lot of hours and saving 60% of her earnings for the upcoming year was acceptable to us. During the school year, she has scholarships that she has earned and has to maintain a certain GPA as well. I think if she found she had a lot of free time, she would work since she likes extra money. But she has not found herself to have extra time. </p>
<p>What most seniors do that last summer probably has a lot to do with community culture. I can only tell you that in my community, many of the kids, even those from the wealthiest families, have jobs year round. There’s a regional grocery chain that’s a huge student employer and is very flexible. Kids just keep working their regular hours. Because of this, finding a “summer” job can be pretty difficult. </p>
<p>My kids work summers as lifeguards but have jobs during the school year, too. The pool is open for just 10 weeks. Wages are a little better than minimum wage for a lifeguard but increase as additional certifications are added. In a good week, guards might be scheduled for 30-32 hours. I think younger d made close to $2500. She bought herself an ipad mini and saved the rest. Older d was a pool manager. She made closer to $3500, but had closer to full-time hours and a higher hourly pay rate. </p>
<p>I don’t want to come off a mean, but what the heck does a kid do with a “free summer”? Idle hands and all that …</p>
<p>I worked the summer after my senior year, but I think giving someone a “free summer” is a very nice gift. I feel even stronger about this now that I am out of college and working full time. I would give a lot to be able to have a “free summer,” and it’s definitely something I miss and want a lot. Basically, once you are out of college, you won’t have a chance to have that amount of time off for about the next 40 years. I am very grateful to have a job, but haivng extended periods of free vacation time is something that I still miss. </p>
<p>This is helpful. I doubt my D would take a last free summer (she likes money too much). I also would like for her to not work during the school year (ADHD and will need every minute for studying). We will see.</p>
<p>I don’t know aboutnin your area, but in my home town everyone works during high school. When I was yo unger, Most kids started working at 14. It seems like there are less jobs at 14 now so most kids start at 15 or 16.</p>
<p>As for a reasonable amount, I think that depends on the job and the hours. I worked like fifteen hours a Week year round when I was younger, and that money was for my spending and saving. The saving went towards buying cars and things like that. The spending was normal… food, insurance, phone, internet, etc. (Yes, I paid for my own internet in high school). </p>
<p>D is having a tough time finding a job (frankly I’m fine with it due to the ADHD and not sure she’d do as well as she has been). I need her to earn some merit more than I need her to work during the school year. She does have a golf caddie job that was very sporadic last summer at best. Supposed to be better this year. We’ll see. She also gets child support that I’ve given her a bit of control over.</p>
<p>Our kids both worked . They were responsible for earning enough to purchase all books for college, and for ALL discretionary spending. And they had to budget their earnings for those things. They both had jobs 10 hours a week or so in college. </p>
<p>I’ve never really understood the “free summer” “goodbye to childhood” or the "needs every minute to study mentality. Personal opinion of course!</p>
<p>How about a happy medium depending on your circumstance? In college, students can often find an on-campus job that may be only 5 hours a week - not going to break the bank in studying (surely they have 5 PLUS “spare” hours that are not spent in meaningful work!) and it gives them pocket change or accumulates to cover books, or helps covers some travel expenses home or whatever! Same for summer - some might need to find full(er) time work, but isn’t “saving” money ALWAYS a good option??? If a graduating senior works even 10 hours a week (paid or volunteer) don’t they still have plenty of time to have freedom and enjoy that last summer of so-called “childhood”. </p>
<p>(note: I have in my personal life often noted that those who don’t work a summer or two in high school don’t magically step up and work after freshman year either. Developing a good work ethic is always a good option IMO. </p>
<p>My three kids worked various jobs every summer after Junior year in HS. Sometimes that just meant pet/babysitting and doing free-lance tech work, but however they earned it, that was their spending money for college. I don’t think I know any kids that didn’t do something to earn money, and that really had nothing to do with their parents income.</p>
<p>My son has had a part time job since the summer before his Sr year of high school. He has kept this job while in college and has worked summers and most of his breaks when he comes home. He worked there even when he had an internship that he got a $2400 grant from his college for doing. He earns about $3500 between summer and breaks and uses it to buys his books and to pay for all his other iincidentals. This year he has a job on campus, too, and earns about $300 month give or take. </p>
<p>In terms of work, I think since you’ve been a kid there’s been a lot of new restrictions on what kind of jobs a 14 year old is legally allowed to do, and so there are not many working anymore. I think in Michigan if you were 14 you were restricted pretty much to only farm work. At 15 a few things were loosened but still heavily restricted, and you had to be 16 to qualify for most jobs. At my school most people didn’t start working until age 16 because of this. </p>
<p>Anyway, as for how much she should expect to save that depends so heavily on how much she should expect to make that no one can give you an answer. </p>
<p>Your daughter is a senior in high school right now? If so I would expect that unless she has some special skill and would be hired for skilled labor that she’s probably only going to get minimum wage, or maybe slightly above. If she was able to find something full time (which is unlikely, even if she lies about it most employers are going to suspect that it’s only a summer job) she might make $300ish a week, so over 16 weeks that’s about $4800. Some will be taxed but she’ll get a lot back, I don’t know how much exactly, but if that’s all she makes in 2014 it will likely make more sense for you to claim her as a dependent instead and make up the difference in taxes than for you to not claim her as a dependent. </p>
<p>So in the end, not much. A few thousand dollars at best most likely.</p>
<p>My kids were always busy every summer while in high school, they just didn’t make money. They started to have summer jobs after high school. D1 was fortunate to be able to get few good paying tutoring jobs and as a girl friday for a self employed woman. She was able to save a lot of it for her spending money in college. After sophomore year she had internships relevant to her future employment. D2 babysat last summer after her freshman year in college. It paid better than any other office jobs. Both of our kids work while in college. Their work never effected their GPA.</p>
<p>D worked as a summer camp counselor. The beauty of that job is she saved almost all of the money earned. She was not going out with friends or using gas. She only made about $2000, but room and board was provided. And she LOVES camp! It is hard work though. She dealt with bedwetting, homesickness, vomit, etc. She had other money saved from earlier babysitting jobs. She is responsible for all incidental spending at college including books. It is good to have them see what it takes to earn money and how quickly it goes if you are not careful.</p>
<p>There are two reasons to get a summer job - responsibility and earning money. I think both are equally important. I doubt there are many HS students that get paid more then minimum wage. I think a reasonable amount for a summer job is $1,000 - $3,000. My daughter also worked as a camp counselor and those summer experiences really helped shape her. I think it’s important to think outside the box. It’s not as easy to get a job as a young teen anymore but there is always work to be done and money to be made if you want it. </p>
<p>If you look at net price calculators of “meet full need” colleges, they tend to expect a student work contribution of about $3,000 to $5,000 per year (whether during the summer or school year). Some schools also expect the student to take a federal direct loan of $3,500 or $5,500 as well, but the “no loan” schools set the total student self-help contribution to be the expected student work contribution.</p>
<p>At least some of these schools will apply outside scholarships to first reducing the student self-help contribution (work and/or loan) before anything else.</p>
<p>Of course, actual student work earnings can vary considerably. The college junior CS major getting a well paid internship in the computer industry would be a lot different from the college junior film major looking to get a start on the typical series of unpaid internships that one has to go through before getting a paid entry level job in the film industry.</p>
<p>How much? That will depend, but my agreement with my daughter is that she save half of what she earns for college. She’s not doing a great job with that because it is so easy to buy a dress or food or go to the movies, but I keep telling her it will come crashing down. she makes about $9/hr and works about 12 hours per week, and I think she’ll be able to do that in college too (or she’ll be very poor, not just student poor). I’m paying tuition and some housing, but she must pay for all the books and coffee.</p>
<p>Our S worked part time at a summer program as a teachers aid and made about maybe $1000-1500 or so at $10/hour. He enjoyed it and it was where he had volunteered the prior summer. We didn’t encourage him to get a second summer job. He worked that same job after his freshman year of college as well.</p>
<p>Around here, paying jobs are few and far between. Neither of my kids have the physical stamina for retail or food service. </p>
<p>Best thing we did was get them certified as lifeguards. They started by working hours at the comm center while in hs, and then sashayed into summer camp lifeguard work, during college. From the summer job, they brought home about 2500 or so, after taxes. They still pick up hours at the comm center when home on breaks,( if they need.) </p>
<p>“Meet full need” college for both: the freshman expectation was maybe 1800 contribution from summer earnings and went up a bit each year. They also work while in school, a special college service program that they enjoy- and which fits on their resumes.</p>
<p>It’s not hard to fit in 5-10 hours at a campus job- usually easy and usually flexibility during exam study weeks, etc. One of mine does better when there aren’t gobs of free time during the week- but I can see where some ADD or ADHD kids could need a different plan.</p>
<p>My kids usually contributed at least $2,000 from summer jobs, this went toward EFC, school year jobs paid for books.
Lifeguarding is a sought after job here, it pays double minimum wage ( about $17 hr).</p>