<p>Sign up on the FAFSA for both, you can make your choice at the time, but leave the options open. My D’s school offers opportunities to convert work study to student loan and vice-versa, so get your place in the line and keep the choices open until the time comes.</p>
<p>I say 10 hours a week is only going to help her get organised. It could be boring scut work or it could make good connections</p>
<p>When I went to college on full financial aid, my school replaced work-study with grants for freshman students, since they figured that getting used to college was enough of a challenge without working. I did work-study for the other three years, but it was never more than 10 hours per week. My jobs were all off campus and I had to take the bus to get to them, but the workload was still manageable.</p>
<p>My daughter will be a freshman next year and won’t be eligible for work study, but I was thinking of taking the same approach with her. I won’t ask her to work during the freshman year (especially because she would like to continue with sports and music), but I will want her to work after that. At the college she’ll be attending, they give work study students the first option on campus jobs and then open them up to other students. They classify the jobs according to how easy it is to study while doing them - library assistant vs. childcare worker, for example. They pay more for jobs that require full attention. After the first year, she’ll know which kind of job she’ll be able to handle, but I think she should be able to handle something. This is not for the purpose of learning organization - she already knows that. It’s all about the money :-).</p>
<p>I am not sure if anyone has mentioned this at all, but there are two types of work study I have seen in packages my kids have gotten. One was work study that really was pretty much for the “extras” books, weekly expenses etc. Therefore, you work as little or as much as you want.</p>
<p>The other work study was earmarked toward tution. I would look over those carefully. They take money out of the pay and have it go right towards tution. I would be leary of that. My daughter turned one down specifically because it was like that.</p>
<p>Regarding work in the summer. If someone, a teenager , has really not had a summer job by the time they are going off to college, I would say something is wrong, in my humble opinion. Yeah, I would love to be able to have my kids take off whenever I am able, but the reality of it is, I am a single parent and they need to pay for the things like books and spending money while in school. We live in a sort of tourist area and they are lucky to have been able to get jobs and work very hard. Last summer my daughter, who just turned 20 worked 60 hours a week at two jobs and my son worked in the kitchen of a restauraunt for about 55 hours a week. He just turned 17 in June and is a Senior in high school. I feel you are doing a disservice to kids to not have them work, just so they can do a family vacation. While family time is important, there is a huge value to be learned from the experience and responsibility of a summer job that will help them in so many areas of their life, including college. How to busget, show up on time and get along with people. They make friends they normally would not make. I think both my kids have truly valued all of their jobs and have become better people because of them.</p>
<p>Never seen that yet curly girl
Because tuition is usually paid in two chunks- for each semester.
Or if you do something like what we did to make budget payments- it is figured out what you owe, but over 9 or 10 months, and it can start in June or July.</p>
<p>Work study usually is just like a reg job, in fact it is a reg job, except that it is usually on campus and is much more flexible regarding your academic schedule than an outside job would be.</p>
<p>I don’t call required community service time “volunteer”, fencers mom- however many districts and schools do require community service
involvement from students and I think that is a good idea.</p>
<p>I also think that 10 hours per week is much different than almost full time work while a student. Its one thing to work three times a week for three hours a day ( + break) which can help you to prioritize the rest of your schedule, instead of just thinking “Pahh I have plenty of time”, but not having enough time so that your studies suffer is like shooting yourself in the foot.</p>
<p>I also don’t understand families that don’t want their kids to have any loans at all- don’t want them to work during school or summers- but then complain that they don’t appreciate the opportunities they have, complain that they aren’t mature or independent.</p>
<p>Studying can be time consuming- ITA, but it still isn’t “work” to support yourself. The kids who didn’t work in high school or college seem to be the ones that expect a corner office right off the bat ( and are the ones least likely to get it)</p>
<p>The loan/work-study question on the FAFSA is just an option to consider - and for most folks should be answered yes - you can change your mind later on when financial offers are on the table - so keep the option open.</p>
<p>Work-tudy MAY be available/offered - it may not be - schools seem to treat work-study differently - some have many opportunities available/posted - some have very few. But working ~~10 hours a week is usually not a problem and some folks - like me LOL - refer to it as pizza $$ - paid 1x per month for time put in. Most of the jobs are pretty simple ones - filing - checking kids into the rec center - library, etc… - not to physically or mentally mind bending.</p>
<p>WHAT - your view of what your DD’s typical college day-in-the-life is a bit scewed - a typical college day is not a 9-5er - your gal could actually have classes only 3 days week - or afternoon classes - or even evening classes - she will have to be considered ‘full-time’ to be on your insurance and for other reasons as well - that may mean 5-6 classes a semester realistically - full-time is typically at least 12 credits per semester - 4 classes would do it - but you will also want to consider how many years it will take her to complete her degree.</p>
<p>The financial stuff - your child is expected to contribute to the finances for college - the same as you are - and jobs for students really are important - helps them to prepare for the real world as well.</p>
<p>So - for now - check off the work-study - and then see where it goes - you may have a change of heart in a few months and at least you will be in good shape for it - if needed. IF your EFC is high - then it may come in very handy for both of you.</p>
<p>I think most college students are able to manage 10 hours of part-time work per week. There are exceptions, depending on the program of study but, for most, that shouldn’t be a problem. To accept loans and grants and then not expect a student to work part-time OR during the summers is a mistake, in my opinion.</p>