A mother says her daughter must have a job while studying at college so she can help pay for tuition, better manage her time, and get work experience.
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When my kids were in high school, I required them to get summer jobs, but I didn't want them to get jobs that bled into the school year. School was their job, and I wanted it to have their full attention.
My thoughts on the subject changed once my daughter went to college last year. I still wanted her to treat her education with dedication and respect, but we are paying thousands of dollars to send her to Guilford College, a private school in North Carolina.
I mainly wanted her to get a job to help pay a small portion of her tuition. I feel this helps her have ownership of her education and will hopefully encourage her to attend classes and study rather than goof off.
Paying for college is only one reason to get a job, though. I believe there are other benefits that come from working while going to school.
I remember my own shock on the first day of my freshman year of college when I got out of class at 10 a.m. and didn't have anything scheduled for the rest of the day. I was so used to being in school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. five days a week that it felt freeing and scary to have so much time at my disposal. Getting a job can help fill up a few hours and add much-needed structure to the day.
I told my daughter we would give her two weeks to settle in before she needed to look for a job. At first, she balked, saying she was too stressed and had too much to do. But when I pressed her, I found out she was spending four hours every afternoon in the library. You might think I would be impressed with her study habits, but that early in the semester, I figured there was no way she had that much work to do. She might have felt like a good student being in the library, but after talking to her, it was clear she was just spinning gears needlessly, worrying over work in the future that she couldn't even do yet. She wasn't using her time efficiently.
After a pep talk from me — and maybe a little threatening — she got busy. By the following week, she'd found two jobs and began working five to 10 hours a week — enough to fill up some time but not threaten her academics. She now works in the admissions office, helping to plan and staff events and activities for the student body.
Adding a few hours of work has helped my daughter better manage her study time and helped her avoid mindless hours spent playing video games or bingeing shows on her phone, she told me.
In addition to paying part of her tuition, some of the money my daughter makes during the school year can be used for the fun activities of college life.
The cost of things like going movies off campus, making runs to the store for snacks and drinks, and filling up the car with gas to see friends at other colleges can quickly add up.
Since my daughter is working to pay for these things, she told me she has started to pay closer attention to where her money goes.
Unless you're at a tech school, most of the classes and majors kids take at a liberal-arts college don't provide direct qualifications to enter the workforce. The classes are a great foundation of knowledge, but employers like to see a little more on a résumé. College jobs are a great place to gain résumé-building experiences.
So far, my daughter has had experience creating fliers, working with other organizations on campus to build a master schedule, and improving her people skills while serving as a host.
No matter what job your student finds, they'll gain experience filling out tax forms, interacting with a boss, and getting along with coworkers.
Whether your student qualifies for a work-study position or not, there are plenty of jobs on campus to provide almost any student looking for work an opportunity to make some money.
On-campus jobs usually allow students to have flexible schedules. The on-campus employers know that students take new classes every semester, so they're used to regularly updating work schedules.
It's working well for my daughter, and I'm sure it would work great for your kid, too.
