Weekly allowance for living at-home college student?

Wow I am shocked at this thread. I worked PT right through college - not only is it a valuable life skill for time management but a good outlet away from college life, and great to have work experience (even retail, cafe etc) on your CV. Puts you way ahead of those without anything when you graduate
At the very least they should save from their summer job to pay for the year ahead
Paying for leapcard and fees would be the limit for me. After that, it's a valuable lesson in independence and the real world.
 
Ireland is far wealthier now than when I was a student. For me it was a necessity to work and for many of my peers. But for my kids it wouldn't be (but I won't tell them that!) So maybe that's what the shift is.
 
messyleo said:
Wow I am shocked at this thread. I worked PT right through college - not only is it a valuable life skill for time management but a good outlet away from college life, and great to have work experience (even retail, cafe etc) on your CV. Puts you way ahead of those without anything when you graduate
At the very least they should save from their summer job to pay for the year ahead
Paying for leapcard and fees would be the limit for me. After that, it's a valuable lesson in independence and the real world.
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How does it put you way ahead? Most will work a summer job so everyone has something on their cv, certainly didn't cause me any issues applying for grad programs
 
Blackrock1 said:
How does it put you way ahead? Most will work a summer job so everyone has something on their cv, certainly didn't cause me any issues applying for grad programs
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I said ahead of those "without anything" i.e. no employment history at all. A summer job is fine too, but they should use those savings to at least part-fund the college year. Same principle - they are working to fund their own education as an adult, if they can save it over the summer and don't need to work during the year, fair play!

Honestly going for any grad programme without any p-t/summer job to talk about fr employment history is tough - much harder to do an interview and just talk about college group projects etc compared to somebody who can talk about team work in employment, supervising colleagues, dealing with the public, customer service, dealing with conflict examples.
 
messyleo said:
I said ahead of those "without anything" i.e. no employment history at all. A summer job is fine too, but they should use those savings to at least part-fund the college year. Same principle - they are working to fund their own education as an adult, if they can save it over the summer and don't need to work during the year, fair play!

Honestly going for any grad programme without any p-t/summer job to talk about fr employment history is tough - much harder to do an interview and just talk about college group projects etc compared to somebody who can talk about team work in employment, supervising colleagues, dealing with the public, customer service, dealing with conflict examples.
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they also have to live during the summer! they will all be working long enough, there are ways to teach kids about money and responsibility without them needing to fund their own college education.
 
messyleo said:
Wow I am shocked at this thread. I worked PT right through college - not only is it a valuable life skill for time management but a good outlet away from college life, and great to have work experience (even retail, cafe etc) on your CV. Puts you way ahead of those without anything when you graduate
At the very least they should save from their summer job to pay for the year ahead
Paying for leapcard and fees would be the limit for me. After that, it's a valuable lesson in independence and the real world.
Click to expand...
I didn't work during term time, but I had a full time and a part time job every Summer. But we have to recognise that jobs for young adults aren't as easy to come by these days.
 
I went to college in the ‘80 and of my class only one had a part time job and he was envied. My parents choose not to give me spending money, transport was calculated to the penny. There was no spare cash for a coffee or tea, or a lunch not to mind something for socialising. I did manage small seasonal summer jobs that I used to eke out a few treats during the college year. I did go on a J1 which was funded by my parents and I paid them back in full on my return. On reflection the lack of money for socialising even in a minor way ensured I did not have a great college experience. But I was not bitter towards my parents, that was what they had decided.

When my kids got to college age recently we decided to give them €350 a month to cover their college costs, transport, clothes, phone, socialising. My graduate seems to have a great work ethic, worked part time and summer jobs to fund holidays. I don’t regret our decision. We could afford it and if they had gone to a different city for college we would have paid a lot more for accommodation and food.
 
misemoi said:
Ireland is far wealthier now than when I was a student. For me it was a necessity to work and for many of my peers. But for my kids it wouldn't be (but I won't tell them that!) So maybe that's what the shift is.
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And when I went to college, there was 30% unemployment in the town I lived it, so most students couldnt find part time jobs.

THe vast majority of my college going kids friends have part time jobs. The few that dont come from very well off families.

Sometimes the issue is that part time retail jobs demand a commitment of working a minimum of 12 hours a week and look for 16/20 hour weeks and working a minimum of 3 days/evenings a week. One of mine had to give up at the end to have time to study for final exams.

Its a great idea to have a part time job at college and everyone should get one if they can, but I can understand that it might be difficult to find one with suitable hours especially with a long commute from college or health issues. At a minimum, working at summer and Christmas should be the norm.
 
Thank you for your responses, and an interesting read. It is engineering he is doing. As he undertook applied maths for leaving cert, he didn't finish till the end of June, and for this and other reasons he didn't get a summer job this year, so he will need money. As a mother I'm not here to teach him life is a grind, wellbeing, socializing, sport- playing in matches etc to me are priorities as well as achieving well in college, so I'm happy for him not to work for this year, and he'll get a job next Summer. Thank you, for those who gave amounts, that's what I needed.
 
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