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“It’s like a different type of student”

Maybe in the past, it was possible to be enrolled in a real major and work while in school while seeing your earnings make a significant dent in your tuition costs. Outside of a community college, that probably doesn’t happen much anymore.
I don’t think anybody can make the argument that what we now have is better.
 
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What a coincidence. Your buddy, Scott, was telling us about this and other problems he and Dante have to deal with at his restaurants (we ate at the AA before the UM game).
He would know. That champs downtown is killing it.
 
Typically, this would be the employee market signaling to employers that the jobs don’t pay enough. Maybe the employers will adjust.
No. We pay enough as competition has driven up wages on its own. We are paying much more this year than we did even last year. This staffing issue is not everywhere. We get people in Myrtle which is very similar to state college with amount of people and then tourists,(alumni and students) that come in.

State college is a different beast these days.
 
My daughter is a sophomore in college and I told her that she would have to get a job to cut down on the cost of going to college during the school term. She called me a couple days ago saying that there was no way she could work while carrying 18 hours and three labs a week and getting good grades. It is a hard thing to balance, but in the end I agreed with her. If you are a serious student (and very unlike her father, she is) it is hard to pull off.
That is a big load. She is right. Now if she had 12-15 credits then a different story for sure.
 
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The businesses are already staffed. It's not like he's opening anything that's brand new. All seven are up and operating. They may be understaffed but he's not starting from zero like BRGR and Hello Bistro did within just the last month.
They are short staffed and the quality of staffing and service has gone down. Add to that the new businesses that just opened right next door and it will be a struggle To really get going for a while. Every owner implements some new procedures and management and with that comes turnover.

I have looked at hsc in depth as well as I used to manage there years ago. A lot of moving parts.
 
Complete a FAFSA and your child automatically can get a $7,500 student loan. Because of the easy student loans, many students would rather do that than work 23 hours per week (assuming $10 an hour) while taking classes. Really easy decision to make when the typical student and many of their parents do not understand the consequences of debt.
 
As previously mentioned, graduating in 4 years or less is required to avoid the thousands of dollars to attend an extra semester or two. My son carried a heavy engineering courseload to ensure this. As an out of state student, the extra few hundred dollars earned working a shitty job would not make much of a dent in his $75k loans so why risk an extra semester or worse grades that could impact getting a much higher paying job after graduating? BTW, he worked full time every summer and earned some scholarships while in school to offset any loss from not working while in school. Glad to report that after graduating in 2015, he owns a house, paid off all student loans, and earned a master’s degree while working. I think it worked out for him. However, I would never let my other younger kids attend PSU in non engineering majors at these out of state tuition rates.
 
The opportunities outside the classroom are also/can be a substantial part of the PSU educational experience. If one can find a way (part of the inheritance now when you need it - instead of 20 years from now when you don't need it) family members can make a smart investment in their student.

Our student was fortunate to earn leadership opportunities for 4 years with both Thon and Homecoming - even participating in a paid for, week-long Leadershape academy during the summer, Several others experiences as well. This part of the education will provide a lifetime of benefits. All organizations seek qualified leaders, good leaders are hard to find: case in point PSU.

Realizing, not everyone is able to $ support their student. If it can be done, your student can have an opportunity to benefit - if they are able to take advantage of the opportunity given them.
 
Find something you can do during the semester, even it's for a couple of bucks.

Nittany Notes is actually a good way to study and make $$ (not a ton of $$, but better than nothing).

Then work your ass off during the summer. One summer, I had three jobs.
One summer I had worked at the liquor store I worked at year round, doing about 50+ hours a week. Then I also worked as a bouncer at a bar working another 25+ hours a week. I remember that I worked one of both of the jobs for 59 straight days. Even through that, I remember having a great summer.
 
On the other hand, I just had over 300 people apply, about 30 work study, apply for our $9.50/hr part time positions on campus. We hired 18. Although you'd be surprised at how many could not be bothered to upload a cover letter or resume even though both were listed as required in the job posting. Makes for an easy first screening process.
 
The article was about PSU and students not wanting to work, despite having the highest level of indebtedness in the Big Ten ( this was claimed ). People behave in ways disconnected from reality when they perceive things are free that aren’t free, like a university education.
This is nothing new. In the early 80’s, I worked for a moving company during the summer. It was hard work, but it paid well. Best of all, it was under the table. I kept in touch with the people there. By the mid 90’s, they told me that very few students were willing to do this sort of work anymore.
If you are in a demanding major and taking a big credit load, maybe working in a research lab, you don’t have time to work and get decent grades. If you are in a humanities major you have more time and probably should work because your future job will probably pay less.
Maybe they think their student loans will be forgiven.
 
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