Inktober 2016, Day 2. Not as horribly planned this time, but the freehand perspective probably warped it. Oh well.
Why can’t kids today just work their way through college the way earlier generations did?
The answer to that question isn’t psychology. It’s math. A summer job just doesn’t have the purchasing power it used to, especially when you compare it with the cost of college.
Let’s take the example of a working-class student at a four-year public university who’s getting no help from Mom and Dad. In 1981-‘82, the average full cost to attend was $2,870. That’s for tuition, fees and room and board.
The maximum Pell Grant award back then for free tuition help from the government was $1,800. That leaves our hypothetical student on the hook for just about $1,000. Add in a little pocket money, too — say $35 a week. That makes an extra $1,820 for the year on top of the $1,000 tuition shortfall.
Now, $3.35 an hour was the minimum wage back then. So, making $2,870 meant working 842 hours. That’s 16 hours a week year-round — a decent part-time job. It’s also about nine hours a day for three straight months — a full-time, seven-day-a-week summer job. Or, more likely, a combination of both. In short: not impossible. Far from it.
For today’s public university student, though, the numbers have all changed in the wrong direction.
Why Summer Jobs Don’t Pay
Illustration: Michelle Kondrich for NPR
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