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I knew she was headed this direction when she withdrew from school in January and then began working (in late February) about 30 hours a week max. She said she was working full time but to me, full time is 38 to 40 hours of work a week, not 30.
Also, I said to her, me - her 60 year old grandmother - "I want to start working but I want to see what your hours are going to be first, so it's time to GET A JOB," and she said "Oh, you just go ahead and get your job, whatever." Wait a dang minute. Well, I did get a job - before her.
She's not my daughter anyway, and my daughter (her mother) is a responsible, emotionally healthy person. She has options but I am disinclined to keep paying most of her bills.
Maybe she should go back to live with her mom or her mom can start contributing money towards her stay in your house.
Some retail jobs only give PT hours to those who aren't in leadership positions. So she might be working all the hours that the job will give her. She could try going for a leadership spot which usually involves A LOT more responsibility for a modest pay increase but would also give her some good learning opportunities.
I knew she was headed this direction when she withdrew from school in January and then began working (in late February) about 30 hours a week max. She said she was working full time but to me, full time is 38 to 40 hours of work a week, not 30.
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Universities tend to end up with quite a few 30 hrs/wk staff jobs, due to budget cuts. Some eventually get cut back to half time. Everyone knows 30 hrs/week is part-time, because of the reduced paycheck they get. Also, a 3/4 time job only gets you 3/4 of a Social Security contribution. That adds up to a lot less over 10, 20 or 30 years, than is needed in retirement.
I'm hoping she outgrows this phase. 30 hrs. is nice when you're young, because you have more spare time. It can be a transition phase to full-time work and a real adult life. It doesn't work out long term, and in many housing markets these days, it's not enough to pay for living expenses.
Maybe she should go back to live with her mom or her mom can start contributing money towards her stay in your house.
Some retail jobs only give PT hours to those who aren't in leadership positions. So she might be working all the hours that the job will give her. She could try going for a leadership spot which usually involves A LOT more responsibility for a modest pay increase but would also give her some good learning opportunities.
This is a good point. Kathryn, what kind of job does she have? Is she in retail? This reminds me, that some grocery cashier jobs are considered full time at 7 or 7-1/2 hrs. daily. That adds up to 35-37-1/2 hrs. weekly. Some of those jobs have decent benefits.
Not all grocery jobs involve cashiering, of course; there are deli department positions that don't require anything more than a high school diploma, but it's possible over time to work up into a supervisory position, fwiw. Entry-level pay isn't much, except a few employers, like Whole Foods, pay a little more than minimum wage. Some employers accommodate employees, that are in college or who want to go to college, scheduling their work hours around their study schedule.
This is a good point. Kathryn, what kind of job does she have? Is she in retail? This reminds me, that some grocery cashier jobs are considered full time at 7 or 7-1/2 hrs. daily. That adds up to 35-37-1/2 hrs. weekly. Some of those jobs have decent benefits.
Not all grocery jobs involve cashiering, of course; there are deli department positions that don't require anything more than a high school diploma, but it's possible over time to work up into a supervisory position, fwiw. Entry-level pay isn't much, except a few employers, like Whole Foods, pay a little more than minimum wage. Some employers accommodate employees, that are in college or who want to go to college, scheduling their work hours around their study schedule.
Many jobs are considered full time once they provide benefits, which can be 28 or 30 hours depending on the position. Depending on the location, many jobs don’t actually provide hours much over that. If she’s working something with variable hours, it may be hard to add in a second position, particularly if it is somewhere like a grocery store.
These days, most employers typically do have to pay well over minimum wage to attract employees. I think minimum wage in my area is $12 and it’s rare that places these days are advertising jobs that pay less than $15-20.
This is a good point. Kathryn, what kind of job does she have? Is she in retail? This reminds me, that some grocery cashier jobs are considered full time at 7 or 7-1/2 hrs. daily. That adds up to 35-37-1/2 hrs. weekly. Some of those jobs have decent benefits.
Not all grocery jobs involve cashiering, of course; there are deli department positions that don't require anything more than a high school diploma, but it's possible over time to work up into a supervisory position, fwiw. Entry-level pay isn't much, except a few employers, like Whole Foods, pay a little more than minimum wage. Some employers accommodate employees, that are in college or who want to go to college, scheduling their work hours around their study schedule.
Thank you - she works at a bakery, baking cupcakes, doing deliveries, that sort of thing.
It doesn't matter much - she says she is planning on moving out by the first week in May and that's fine by me now that I got my head around it. I hope she leaves the dog but she might not. Anyway, she has other relatives here and I guess she needs to live with them for a bit, I don't know. She says she is going to move into an apartment though. I don't really know other than she's moving out of my house and buying a bus pass for a month.
She has no furniture so that should be interesting.
For a lot of people that age, it's difficult to equate sitting in a class with eventually having a FT job, out on your own, etc. I went back and forth to school, worked FT and PT and lived in some pretty crappy situations, but always supported myself as the most important thing to me was to have autonomy over my life and decisions. That comes at a cost (and more than just monetarily) and learned a lot the hard way. Frankly, it made me pretty resilient and maybe that's what your granddaughter needs.
For a lot of people that age, it's difficult to equate sitting in a class with eventually having a FT job, out on your own, etc. I went back and forth to school, worked FT and PT and lived in some pretty crappy situations, but always supported myself as the most important thing to me was to have autonomy over my life and decisions. That comes at a cost (and more than just monetarily) and learned a lot the hard way. Frankly, it made me pretty resilient and maybe that's what your granddaughter needs.
I am dealing with a college aged granddaughter who lives with me right now. She's 19, nearly 20, and first of all she changed her degree from American Sign Language to Culinary Arts. Then she withdrew from all her classes and said she is going to resume classes in the fall. Now I found out that she's not talking about in person classes or full time, she's talking about taking classes online part time. I said "Do you have any idea how old you will be when you graduate at this point?" and she said "I don't know why that even matters." Well, hey, it matters when someone else is subsidizing your life till you graduate and get going in a career. And I did tell her that. She clearly doesn't want to be an adult, except for when it is convenient for her.
She will be 20 in a couple of months and I am thinking she needs to get on out of my house. I'm not even her mother, I'm her grandmother. She's a good girl - a very good girl actually - she's just incredibly slow and honestly, I think she's lazy. I hate to say it but I just did. There. She's lazy.
Her parents have four kids to put through college. Her dad divided up his 36 months of the GI Bill between them, which comes to 9 months each. I feel like that's a good start, and she did use that to complete two semesters of college. Now that she has to actually use financial aid and work part time, to help pay for college, wow, she doesn't want to do that much work anymore. I have news for her - adulting requires at least one full time job. She's been "bought a pass" so to speak - she can work part time and go to school full time and pay no rent or utilities or grocery bills till she graduates, but apparently that's not enough of a draw for her to stay in college full time and JUST GRADUATE.
This was many years ago, but my younger brother was in the same situation as it sounds like your granddaughter. He was going to a community college for about close to 4 years when my mother told him he will have to start paying her rent if he wanted to live at home (my father had passed away and my brother was getting SS benefits until he reached age 23). My mother was Swiss and VERY stern about things. So he decided to go to a trade school for electronics for 6 months with the money he had left, got a job in the field after graduation, and paid my mom $250/Mo rent to stay at her place (laundry was included, lol). This was early to mid-1980s.
Anyhow after a year he found a girlfriend, moved out, was working full time-time and went back to school at night to become an engineer. At work they kept telling him he would never advance in his job until he got that engineering degree. Everyone does things at their own speed with a dose of reality from those who care. Tough love.
I can’t think of any job that somebody can pursue with an economics degree besides economist. But that requires a PhD AND extensive math, which she doesn’t want to do
I have a son who majored in economics. He makes well into 6 figures as a 28 year old. He can easily afford a $4500 month housing payment, just bought his fiancee a gorgeous engagement ring (he paid for it in full at time of purchase), and he has saved enough money that he will be able to pay for their wedding in a year.
I realize the OP may have abandoned this thread but my opinion is that motive matters; meaning, why specifically did the daughter change to Economics? Is it only to avoid higher level math? Is she truly interested in Econ? Did she meet with a college advisor to decide this or did she just get the idea from a classmate? (Some students who don't like math actively search for majors that won't have much math.) Was she actually required to take Calculus or was it "Business Calculus"?
Did she really have an interest in Accounting? (If I remember the major correctly.)
I realize that not everyone excels at math, but I think it is one of those subjects where it can take a great deal of time and thought and many students simply don't want to put the brainpower into it. And MathGuy brought up a good point about whether she was properly prepared for a STEM type field.
College should stretch you...hard work and even struggling in some classes in college prepares you for life. Also, it's very rewarding to complete a class that you thought you wouldn't be able to do.
I'd be curious to know how things turned out for the OP and the daughter. College is expensive but taking a major you have no interest in is expensive too.
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