How much did you get paid for your Summer job in college?
- Thread starter lucas80
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After my freshman year, I worked the same job all through college - including summers - in IT. Turned out to be what I did for a living vs. the degree I got. Started at $10/hr ended at $15/hr which was frankly a boat load of money in the mid 90’s. I wasn’t really a “poor college student.” Was jealous of everybody’s fun part time jobs and more free time during college. Wasn’t jealous when everybody else got their loan repayment schedule after commencement.
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One summer I got a job refereeing sand volleyball games at a big bar that had probably 10 sand volleyball courts. It was a corporate after-work league. I got $10/hr cash, plus a lot of free beer. That may be the best job I've had.
I had the best summer job in college. I began working construction in 5th grade during the summers, all the way through my first two years of college. My last 3 years (I know, 5 year plan--but I was a double major and got a triple endorsement) I worked at the VA in Iowa City doing grounds keeping . This would have been 2003-2005, I recieved $14/hour (more than I made working construction) and accrued sick leave and vacation. IT only ended up being 2 days of each by the end of the summer, but they paid me out for those days. Hours were 8-4:30.
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Frosh and Soph year I went home and worked 40-50 hours a week at the local farmers coop for $8.50 an hour. Also worked 10-20 hours nights and weekends at DQ for $8 an hour. My gf at the time also worked there so sometimes it turned into sexy time after hours.
Jr and Sr year I stayed in Iowa City and drove Cambus ~30 hours a week for $11.50 an hour. Iowa City during the summer is awesome.
Min wage was $5.35. If you're working minimum wage, you're doing it wrong.
Jr and Sr year I stayed in Iowa City and drove Cambus ~30 hours a week for $11.50 an hour. Iowa City during the summer is awesome.
Min wage was $5.35. If you're working minimum wage, you're doing it wrong.
Got it. I'm from the NW suburbs of Chicago and there's a Long Grove in Lake County. Nice little community.
The summer before college, I made $1.35 delivering furniture. The next summer, I made $1.60 in a manufacturing plant.
$1.50 an hour (1967) riding the back of a garbage truck...I think I moved it upwards to maybe $1.65/1.70 by the end of my junior year(1969)...
Construction. Plumbing in new houses. Even dropped out of school for year to work at it full time. If you have a house in Iowa City built in 1973 to 1978 there is a good chance I may have done some of the plumbing.
Made very good money with lots of overtime. Would have averaged around $7 per hour I guess.
How in the world do you people remember what you got paid 30,40+ years ago? I don’t remember what I had for dinner 3 nights ago.
One summer I didn’t get paid anything- I remember that one. Was an RA working for room and board. No idea the other summers.
One summer I didn’t get paid anything- I remember that one. Was an RA working for room and board. No idea the other summers.
The Airliner, briefly at Hardee's, and Midwest Janitorial. I liked the last one best, although I never got the hang of the floor buffer.
McDonald’s. 4.35 an hour. Late 80’s
crazy a high school kid can now get $12-$15 an hour without trying.
crazy a high school kid can now get $12-$15 an hour without trying.
Year 2000.
Graduated on a Saturday and by Sunday afternoon I was heading in for the night shift at the local factory. $9.25 an hour. My regular highschool job paid $9 but only offered 40 hours. Factory was 6 10s.
Graduated on a Saturday and by Sunday afternoon I was heading in for the night shift at the local factory. $9.25 an hour. My regular highschool job paid $9 but only offered 40 hours. Factory was 6 10s.
Summers 1981-1984 made ~$120-150/ week working at a summer camp. Not much per hour but I didn’t pay a dime for rent, utilities etc. and all the food I could eat so not a bad deal for those days. Working as a camp counselor is hardly working anyway and I met tBW there which was just a bonus.
The one kid would up with a job at UI making $13.90 doing janitorial work. The other kid is making $10.25 at UMinnesota. He received no comfort from me when he texted me yesterday about being on his feet for four whole hours and having to walk a mile across campus to and from work.
That $4.35 in 1989 is equivalent to $9.37 in 2021 with inflation. If 1986, it’s $10.60.
Minimum wage is currently $7.25.
Crazy.
If a labor shortage craters fast food and everyone has to learn to cook, it might save the country zillions in healthcare costs.
I worked as a janitor from 16-21. It makes one a great roommate when cleaning and carried over well to marriage. Nothing quite like a well-polished floor.
I went to HS with a kid who worked at a meat packing plant. They would have shut downs and he would collect unemployment for a few weeks. Dude was 18, a senior in HS, living in his parents' house, eating their food, etc. He got something like $220 per week, in the mid 80s.
Not sure inflation matters as much to somebody when they live at home with zero expenses. Only spend money on wants and not needs.
Some of these I would love to hear the years! First summer job from college for me was roofing houses at $10 an hour cash in ‘98 and thought I was rich. Before that was “walking beans” as a kid, bailing, detassling corn, mowing lawns or working McDonald’s so that job seemed amazing. The McDonald’s job was the first job I got that wasn’t on the farm or at a company paying slave labor for detassling and believe it paid about $5.25 an hour give or take in ‘95
Whatever minimum wage was in the late 80s. Sidebar, I can still remember being shocked at my first paycheck being less than 40 x wage due to Tax and Social Security. My dad laughed at my outrage.
In 94 I had two summer jobs. Daily labor temp work for a company literally called “Daily Labor” that paid $8.50 an hour. I also worked for the unimaginatively named ABC Pizza which in addition to selling a lot of Greek pizzas and gyros, had some mainstream Greek menu items as well. I worked as a server getting $2 and some change an hour plus tips. Oh good days I made $15 an hour, average days about $10-11 and bad days about $8.
Sorry, totally missed this question when originally posted.
She was 16 that first summer, I was 18 and had just graduated high school. So totally barely legal!
The "best" job I had during under grad was working on the lines at the Kawasaki plant in Lincoln Ne. I dont remember exactly what the pay was but it was decent and guys did it as a full career.
Probably 16-18 bucks an hour in 2006-8ish.
Probably 16-18 bucks an hour in 2006-8ish.
Back end of a garbage truck...I was a “ slinger”....was paid anywhere from $1.50-$1.60 an hour and worth every damn cent! I was quick on the uptake...and always gentle on the cans.
