Help Your Student Have a Productive Summer
While your student may look forward to summer break as a time to relax, lazy days may be a thing of the past. Summer break is a great time to explore college and career options and to build up college savings.
Why It Matters
- Take advantage of available time.
Summer break provides an expanse of time to fill, allowing your student to choose among paying jobs, volunteering and activities to build skills and academics. - Get a feel for a career or major.
Volunteering, working a part-time job or participating in a camp on a college campus will help your student understand what there is to like or dislike about some of the options for after high school. - Retain academic achievements.
Reading and pursuing some academics over the summer can help prevent the slides in academic achievement that can occur during a long break from school. Community college classes may be available to help with this and also provide a jump-start on earning college credit.
What Your Student Can Do Now
- Investigate camp options now.
Many colleges and organizations offer summer camps ranging from theater and sports to engineering and robotics. Research and service opportunities may also be available. These give high school students the opportunity to get a taste of living on a college campus with other students, while also possibly offering college credit. Costs, length of program and activities vary, so some research is necessary. Programs fill up quickly — pay attention to registration deadlines. - Talk to the school counselor.
If your student is planning to earn college credit, the school counselor can provide information on how community college fees work for summer classes. It may also be worth a chat with an academic adviser at the community college. - Consider career-related positions.
Many paid and volunteer positions are available to high school students over the summer. It’s important to earn and save money to pay for education and training after high school, but your student may be able to find a position that also provides career-related skills. An alternative is to maximize available time by balancing some hours at a higher-paying job with volunteer or lower-wage work.
What Your Student Can Do Later
- Make the most of the opportunity.
If your student is at camp or class on a college campus, whether close to or far from home, it’s an opportunity to decide whether or not the campus itself is appealing. The time will soon come to make a decision as to where to apply, and your student should spend some time thinking about the benefits and disadvantages of campus size, location and facilities. - Keep an open mind.
Caution your student that a summer experience isn’t exactly what full-time students at a particular campus may see. Class offerings, number and types of students, teaching staff and weather may all be different during the regular academic year. - Build on lessons learned.
Your student should evaluate whether summer activities provided useful lessons on the desirability of a particular path or career. Then, consider the next step to continue to build on those experiences or explore in a different direction. - Save for future expenses.
Earnings from paid positions can be earmarked for future expenses for college or other training after high school. Your student can create a plan to save a substantial portion of summer earnings to start or add to family contributions.
What You Can Do
- Provide ideas.
Be on the lookout for summer options that may set the foundation for classes and careers your student may consider for the future. This is a good opportunity for you and your student to learn what a specific job or major will actually entail day to day. - Be willing to let go.
With high school graduation only a couple of years away, sending your student away for a week or more may be hard. But, if your student shows interest and wants to do the legwork, a summer program can be a trial period for both of you before college. - Encourage exploration.
This is the time for your student to really explore the many varieties of jobs and courses of study available. If your student has indicated an interest in teaching, for example, summer classes and programs can help narrow down whether preschool or college education, or something in between, is most appealing.
For a short time only, and in celebration of April being Financial Literacy Month, all new and currently registered Iowa parent participants will be eligible for a one-time drawing for a chance to win a $1,000 529 college savings deposit. Ten random winners will be chosen to receive $1,000 following the special giveaway’s closing date of April 30, 2024. New participants just need to register before April 30, 2024. See rules for details.
Next Steps
Be sure to complete the survey questions at the end of this article to be entered into the 529 deposit giveaway!
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