Deferred Pay

The increasing difficulty of finding any kind of employment sometimes leads students on Planet College to consider other sources of finance. Some which have begun appearing with increasing regularity are offers of work for 'deferred pay". This means that you will work now and possibly be paid later. Possibly.

Money is hard to get and even harder to keep. The possibility of additional finances even working now for some money later is alluring.

But if your time energy and talent are worth anything at all they are worth being paid, paid real money, in a timely fashion, a lot closer to Now than Later.

Deferred pay, often contingent upon some payment to the concern that 'hires' you, is not a promising source of funds. Not promising at all.

No matter how 'lean' things are, and right now that is pretty lean, deferred pay will put no money in your pocket now and possibly none ever.

Those ads for 'deferred pay" ? Skip 'em.

Are you a student who works or a worker who goes to school?

Most students work at least one job. Many workers attend school. At some point the question becomes are you a student who works or a worker who goes to school? The reply to this question is a matter of emphasis. And emphasis can be quantified by time. Simply put, what do you spend more time on, work or school? During summer the answer is simple. For the most part you spend time at work. You are a worker.

During the rest of the year what do you spend most of your time on? The time you spend will tell the tale. One handy reference is if you spend more time on work than school you are a worker who goes to school. There is a simple but subtle difference here. And it is this difference which may explain your frustration with your college progress so far. Specifically, if you look over your schedule for the past three semesters you might see how much time you are actually spending on work. With this simple formula you may realize that your resources have been allocated to working. Had you put this same emphasis on school you might be progressing faster. But you can't because you need the dollars that work generates. To restate, your time resources are being traded for the money it takes to survive and hopefully finish school.

With this awareness you can make informed decisions. For example you may revise your projected graduation date more realistically. You are going to make it, but it will take longer than you thought. So, press on realizing that you are trading your time for your education. Somewhat indirectly but eventually your efforts will pay off with the degree you seek. Press on.

How much is your time worth?

Most students who work do better in school? Did you know that? Small consolation,huh? Still when you work you are trading your time for money. Money which never goes far enough. But how much money in reality do you get for your time? Ever look at your check, I mean the actual amount paid to you. Depending on where you work, some is paid to the government. Some is sometimes paid for retirement. Some is paid for health care. Some is paid for union dues. How much do you actually get that you can use? I figure it is about 8O% of what your quoted salary or wage is. Like if you were hired some place and they said,"OK this job pays ten bucks an hour." Maybe you were off of school on break or something and you can work forty hours a week. If you got paid every week what would your check actually be, $400.00? No, not likely. More likely it would be closer to around three hundred and twenty dollars. This would be your total after everyone else gets theirs. Bearing this in mind the next time you go to buy something like a CD think. Is this really worth the amount of time I spent to earn the money it costs?