The Benefits of Today’s College Co-Op Programs

The Benefits of Today’s College Co-Op Programs

If you are a senior, this is the time of year you are finalizing your college list and applying to these colleges. If you are a junior in high school, you are beginning to investigate colleges and majors of interest. Most high school students (and their parents) are unaware of Cooperative Education Programs available in multiple majors at many colleges and universities throughout the United States. There are many benefits to getting involved in a co-op program. Below is a blog I posted several years ago, discussing co-op programs. Enjoy!

Andi

These days, the “college internship” can often be viewed as the maximum amount of real-world job experience a college student will get before graduation. In many cases internships are unpaid, and the level of work interns do is a step below the real-world experience an internship is made out to be.

For too long, students were forced to accept these internships as a best-case scenario. But now they have options. And one of the best is college cooperative education programs (“co-ops” for short) – which are redefining the college work experience.

A college co-op program weaves “real world” work experience into a program’s curriculum. Typically, you begin working at selected placements during your sophomore year. Each year, the workload and level of learning increases until you graduate.

Co-ops are always paid positions. Always.

By the time you graduate, you’ll have 18 months of experience working at a handful of positions related to your field of choice. Not only is that 18 months of wages in your pocket while in college, it’s an impressive amount of experience that a recent college graduate can boast on their résumé.

More than 500 U.S. colleges and universities have co-op programs. All totaled, more than 300,000 students are working paid co-op positions. These students are getting a first-hand, boots-on-the-ground preview of their career path in a way their textbooks and professors cannot fully describe.

The National Commission for Cooperative Educationreports that 60 percent of co-op students accept jobs from their co-op employers upon graduation. What’s more, 95% of co-op students find jobs after graduating.

If this sounds too great to be true, you may be asking why haven’t I heard of this before, and where do I sign up? There is ONE catch you need to know before you decide if a co-op is right for you: All this extra cash and experience requires you spend an extra year in school.

So, if you can get past that, here is by far the biggest benefit of co-op programs.

Benefits of College Co-op Programs

Co-op earnings – which range from $1,000 to $2,500 per month – are typically not included in the financial aid formula. What that means is that a co-op student filling out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) could still be eligible for a sizable portion of financial aid.

Compare that with a student working an unpaid internship and a part-time job on the side, either during the school year or in the summer. This student’s income will be included in the financial aid formula on the FAFSA application, and that can reduce the number of grants, scholarships and student loans they could receive.

The money earned can be used to help defray the tuition for the extra year of college.

To apply for a co-op program, you first must check if any schools on your list of colleges have them. It’s likely that they do, but not always in the program of your choice.

If they do, you apply through your program. Each school and each program is different, but a typical co-op application involves filling out an application and submitting a resume. If you are accepted into the co-op program, you’ll schedule a meeting with an academic advisor to discuss career goals and interests.

If you have any other questions about selecting a college, or the admissions process, feel free to contact me through my website at www.Prep4CollegeNow.com or call me at 760.877.7200. I’d love to answer your questions!

Andrea K. Frimmer, M. Ed.
Prep4CollegeNow, Inc.
andi@prep4collegenow.com
www.prep4collegenow.com

760-877-7200

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