College · College Success · Paying for it

Twelve hours
a week, counted.

Type the wage and the hours. The calculator shows take-home pay for the term and breaks, what a week really brings in and how many hours a cost will take.

Work out my payWhat you get

The part-time job earnings calculator

The worked example is a barista job at $14 an hour with a summer of longer shifts. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

College · College SuccessFree

What you finish with
Gross and take-home pay for the year, a term week’s pay, the split between term and breaks and the hours a cost takes, with a warning past 20 hours a week. It prints as a summary for a family budget talk.
Who it is for
College students weighing a job, seniors planning how to cover costs, and families helping with the budget.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The College Success space in Caveat College.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type the wage and term hours.
  2. Add any summer or winter hours.
  3. Choose the Social Security setting.
  4. Type a cost you want to cover.
  5. Check it against a real pay stub.

Work out my pay

How the pay is worked out

Hours times the wage, then federal payroll taxes.

The worked example: a barista at $14 an hourTerm$5,04012 h × 30 weeksBreaks$4,20030 h × 10 weeksWithheld$7077.65% FICATake-home$8,533for the yearThe worked example: a barista at $14 an hourTerm$5,04012 h × 30 weeksBreaks$4,20030 h × 10 weeksWithheld$7077.65% FICATake-home$8,533for the year
Term and break pay are added, then Social Security, Medicare and any income tax withholding come off.

Social Security and Medicare

Most jobs withhold 7.65 percent: 6.2 percent for Social Security and 1.45 percent for Medicare. A student who works for the college where they are enrolled and regularly attending classes is usually exempt under the student exception, which is why campus jobs often show neither on the stub.

Income tax and hours

Many students earn less than the standard deduction, so any federal income tax withheld comes back after filing a return. Type what your stub shows, or leave it at zero. Research on working students finds that past about 20 hours a week during classes, grades and staying enrolled start to slip.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-A, Employer’s Supplemental Tax Guide: student exception to FICA (irs.gov).
  2. Social Security Administration. Social Security and Medicare tax rates (ssa.gov/oact/progdata/taxRates.html).
  3. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. Minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage).
  4. National Center for Education Statistics. The Condition of Education: college student employment (nces.ed.gov).

An estimate for planning. Your employer’s payroll, state taxes and local rules decide the real figures. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.