Here is some ammunition for both sides of the argument:

Advantages:

• Students can work to pay off student loans, pay tuition fees, fund their own entertainment or other expenses.
• A summer job can teach students financial responsibility while parents are still there to assist if needed. They will learn to formulate their own budgets with their earned money, but mistakes or irresponsibility will not have the dire consequences that it can have for an unsupported adult.
• Students can acquire experience in their chosen field of study by taking a job in that field.
• A student who works through their summer months can begin to build their resume, skills, and experiences.
• Summer jobs can give students new direction. After all, when we choose a study field straight out of school, we base that choice on no practical experience. Students may find that their summer jobs help them to develop a passion for a completely unexpected career.

Disadvantages:

• Various factors have complicated students’ ability to find summer jobs that pay well enough. Thousands of foreign youth will land in Canada in June 2014 under the foreign workers program that offers them temporary work visas. Since they do not have the student loans and permanent formal accommodation of the average Canadian student, they may be prepared to work for less than Canadian students can manage (Routley, 2014).
• University tuition in Canada is now so high that, according to a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, students must now work 570 hours at minimum wage to pay a year’s tuition, up from 230 hours in 1975. Those who study towards professional qualifications, such as dentistry, have to work for 1,711 hours (Moore, 2014).
• Most summer jobs are in sectors that do not relate to most students’ fields of study. A journalism student, for example, may well find that a summer job either involves serving in a restaurant for a small wage or working as an unpaid intern at a newspaper.
• Working at university throughout the year and having a job throughout the summer months, which is meant to be a break, can be taxing.

The wisdom of a summer job depends on the type of job and the psychological maturity of the student.