In today's economy, people are losing jobs left and right. Initially, this doesn't really seem like it's going to impact us. I mean, we're safe, right? For anywhere from one to four years, we can ride it out in college and not have to worry about keeping our jobs. Right?

Unfortunately, that's not true. First of all, there is the issue of trying to find a job in a sunken economy, but that's another issue for another time. What I want to talk about today is what you do when your parent loses a job.

The first thing that's going to happen is a tightening of the belt. My mom recently lost her job, and while she wasn't really the wage earner, she was the fun-money earner. Since she lost her job, we've stopped planning on taking a vacation this summer and my parents have stopped living as large as they had been.

As a typical selfish (not to mention completely broke) college student, my first thought when my mom told me she had lost her job was "How is this going to affect me?" The first big change for me was the loss of 'extra' money. My parents give me a certain amount I can spend every month, and over that, I usually have to pay for things myself. But in the past, I've been able to ask them for things and they were willing to pay a little extra. For example, on my birthday I took all my friends out to an expensive dinner and my parents paid for it.

The next big thing to change was the tones of the conversations. They were no longer about the plans I had for this summer. They began to turn into lectures about saving money and needing to conserve my savings for a rainy day. At one point, it seemed like they would never stop. Eventually, I realized that many of their lectures were really just their own concerns about the family's finances, and as my mom started looking for a job, the stresses she had placed on me seemed to dissipate.

Basically, if one or more parents gets laid off, be prepared for some belt-tightening. It's unlikely that they will want you to get out of school, but if the situation becomes desperate enough, they may not have the money for tuition. If a parent does get laid off, it's a good idea to sit down with them and talk to them directly. Ask what is going to happen, how much the family has in savings, how long those savings will last, and most importantly, what you can do to help.