[Noël]

Actually, the appealing part for the student is not so much the wage, but that he/she is likely also getting school credit too. I've also seen programs where the student works for NO wage, but they get the credits toward graduation.

We've done a couple stories with contractors who take advantage of the co-op programs at local schools, and they seem to like it. One advantage is the student can help with everything to, as you put it, "grunt work" to office work to passing out door hangers, etc. Second, these students are groomed to be future employees and a lot of times will come back to the place they co-opped (is that a word? ;-) after graduation.

One contractor likes the program, because when he sees a student with potential, he offers to help them pursue further schooling (kind of a scholarship) in exchange for becoming a permanent employee (working part time through school and full time after graduation). He says it has worked well for him.

One thing to remember, though, is that for credit at school, there are likely some parameters to their program, which includes more than grunt work. However, much of the time it just requires that the student be able to "shadow" folks doing different landscape projects and then writing a report on each aspect.

It depends too on if these students can actually be helpful and a good fit for your company. You may not need this type of help at this stage of your business. But for some, it's an ideal situation for both student and contractor.