Rcfd13: unless you were hired on January 1st you can't look at a w2 for your entire first year pay. And if you are looking at a W2 and a year to date pay stub you must be looking at net, not. In one year at lakes (class date of 4/2/12 - 3/31/13) I grossed 14,517.60 which is exactly a 1.24% margin of error off what I calculated
Net pay depends on taxes which vary by state so it's useless to compare them.
BTpilot: As I said previously, I'm posting in case they are helpful to someone else, I would never tell anyone not to go to lakes, but I'd want to make sure they were making an informed decision because I sure as hell didn't.