What is a fair amount to earn as a "Founding Engineer" in my situation?

Way to go Ian.

You're being offered a very low salary (for Sili Valley), and a 3% stake in the company. The stake you're being offered isn't bad, if they already have an investor or two. If they're pre-money and pre-revenue, 3% is very low.

The two quarters off school thing? Nah. Won't work. It will take longer than that to do your part of building the company. Before you agree to that, find out the vesting schedule they're offering you. If they can get you to separate from the company after six months, you may not get any % of the company at all.

So, a few things. Notice that a company is not a family. They don't have a duty of loyalty to you, nor you to them. They can give you the gift of loyalty, and you can do the same for them. But it's a gift, not a duty.

(1) ask yourself, "Am I willing to spend the next five years of my life with these people on this project?" If the answer is not "YES:" turn them down.
(2) ask for the company's capitalization table (a list of who owns what shares). Figure out whether you think the ownership structure is fair. If they're offering you 3% they should have no problem giving you the cap table. If they refuse to show you the cap table, RUN, don't walk, away. The other founders are pulling some kind of fast one on you.
(3) get the paperwork for your offer, including the cap table and equity papers (restricted stock grant? stock options? what?) and hire a lawyer to look them over. This needs to be your lawyer, not the company's. The question for the lawyer is, "is this a fair deal?" You'll probably have to pay the lawyer a kilobuck for this, but you're going to spend the next five years on it, so you don't want to go into the deal without checking it. You might also make an appointment with a counselor at Silicon Valley SCORE (http://www.svscore.org/) to look over the deal. This would be free and confidential.
(4) $36K is REALLY short pay in Santa Clara County. You'll spend most of it on a place to live. What's the company's plan to get this salary of yours up to about $100K?
(5) how long do they have until they run out of money? what's the next big business milestone? how realistic is the schedule? is it a pipe dream? Does it demand miracles from you personally?
(6) ask to meet the board of directors (they should offer, but at any rate you should ask).

I know I've made it sound a little daunting. But, you're not just considering a job here, you're becoming a partner in a new company. You owe it to yourself and the new company to ask meaningful questions.

About college: You can always go back sometime.

Again, congratulations, and all the best with the new company.

The equity offer is off by about 5x to 10x (meaning you should get at least 15% to 30%). The best source you can read for more information on equity splits is Founders Dilemas by Noam Wasserman. I would take this offer to mean they're either trying to under compensate you or they don't know what they're doing.

Ian:

It is very unusual for a young college student to get an offer for fulltime work. Your two years of completed college is about equivalent to an Associate Degree from a Junior College. The $36k seems to be a reasonable starting salary. More importantly, the experience should give you a leg-up when you interview for a permanent job after you graduate from college. This seems like a good opportunity for you. But beware of one possibility. The new startup may want you to continue working fulltime after the two quarters. My strong advice is that you keep your eyes firmly on getting your degree and return to College.

Pete Sturtevant, P.E.

Hi there

Congratulations on your job!

Is this a full-time position? If yes then it is low salary from industry standard to start with.

Thanks

Annie