<p>My daughter was just accepted into NYU and of course we are thrilled for her. But we have no idea how much money she will realistically need each week. She will work over the summer to make money for “extras”, but we want to cover her basic needs. She only gets 15 meals a week at school, so she’ll have to pay for 6 meals in Manhattan, transportation around the city, and some fun money (we wnat her to be able to take some advantage of NY, we’re not talking about Broadway shows here).
What do people with kids at urban schools give for allowance?</p>
<p>This has been discussed frequently in the past. here’s a link to one discussion about it. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=66276[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=66276</a></p>
<p>Catherine:</p>
<p>Are the 15 meals specified? Most students skip breakfast.</p>
<p>Hi Catherine,</p>
<p>Yes there has been a lot of discussion on the topic, another thread…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=100898&page=1&highlight=spending+money[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=100898&page=1&highlight=spending+money</a></p>
<p>i think it’s unrealistic to expect your daughter to eat 3 meals a day while in college…
manhattan is really expensive (i go to barnard) so i would suggest getting her a refrigerator that she can share with her roommate and keeping some food there. she can make herself pasta or sandwiches and save a lot of money.
also maybe she should get a job while in school? opportunities abound in new york and it is a great experience. that way she can control what she uses her money for.
but if you insist on giving her an allowance, $100 a month is what i would give. it is low for new york but as you said, she wont be going to broadway shows every month and she’s not going to be spending most of it on food. it really depends on what your daughter likes to do for fun, though - and that’s why i suggest she get a job.</p>
<p>in terms of transportation though - she can walk pretty much everywhere she’ll want to go (no need to take the subway 2 stops) but each subway or bus ride costs $2. with every $10 you get a free ride. transportation costs do add up, but then again, i live way uptown so i’m usually riding downtown to where she will already be.
honestly, i worked the summer before my freshman year, and i didn’t expect my parents to give me any extra money. private schools in new york are already crazy expensive. when i came close to running out, i got myself a job in a cafe.</p>
<p>i say give no money and tell her to get a job. but hey… that’s what i say to everyone.</p>
<p>The village is a great walking neigborhood so I would not be suprised if she does end up doing a lot of walking (weather permitting)</p>
<p>She can use the campus transportation system, to take her to the west village, union square and even downtown (it’s free),
<a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/public.safety/transportation/[/url]”>University Transportation;
<p>if going to the theater is important to her, then she will have to wait it out and get discounted tickets from ticket central.
<a href=“http://www.nyu.edu/ticketcentral/[/url]”>ScholasTix;
<p>If she has a starbuck habit, that can be kind of pricey, but she will learn how to work things out (getting a CVS or Duane read discount card-with cash back for toiletries, etc) going to events where there is free food. I do think unless you want to live the next 4 years as a non-stop/no limit ATM give her a budget adn stick to your guns (they have a very different concept of money when no more is coming until next month).</p>
<p>I pay tuition room and board, D now pays for books (I paid for them part of last year) and all other incidentials with money she either saved or she earns by working on campus.</p>
<p>I was heading over to Chelsea Piers the other day when a young lady offered me free tickets to see the Martha Stewart show!!! Although sorely tempted… I hesitated… asked what time the taping was (2pm… imminent), I proceeded to my previously scheduled appointment. Hopefully your daughter will take advantage of many types of free and fun activities in NY, and I wouldn’t rule out the occasional Broadway show (half price tix of course!).</p>
<p>As for that Starbuck habit. I used to start my workday with a giant latte (extra shot of espresso) and a sweet… total around $8. That would be around $160 per month or almost $2000 per year!! But hey, I’m employed and can afford that kind of extravagance! But about 5 years ago I started making my own (drip) coffee at the office. Now I pay about $10/month for a pound of coffee and keep it in the freezer at work. All kinds of budgets available.</p>
<p>We have found that NYC is quite expensive. My daughter lives in an apartment style dorm with kitchens so no meal plan. Alot of her money goes to food, cleaning supplies, and even toilet paper. She buys frequent metro cards, but doesn’t use it enough for a monthly card. Occasionally, she will use a taxi. She has not seen a single movie since school started, nor has she gone to any concerts, shows, etc. We started at $100 a week and it was not enough. We went up to $125 and it still hasn’t covered all her expenses. After break we are going up to $600 for the month, but have told her that will be it. Alot of things add on to the cost. Printer paper, printer cartridges and in my daughter case a lot of money is spent on paints and canvases.</p>
<p>Unsoccer-mom,</p>
<p>As a parent of a soon to be fine arts college student, I commiserate. Out of pocket costs are hard enough for a typical college student, throw in art supplies on top of books…yikes.</p>
<p>Not to mention transporting those larger student paintings and sculptures.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody. We` are assuming her freshman year we will pay for her books. I didn’t realize the students needed their own printers and printer paper, etc. Even our public school has computer facilities!! (yes I assumed she’d need her laptop, which she already has).
$100/week sounds excessive since she is not a fine arts student. We don’t want her not to be able to take advantage of NY sometimes - that’s why she picked NYU. But we do plan to pay for (unfancy) meals and let her have money enough to get around the city and go out a little. I’ll read the past threads on allowance some of you so kindly posted above.
I went to a school with a campus and everything was paid for- all means were included, there were no transportatrion costs, and most activities took place on campus and cost nothing (movies, sporting events, parties, etc). So going to school in NYC we know will be more expensive (luckily our next child wants a campus school).</p>
<p>Catherine:</p>
<p>A printer/scanner/copier costs about $130 and it is a very worthwhile buy. My S has a tendency to print out his papers at the last minute (i.e, just before heading out of the door to school) and so it is very useful having it in the room. Printer paper does not have to be purchased every week. I would, suggest, however, that you cover the cost of her books unless she has money saved from working. Academic books can cost a lot! Nowadays, a monograph costs about $40-50; a textbook runs over $100. It is by no means unusual for a student to spend $500-800 per semester for books.</p>
<p>Catherine, my D is a junior at NYU so I understand why you’re asking the question. First of all, I’m curious why you say she’s limited to 15 meals per week. Actually, I don’t believe there even IS a 15 meal a week plan! It’s 5, 10, 14, 19, unlimited etc., depending how much you want to pay. 
I’m assuming she’s opting for a traditional style dorm since you’re talking about mealplans. Most kids have a mini-fridge and microwave in their room so that they can handle the extra meals. My recommendation, based on my Ds experience is that the fewer meals on the mealplan the better is the usual story. Granted my D had studio three days a week so she had lunch away from campus on those days and sometimes dinner, too.</p>
<p>Transportation costs are one thing to keep in mind. NYU’s transportation is notoriously bad and unreliable. Yes, they can walk a lot but sometimes it’s necessary to get up to midtown for a show or uptown to a museum for an assignment and walking is out of the question. Seeing shows in the city is not prohibitive as some have indicated here. Most shows, including those on Broadway, now have rush policies so that you can see them for $20 or $25. My D and most of her friends have probably averaged a show every couple of weeks in the time she’s been there. There are many better ways to get tickets than relying on NYU’s ticket central. </p>
<p>It’s rare for a kid not to have a printer in their room. There ARE many computer labs which have printers available but who wants to be trudging off to a lab when they finishe a paper at 2 a.m.? Printers are so inexpensive these days that I don’t see that as prohibitive.</p>
<p>My D works in the summers but not during the school year. She simply does not have the time. Her spending money has always been covered by her with us helping out when necessary. We pay for tuition, housing, books, transportation home for visits, clothes, etc. She has found that spending money varies from week to week. Some weeks she spends $150, some weeks less, depending on what is going on in that week.</p>
<p>We gave our D 100 a month. From that she was suppose to pay for laundry, toiletries and any spending money. She was not a spender in high school. She had a job the last 2 yrs of high school so had savings. Her plan was an additional 100 a month of her own money. She ended up spending more. A lot in my opinion was wasted on eating out. She lived in an on campus apartment post Katrina that had a full kitchen. So they would go to the market. She had to have a meal plan since she was a freshman. She ended the first quarter with 70 meals left on her card and over 100 in flex cash. It was frustrating for us to watch those meals go to waste. She is moving into the dorm this quarter which has a cafeteria in the building so I hope she eats there more and doesn’t go through as much cash. We could give her more but I think that they should contribute at least something to the equation. She also has a nice merit aid that helps us so we are thinking that at some point offering her a portion of our savings when she is ready to do some travel. It is her job to keep the grades for that scholarship which benefits us so we will reward that effort.
One problem she found is that her apartment mates and those around her had such large allowances that she felt frustrated at times.
As far as printing goes. She had a printer but it was sitting in a dorm in New Orleans. At her host school they configured her computer to be able to print at any printer on campus. She used this service and got used to it. She did say that she was looking forward to having a printer of her own since she ended up using her whole year’s worth of free printing the first quarter. So it is doable without a printer. Just easier to have your own. She learned this quarter doing without most of her stuff that you don’t really need all that you think you do.</p>
<p>I think that the question is not so much allowance for college as it is allowance for college in NYC. Alwaysamom and I both have found costs to be around $150 per week in NYC. If you can get your child to discuss a budget that would be the best way to do it. But you have to remember that going to school in NYC is very different than going to school in a more traditional campus environment and more expensive than other cities. There will be money spent on mass transit, entertainment, and eating out that is much less likely to happen at more traditional schools. There will be friends all over the city and visiting at late hours. You will want your child to take a taxi back to the dorm at three in the morning. The thing my daughter has struggled with the most is the “obscene” trappings of wealth in NYC. She has certainly been conflicted between wanting to partake in the “shopping” she sees many of her friends doing and being completely disgusted by the consumerism.</p>
<p>I just saw Chicago for $25, and I bought a ticket for Wicked in January for 30. Opera tickets at the Met are $20, for students of course. Having just finished my first semester in college in NYC, I spent close to $750, which seems ridiculous, because I haven’t spent $750 in the last five years of my life not to mention 4 months. However, it needs to be considered that a good portion of it was needed for last minute winter gear as I am from Georgia, and I am also way uptown, so I spent a good deal on the subway (I have yet to take a cab because they are too expensive). I would think that $500-700 per semester is plenty (assuming she already has winter gear). I am also getting a work-study job next semester to recupe some of my losses.</p>
<p>My son is having difficulty getting by on $350.00 a month in LA. Part of the expense is his car, which he needs for internships. He could save money by cooking more, but I’m not going to push it since I never cooked in college. LA is costly. I’ll probably raise him to $100.00 per week. He has no money of his own since few film internships pay although he earned $500.00 this summer working on a movie as a production assistant. I didn’t give him any money while he had that. The experiences he is getting and the contacts he is making are part of the reasons we sent him to USC. The fact that he isn’t getting paid is not relevant to me. I consider supporting him through the summer and school year in unpaid internships as part of his educational expenses.</p>
<p>He’ll be an intern at <a href=“http://www.participantproductions.com/[/url]”>http://www.participantproductions.com/</a> spring semester. Working for this company for free will be worth a lot of money.</p>
<p>This thread, more than any others on the topic, makes it clear to me how much geography plays a role. DS got $125/month from us at a small LAC in a non-exciting city. The plan was he would supplement as needed from his own savings, but I don’t think he ever needed to. Relied heavily on meal plan, getting mostly “extra” meals at the on-campus cafe, order-in pizza etc. Transportation expense nil, not a clothes horse, so not that much to spend it on. Contrast that with NYC, LA etc.</p>
<p>I’m a college soph, and I don’t get money from my parents. The expectation is that I’ll work to cover basic expenses, they’ll treat me to things like clothes or toilitries when I come home, and usually give me money when I visit (~3 times a year, about $100 each time). Just with working 8 hours a week on campus last year (more this year, since I’m an RA), I’ve been able to go to shows, concerts, sporting events, out to eat, etc. without dipping into savings. Now I am in Minneapolis/St Paul which is admittedly not as expensive as NYC, but $75 a week still seems a little excessive.</p>