Allowance in College

mom60
Tue, 27 Dec 2005 11:21:32 +0000

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.