<p>I am getting the ask for a higher weekly allowance. DD goes to school in a major city, and apparently there is much going on off campus. I went to school on a rural campus - I couldn’t have spent money if I wanted to! I don’t want to be unfair. We pay for everything - clothes, personal care items, laundry, etc. She has a meal plan. I thought $50 a week was generous (and it all goes to pocket money for fun). No?</p>
<p>So, what does she spend her money on? From my point of view, if my kid requests an increase above what I consider reasonable, I should be allowed to have some sort of idea where the money is going. If it’s museums and other cultural events, well then, maybe so. But if it’s cool new restaurants downtown and that $200. whatever from Urban Outfitters, well, hmm. </p>
<p>My son also goes to school in a major city. Many urban schools have free passes for students to attend those “cultural events”.</p>
<p>Just hand over your paycheck. That’s been our experience with the city living for WildChild. Well, we wouldn’t do that, so he has worked at a law firm since soph year. That’s his spending and travel money. I spot him a little extra now and then if I’m feeling generous. He has extremely wealthy friends and feels “poor” (tough…). I mean- seriously wealthy friends. It figures… Daughter managed just fine at Rice on the modest allowance we gave her. Seems like Houston is a city, too…</p>
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<p>LOL!</p>
<p>Just what are we talking about in terms of what the Houston and Wild Child offspring were spending a week?</p>
<p>$50 a week is very generous! S got $100 per month and seldom spent the whole amount.
He and his chums went to an expensive restaurant once or twice per year; the rest of the time, they ate at cheaper places, and only once in a while since they were on the meal plan. Most entertainment on campus was free or else cost very little–and S did not have a lot of time to attend the plethora of concerts and performances on offer every week.
Beginning in his sophomore year, he had a job so he stopped getting an allowance from us, but he did not spend any more than in his freshman year.</p>
<p>I’m checking with my daughter, but I think we gave her $200-250 a month and we paid for gas for her car (which wasn’t much). I can’t even guess how much money we shoveled into Philadelphia’s economy. It was probably about $300 a month before we pulled the plug after he got the job. He and his friends did like the nicer restaurants (not all the time, of course). Seemed like the pizza nights of my college days were sushi nights for his crowd.</p>
<p>Wow, I guess DH and I have high expectations of our kids but we haven’t given either one a dime of spending money (e.g., for dining out or other forms of entertainment, fraternity dues, gas to fill up their cars, text message plans) since they entered freshman year of high school. We do pay tuition, room and board, books, clothes, haircuts, medical expenses-- i.e., all essentials. Are we alone? BTW, one of them attended school in an expensive city.</p>
<p>I’m sure you are not alone at all. We funded our kids more than many families for various reasons. Neither of them had jobs during high school (for very good reasons) and there was really no opportunity to save money. D could only earn a little money during college from some singing gigs.</p>
<p>Fifty dollars a week sounds like a lot to me. I’m hoping we don’t have to dish out that much next year, even if D is in a city. Maybe I’m naive.</p>
<p>We give our S $200/month in DC…sometimes a little more. He seems to use it mainly for extra meals, both on and off campus. He is still growing ( about 6’3") and always hungry–he has always seemed to need a 4th meal around 10:30 or 11. He is physically active–he plays club soccer and a couple of intramural sports and runs 3 or 4 miles several times a week just to relax.</p>
<p>His meal plan for this semester is 150 meals (about 10/week) and 300 “points” that he can spend on or near campus–about 20/week. He had a 200 meal plan during fall semester but found it difficult to use all the meal swipes because he had classes every day during lunch times–so he has asked us to enable him to buy more points that can be used more flexibly.</p>
<p>He does keep a supply of stuff in his room(easy mac, etc) and he tends to eat breakfast in his room. </p>
<p>He’s frugal on just about everything else other than food though. He seems to have free passes to just about everything possible.</p>
<p>I would need to know exactly how $50/week is being spent–I mean a detailed accounting of each expenditure–before I’d consider any increase. You can spend a huge amount in a city, or next to nothing, depending on lifestyle. E.g., food is expensive in a major city, but there’s no need to eat off the meal plan; intriguing shopping abounds, but none of the offerings are necessities. As for off campus entertainment, you can spend a fortune, or seek out the free or virtually free events offered in every big city for the budget conscious. </p>
<p>D is also in DC. Her non-essentials (basically entertainment, clothing that she doesn’t truly need, and meals that she could eat on her meal plan but chooses not to) are on her own dime–she’s used up much a good chunk of her last summer’s earnings and is doing some babysitting now to replenish her account. It’s been a great way for her to appreciate the value of a dollar–suddenly she’s a bargain hunter!</p>
<p>We always expected our D to pay for all her extraneous expenses herself by saving money through various jobs. We pay tuition, room, board, textbooks, and any other necessities related to her studies. She saves money for the year through a summer job, and also makes pocket money during the school year doing odd jobs here and there. She will graduate with little to no debt and I think that’s plenty! One side benefit to this plan is that she is very creative when it comes to money. She can put together an incredible outfit bought at the Salvation Army.</p>
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<p>Same in our household.</p>
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<p>Me too. $50 sounds fine to me. But, if there’s demonstrated need, I’d support it.</p>
<p>My daughter spent about $50 during her first semester at Williams. I did stock her with school supplies and bathroom needs at the start though. It is hugely helpful to be at a rural campus.</p>
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<p>LOL! Yup, going to the bank. Big cites have so many temptations for a college kid. The funny thing is that the kiddo never asks for more, but when she casually mentions that she is “down to the last box of noodles”, I add to her allowance 
She made some money this summer working 2 jobs, but that money will be put towards her travel plans. We are not funding her spring break adventures, she is.</p>
<p>We give our son $0 for an allowance. Since we pay his room and board, we figured he could cover his extra expenses with what he made over the summer and any work study. We do occasionally pay for a meal out and half of some school related expenses.</p>
<p>My daughter says she doesn’t remember exactly what we gave her, but she thinks it was around $250 a month. The kids also had a credit card that we paid for approved expenses, like buying a plane ticket or car repair etc.</p>
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<p>my son spent over $1000 at trader joes and whole foods in NYC since October. Don’t ask me what he eats. </p>
<p>He also feels entitled to $185 Diesel jeans. When I saw that purchase I promptly cancelled all the magazine subscriptions I pay for.</p>