D was lucky enough to get into the apartments on campus when she was in school. S isn’t at campus at the moment. I’d say pay what you’d pay for room and board on campus. For meals out our kids either had to use their grocery allowance or the fun money they earned themselves. They became quite shocked at how much meals out really add up…yes, kids it is cheaper to grocery shop and cook and eat at home!
1 Like
My sophomore son lives in an off-campus 2-bedroom / 2-bath apartment, walking distance to school with a roommate since mid- August. It’s a remote / online semester this fall and I can imagine spring semester will be remote / online. My son doesn’t have a credit card yet. We make a payment for his rent directly into his rent account and give him a monthly allowance in his debit account which some other parents say it is generous. He pays utility / WiFi bills to his roommate’s parent from his monthly allowance. He is music performance major so has evening events, surprisingly even in pandemic. So, an allowance includes Lyft / Uber fees for his evening safety for music activities. He has paid music gigs as well but I don’t know how much he makes. If a balance in his debit account is very low in end of month, we put a little additional money from his savings. He is managing OK past months.
During an apartment search in summer, we told him that we would pay only two semesters of his double-occupancy dorm price and a meal plan (which isn’t an unlimited meal plan) for 12-month apartment rents & 10-month allowances. He is a cook so grocery costs quite bit, mostly due to no-car options to drive to cheaper stores to shop. He and his roommate stayed in an apartment for Thanksgiving so we gave him extra money to celebrate with nice homemade Thanksgiving meal. They had great meals everything from scratch!
We need to figure out when he gets his “own” credit card.
I got my son an AmEx card (from my account) when he was 13 (the youngest age permitted as an authorized AmEx user – Visa/MC have their own rules). He probably only used it a couple of times (e.g. in HS outings) before he went to college. He was able to get his own credit card (actually two cards) during his first year in college, because his credit score was well into the 800s. However, not all credit cards report authorized used info to credit bureaus (AmEx does, but some Visa/MC may not depending on the bank).
1 Like
That’s a good point above. When we got our JetBlue credit card in 2010, it was an AmEx. A few years ago it switched to Mastercard/Barclay… not sure if would work same for student credit reports.
My daughter’s ‘board’ for her jr and senior years was provided by her athletic scholarship, and $1800 per semester. She couldn’t spend that if she tried. She could eat at the campus dining center for a set amount per meal (like $8 breakfast/ $12 dinner), but she could also eat at the deli, pizza place, buy smoothies, etc. There was also a store she could shop at and that’s mostly what she did. At the store there were basics like cleaning products and toilet paper. She bought everything for their house, fed her boyfriend most nights, treated others to dinner, and still couldn’t spend it.
When she was a senior they were turning their rental house over to the juniors on the team who generously let her store stuff there over the summer. She left them with cases of canned goods and paper products purchased at the school store as payment.
Most kids are amoeba, and will adjust their budgets to what you give them. Some will shop at Whole Foods, others at Aldi.
2 Likes
Love the amoeba metaphor 
Everyone’s responses have really given me lots to think about - love the collective experience of this forum!
Leaning toward putting her as an authorized user on my credit card to use for groceries and other essential expenses and giving her a verbal budget for that stuff. She can then user her own debit card tied to her savings from her summer job for any non-essential stuff. She’s my responsible/frugal kid, so I think this will work.
2 Likes