<p>I paid cell, gas, car repairs, and everything beyond $100 at the beginning (not of every year - just freshman year!). Tuition, room, board, and books were paid by my parents. I didn’t work during the school year (wasn’t allowed), so I had to save my summer money for the school year. Once I graduated, car insurance was on my own. So I guess I’m a lot like Fendergirl in that way - my friends got allowances or credit cards, but I used my own money for fun. Clothing - wow, unless it’s for Christmas or my birthday, my parents haven’t gotten me clothes in about five or six years. (Hum, maybe that’s why I’m still within 10 lbs of my pre-college weight… new clothes cost too much.)</p>
<p>That left me with a few (conflicting) feelings. In some ways, since I was around people with almost unlimited spending money (several thousand per year), there was pressure to “keep up.” They thought nothing of a nice dinner out, followed by dessert and then a movie. That $40 or $50 night was waayy more than I would want to spend. A lot of the social life was in Boston and doing things like dinners out. Just the atmosphere. </p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong: I worked too hard during the summers to be poor (except for my freshman year). My dad joked that I was the only college kid he knew who had money. The $5k or so I earned during summers was enough for car, cell, and entertainment. </p>
<p>Now, back to the real question. The amount that you give your kid depends on:
*where they live (NYC/Boston being much more expensive than rural areas),
*what kind of lifestyle you want him to have (do you want him to be able to “keep up” socially with his friends, even if they are very wealthy and think nothing of nice dinners a few nights per week, or do you think it’s enough that he be able to rent movies and get a pizza?)
*What you are comfortable with (two perspectives: after paying $45k/year, what’s a few extra dollars so your kid can have the most of those years? and, after $45k/year, your kid can earn his own money) - this is where the fault lines are with parents
*what he is going to be responsible for. Cell, MetroCard, toiletries (as Jonri poited out), lousy dining hall which isn’t open on weekends -> more money.<br>
*If your kid is earning money during the summer and can supplement what you give him with his own funds.</p>
<p>So it’s hard to say. As a kid, I would have loved $50/week for spending money - and there are a lot of parents who don’t give their kids anything. So you’re not going to go wrong with that (although, between cell + subway fare + toiletries + snacks, that $50/week could be gone); it covers the essentials and then some if he budgets. For a student in NYC, my guess is that you need about $25 for a moderate night of socializing. That covers subway fare plus a nice dinner and a rental movie, or something like movie and popcorn, or clubbing and a late-night diner afterwards. It just doesn’t cover all of those options in the same night. If there is a lot going on on campus, then one parent-sponsored fun night per week is fine, so maybe $25 + other expenses would be good. If there is not much on campus, if the dining hall is lousy (trust me, makes a big difference if you can eat the food on campus), if he’ll need to take the subway to get anywhere, and if the “culture” of the school is to go out and spend a lot of money, then up to $100 per week would be appropriate.</p>
).</p>