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<p>Amen to that. Give the kid money at the beginning of the month. If she runs through her money, or spends it all on Starbucks, oh well. It seems like it’s the kid’s problem not the parents. New money comes on the first of the month. The reason the kid doesn’t learn how to manage money is that her parents don’t force her to learn.</p>
<p>The food budget will also be affected by how active the student is. DD noticed last year that she bought much more at the weekly grocery trip than her roommates, which is to be expected since she is an athlete. I’ve seen her food intake ramp up this summer as her training ramps up. Can’t imagine the food budget for a male athlete.</p>
<p>ColoradoMom…are you talking about a prepaid visa type card, or a debit card?</p>
<p>Where I am, a debit card is tied to a bank account, and as long as there is money in that account, the holders can withdraw. </p>
<p>A prepaid credit card could work…with parents having the ability to refuel.</p>
<p>But again…how would you prevent the student from using either a debit or a prepaid card for something OTHER than what you approve? The student, once they have this card, can use it ANYWHERE.</p>
<p>Just saying!</p>
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<p>My son has been home for the summer. He is a division 3 football player. He eats massive quantities of food. He is also very health conscious so he is concerned with what he eats. We all know it is more expensive to eat healthy food than it is to eat processed foods. Someone upthread mentioned being able to feed a college student for $100 per month. For my son that is a laughable amount of money.</p>
<p>Luckily, he is living in a fraternity house this school year. The cost is about half of the university meal plan and my son says they serve healthier food than the dining hall. </p>
<p>I can’t imagine feeding a male athlete for under $50 per week. When my son is home I spend more but that is because I buy food that kids can’t really afford, like fish.</p>
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<p>As long as the student only gets what you give them, why would you care? If the student can manage to buy an occasional Starbucks with the budget that you set out for them why do you need to micromanage their spending?</p>
<p>I would never give my son a credit card and just tell him to charge whatever he sees fit, but when a student gets a set amount of money every month it really should be up to them to figure out how to spend it.</p>
<p>I thought all students had their own checking accounts with debit cards. How else would they function?</p>
<p>Marian: Apparently they still function as children. My son has his own checking account and debit card. He also has his own credit card.</p>
<p>Proudpatent, I agree with you. But the poster upstream implied that the debit card could be used for “approved purchases only” and I don’t think that is the case.</p>
<p>I think the key here is the amount should be set…and then reviewed after say two months. When we did this, we were very clear that we would not add additional money after the review. Any “overage” became the kid’s responsibility. Our kids never complained about the amount. We did give them gift cards to the grocery store. And when we went to visit, we would take them shopping, or bring staples from here (for the kid who was 2 hours away).</p>
<p>I didn’t read every post in the thread, but does the OP’s D’s school have a commuter meal plan? S1’s does - meals are sold in blocks of 20, 30 or 50 with $50 “flex” money that can be used at campus coffee shops, etc. Last year when he moved off campus, we got him a 50-meal plan which lasted most of the semester. His campus job paid the rest of his day-to-day food and incidentals. And since we only live an hour away, we never visit empty-handed. This way I know he’s not starving to death and he’s also learning to cook and budget money.</p>
<p>Great suggestion, footballmom. The various meal plans were not available when I was a kid, so I did not even think of that.</p>
<p>We took our kid’s most expensive meal plan at school (all you can eat, 3 meals a day), divided it up into 9 months (school year) and deposited that amount into her checking acct every month. If she wanted to spend all of that on Starbucks or expensive meals out then she would starve. </p>
<p>We started to give our kids set amount of money for allowance since they were in high school. It was few hundred $$ every month. Out of that money, they would buy birthday gifts for family/friends, going out with friends, special clothing item, and save 10-20% of it every month. They learned to budget and save. We didn’t give them additional money if they ran out, and we didn’t take it away from them if they didn’t do chores around the house. We felt it was important for kids to learn to budget.</p>
<p>I would like to add that I do not think $50/week is enough for food. I would rather cut back on other things than on food. College age kids need good/healthy/fresh food, not processed frozen or canned food.</p>
<p>What I’m finding interesting is how many of you send your kids rent money by the month. Last year, I paid S1’s rent by the semester when he got his refund, and his utilities were included. He moved a few weeks ago to a slightly less expensive apartment, but he has to pay utilities with his two roomates and I was trying to figure out how to handle that. I still want to pay his rent by the semester if the rental company will let me - I don’t see why they wouldn’t, since that way they will get their money up front.</p>
<p>I also don’t want my kid subsisting on ramen noodles and cereal in order to save a few bucks. I want him to establish reasonably healthy eating habits, so I don’t want to be too tight on the food budget.</p>
<p>I will say that I don’t think it’s a bad experience for them to run low on cash once in a while, which is why I think it’s a good idea to send them money on a monthly basis.</p>
<p>I will also add, $100 per week over 9 months and subtracting the time my D is at home (winter break) is less than the cost of the cheapest full meal plan. It will be a great learning experience for her to figure out how to make this work. Making a few mistakes, such going out to a restaurant one night and then realizing the week’s money is almost gone, is how we learn.</p>
<p>The talk of telling young adults what/where they can and cannot eat is serious helicoptering! And by the way, plenty of junk food can be purchased with a grocery store gift card.</p>
<p>I think the prepaid grocery store cards are smart.</p>
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<p>When one of my kids lived in a group apartment where utilities were paid separately, one kid paid the utility bills and the other kids paid him their share. No big deal.</p>
<p>While many of us have kids who are too extravagant for their own good, some of us may also have kids who can be too cheap for their own good, at least in certain situations. We actually worry about this with our son, who is really skinny and (in our opinion) doesn’t eat enough, even when he’s home. Him, I feel I have to encourage to spend some money on food.</p>
<p>@TempeMom - I do too, although S1 is almost 22 and would be able to use it to buy alchohol. I have no problem with his drinking (within reason) but I do feel that he should have to pay for it himself.</p>
<p>With the utilities, my DD and her apartment mate each put one in her name (DD took gas and electric, roommate took cable). Once the bills came in. They evened it out of one was higher than the other.</p>