<p>Is that $500 per month including food for an apartment dweller, or is this for a student who has a meal plan in a dorm?</p>
<p>Pizzagirl,</p>
<p>I would prefer if my kids would cook themselves. I am not sure if meal plans are healthy.</p>
<p>I think, $500 is for cooking at home, plus (occasionally) going out, plus (occasionally) throwing parties (alcohol included).</p>
<p>Quick question …</p>
<p>How much do YOU spend for groceries for family per month (including everything)? </p>
<p>I would say, that we spend approximately $1,500 (diapers, alcohol, and takeout excluded) for 2 adults, teenager, and 3 small kids. I consider myself pretty frugal, but I like to throw parties. </p>
<p>I think it is prudent to estimate, that we spend approximately $350 per adult / teenager and $150 per small kid. Since my D. is not as experience as I am in cooking and housekeeping, she would spend more. Economy of scale works in favor of a big family over a single person. My estimate is - $450 per college student should be enough. I’ll add additional $50 to cover unexpected expenses.</p>
<p>Food Stamp calculator says that a person is entitled to get $200 per month for “thrifty food plan”.</p>
<p>Absent a severe medical or dietary need, I don’t think it’s emotionally “healthy” for a student living in a dorm with a meal plan to go cook for himself and miss out on the shared communal experience of dining with others. The food is secondary. People socialize over food and it’s depressing to think of someone living in a dorm and missing out on that. An apartment situation is different.</p>
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<p>What I spend on food per month is irrelevant if my kids live in dorms (or in my son’s case, a Greek house, but same difference) and have access to meal plans during the school year. I see absolutely no reason for them not to use a meal plan, and then their allowance is for other things entirely. I really don’t get the “cook for yourself” unless you HAVE to. Part of college life to me was – sitting around with friends in shared meals / spaces. By the same token, I’d be very, very hard-pressed to want them to go off campus and into apartment living unless there was a terribly compelling reason. They have the rest of their lives to live in apartments and cook for themselves. Why push it?</p>
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<p>This is exactly why I lived on campus all four years and why I will encourage my kids to as well. College is demanding enough without having to remember to pick up milk and toilet paper and come up with healthy meals and clean up after making them.</p>
<p>As for whether the food in college dining halls is healthy, I think it depends on the school (and the choices the kid makes). My son’s college has everything from vegetarian stews to biscuits and gravy. Needless to say, he chooses biscuits and gravy every day for breakfast.</p>
<p>My apartment dwelling D reports that $200 a month is about right for her (YMMV). She drinks a lot of coffee (bought in bulk - not K cups), eats cereal or yogurt, fruit and sandwiches for lunch. Chicken breasts or broiled fish, rice or quinoa and a veg for dinner. When she cooks, she usually makes enough for at least 2 meals. Plenty of $ for snacks and desserts too, I imagine. She has her own funds for eating out (2-3 times a week) and alcohol (I don’t want to know). </p>
<p>And, just for the record, some kids (such as my D) HAVE to get apartments after sophomore year. Her school does not have enough dorm rooms and does not guarantee space after soph year.</p>
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<p>Some kids LIKE off-campus living. And some attend colleges that don’t guarantee housing for upperclassmen. </p>
<p>Hopefully, these are the same kids.</p>
<p>Both of my kids attended colleges that did not guarantee housing for all four years. Both knew this in advance. Both had good off-campus living experiences as upperclassmen. </p>
<p>If it’s important to your kid or your family that your student should live on campus all four years, it’s a good idea to check in advance to see whether this option will be available and whether it’s popular. (Even at a college that guarantees housing all four years, if most upperclassmen move off campus, your kid will probably want to do that, too.)</p>
<p>Incidentally, some students who live on campus don’t want to sign up for meal plans if they’re not required to do so. It can be cheaper to pay cash in campus eateries, especially if the student’s schedule of classes and activities means missing some of the scheduled meal-plan meals. Also, some students find it difficult to eat large amounts at one sitting. They can’t take full advantage of all-you-care-to-eat dining halls, which work better for people who can comfortably stuff themselves three times a day and eat little else. The small-appetite people don’t get their money’s worth out of the dining hall meals and then find that they’re hungry later and need to spend cash on additional food.</p>
<p>D is now in 3rd year. Here is what we do:</p>
<p>1st yr: dorm and meal plan. School mandatory. She chose least expensive meal plan, smallest # of fixed meals and yet many meals went unused. Like Marian said, she had small appetite, will be cheaper to eat a la carte if that was an option. Can’t get up in time for weekend brunch, etc. Also get tired of limited food choices.</p>
<p>2nd yr: lived in university housing but off meal plan, cook her own. We gave her $250/month and put $1000 on school flex account so she can buy on campus food. She seems to think this is sufficient and does not ask for more.</p>
<p>3rd yr: off campus housing. We gave her full semester of rent, groceries at $350/mo, no school account. Figure it’s time she learns to budget and pay her own bills. So far so good.</p>
<p>She lives with vegetarian roommates so this keeps down food cost. She is a good cook too so does not mind food preparation. Most upper classmen move out after 2nd year so her shared meals are now with friends in apartment complex or department classmates. They don’t seem to lack companionship when it comes to meal times!</p>
<p>Just one family’s experience…</p>
<p>D is in an on-campus apartment with a 55 meals a quarter(10 weeks) She needs to cook the other meals…I think that $50.00 a week is realistic as I want her to cook healthy which she is learning to do and feeling good about that as well- it seems to be empowering…this weekend will be her first market tip since we dropped her off and stocked the kitchen…she is looking forward to buying frozen chicken breasts, apple chicken sausages,eggs and hopefully not too much junk! She can only get to the market when the roommates go so she will need to “stock up” what an exciting time and learning curve as well…</p>
<p>We took the cost of school’s standard meal plan, divided it by 10 months, and transfer that much money into D’s account each month. That allowance needs to cover food, her share of the cable/internet bill, and gas - pretty much all of her living expenses other than rent. (We have the rent on a bill pay system directly from our checking account). It’s probably more money than she needs, but we still come out ahead because the off-campus rent is cheaper than the dorm fee. She has learned to budget her money each month.</p>
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Perhaps because you enjoy preparing your own food as you like it and setting up your shared living environment as you like it.</p>