<p>Assuming that the rent has been taken care of, how much do you think your child will need each week for the living expenses, if he/she lives off-campus in an urban area (Northeast)?</p>
<p>When my daughter wanted to move off campus, I told her I was not going to pay more than what I was spending when she lived on campus. I was already giving her gas, laundry, and some fun money. I divided the cost of the meal plan by 12, and that is how much money I gave her per month. She just has to make it work…and she does.</p>
<p>We did the same as Wolfpackmom…in our cases (both kids) the money provided for things beyond rent was $250 a month. They had to make it work.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to have a firm value. A lot of parents only pay for the necessities which includes normal groceries/meals, transportation (including gas if they need to drive their car to campus), utilities, and the more normal school expenses and then it’s up to the student to use their own money for entertainment including movies, restaurants, etc. Students s/b able to pay for this through savings, summer job, campus job, etc.</p>
<p>And then there are some parents who give a generous allowance that more than covers for ‘extras’ like entertainment, extra clothing, etc.</p>
<p>For groceries, we just put money on a particular grocery chain’s ‘card’ and then the kid can use the card to pay for groceries. She tells us when it’s getting low. It’s very convenient.</p>
<p>$250 a month? That’s $8 a day. Will that even cover food?</p>
<p>crescent, if one cooks and shops wisely, the answer is YES (see the “poor man’s breast filet” thread :))</p>
<p>We are giving DS the same amount of money as the 9-month Room and board at his college. We figure that he can live on that for the entire 12 months that he is in his college city, so we aren’t really saving any money by having him live offcampus - but we’re saving him money since he won’t have to pay for summer housing himself… ;)</p>
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<p>Well…when our kids lived in student housing on campus, the cost of room and board was about $10,000 per year. When they moved off campus, the cost for rent was about $650 a month (that included utilities), and $250 a month for food and household items. Rent/utilities…$7,800 a year (12 months) and food/household $3000 a month (12 months). Total $10,800 a year…about the same as on campus housing for 10 months. We told them that we would ONLY pay the cost up to what it would cost them to live ON campus. Beyond that, they were on their own. Neither of them ever asked for an extra penny. Both had part time jobs (up to 10 hours a week). Both lived in expensive urban areas. Both were very thrifty.</p>
<p>^^ And both probably learned some good life skills as a result.</p>
<p>$250 a month barely covers food if you’re in an expensive area like New York. Being thrifty and all that is fine, but do you really want them to eat crap to save money? I cook (and correspondingly am much pickier about what I eat), only buy fresh food and shop as wisely as possible and I still end up averaging $300+ a month on groceries.</p>
<p>You can easily eat 3 well balanced big meals a day for $30 a week including tax in big cities. I did it when in school.</p>
<p>I know people who got all the way down to $20 a week.</p>
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<p>DS was in Boston, and DD in the Bay area. Both are pricey markets. BOTH had no trouble with their budget for food. Both eat well. NEITHER eats out often and they both eat leftovers, pack their own lunches, and such. </p>
<p>I have to tell you, my husband and I do not spend $300 a month on food and we eat VERY well. </p>
<p>No one in our family eats a lot of meat (other than chicken) and we eat fish but not daily. Our kids don’t waste food and neither do we. That is how we keep our costs down.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t be able to spend $8 a day eating OUT but it is VERY easy to do if you are eating at home and packing your own lunches.</p>
<p>We are in the camp that gives them the same annual cost as room and board on campus. I went over the math with them converting the shorter school year into the 12 month costs when the looked for apartments so they knew their budget. All 4 have made it work.</p>
<p>We are actually giving DS more money than we gave DD - even accounting for inflation. With DD we saved money having her off-campus, and she subleased her place out so didn’t have to pay for summer housing when she was overseas. But with DS - well, you have to figure that at 6’3" or so, with a fairly athletic build, he needs to burn more calories than DD to keep himself alive. Not an issue when they are eating in an all-you-can-eat college buffet, but definitely when they are cooking for themselves!!!</p>
<p>I give/gave my kids COA, with some adjustments for specific things that were “special”. Worked just fine.</p>
<p>My question is – when your kids go off meal plan, what system do you use to cover their costs? One person said he put money on a grocery store’s card – what other methods are there? There’s the giving-them-money-upfront method, or setting up a credit card or debit card exclusively for food. Or a monthly allowance. </p>
<p>I figured out that our daughter’s meal plan costs $120 a week. I didn’t pay that much to feed three people when she lived at home. So I’m sure going off plan will cost significantly less. And I’m willing to pay all her grocery bills – but it’s up to her to cover any meals out.</p>
<p>For both of our kids, we took them shopping at a supermarket near where they are living for school, had them load up on one week’s worth of healthy food, saw what it came to and used that as a base for a monthly food allowance. Added in some money for quick on the go food from a food court during the school week. Then we gave them a monthly allowance for their food. If they blow it on fun and frolic, then how they eat is their problem. They learned quickly to budget. Gave them empowerment to regulate their own lives and at the same time enabled us to stay within a budget that was rationally related to the costs of food. In the Philadelphia area, you really need at least $80/week to eat healthy nutritious meals.</p>
<p>We did the same as the other posters in that we took the amount it would cost for room and board on campus for 10 months and divided it by 12. We make a monthly deposit into son’s checking account and he has to pay all his bills with that. It comes out to $250 after rent payment. He pays for his own gas unless he comes home and when he does that we reimburse him for both ways. He has a debit and a credit card and does his banking on-line. I’ve also offered a Sam’s club membership, waiting to hear if he wants to take me up on the offer.</p>
<p>We deposit money directly into the kids’ accounts for food/utilities/rent. They pay the bills.</p>
<p>A major stipulation/compromise for us was that she continue to use the meal plan. Her apt. is close to the campus and she is going non-stop. She will be living closer to ‘her’ part of the campus than she was last semester, living in a dorm. With sports practice, part-time job on campus and a heavy academic load, I was concerned that nutrition might take a back seat. May be more expensive, but at least I know she has access to good food. I know when I’m rushed/stressed, cooking isn’t high on the list of priorities. The whole living off campus thing makes me nervous and this issue wasn’t negotiable!</p>