<p>In response to Ms. Ladybug, a friend of mine was only 17 when she started at Oberlin, and she was able to open a local bank account at First Merit with no parent present, although I believe she ran into a few difficulties while doing so. It’s a fairly common situation, and there are four different banks in town, so if she runs into difficulties at one bank, I’m sure she will be able to succeed at another.</p>