<p>DS who is 19 will be on a paid internship next semester. Due to distance he will be continuing to live in the dorm. I just bought a transportation pass for the semester for $793 (ouch). </p>
<p>Over Christmas, we plan to discuss who is paying for what. He has been a full time, taking classes and doing well undergrad. We pay for books, cel phone on family plan, dorm, meal plan. He pays for extra clothes, movies, dining off campus, etc. He works hard every summer and worked from age 14 through starting college, uses those earnings to cover discretionary purchases. Has been on honor roll every semester and keeps gpa up to cover merit scholarship requirements. Doesn’t work during terms he is taking a full load of classes. </p>
<p>New territory next semester. He will be working full time, earning $12 per hour. Any other parents been through this? What do you pay? Dorm? Meal plan? Should he pay us back for transportation? </p>
<p>My family has the same set-up that you do. I’d suggest continuing to pay for dorm and meal plan (or comparable costs to cover housing and food). If he’s on campus during the summer with another internship or with classes, he can cover the costs then. (I’m assuming the internship isn’t a requirement of his college, by the way.) He can pay for transportation, or you can offer to pay part of it as a gift.</p>
<p>EDIT: Thinking about it, you could see transportation as a substitute cost for books, or you could subtract the amount you normally pay for books in a semester from what he should pay of the transportation pass.</p>
<p>ebeeeee, I think how you handle this depends a lot on your family’s finances. If it is a struggle for you to pay for the things you have been paying for, then certainly have him contribute part of his salary to help out. If paying those expenses is not a hardship, then maybe it would be a good idea to continue to pay them with the understanding that S will put a certain amount of his salary into an account which will help him finance his first apartment (deposity, rent, furnishings, etc.).</p>
<p>I’m going to make the assumption that this student is now bringing in a paycheck of $400 or so a week. ($12/hr x 40 hrs less withholding) Over a 15 week semester? So, about $6000?</p>
<p>My suggestion is that your son contribute 30% of his earnings towards room and board ($1800 of the $6000) and ideally, he’d pay for his transportation too (another $800). So … of the $6000 in take home pay … which was $7200 before witholding, some of which is likely to come back in tax refund, I would ask him to contribute $2600 towards his expenses. You will probably advance the money to the college for room and board, and as well as the transportation pass, and I would ask him to pay you back on a monthly basis out of his paychecks.</p>
<p>Two goals – one is that he learns that some of that dollars in the paycheck is committed dollars, the second is there’s still a nice chunk of walking-around money or potential savings money so he has the rewards of working.</p>
<p>I chose 30% as a room and board figure as that’s the number that generally qualifies an apartment applicant. Your mileage may vary. You might want to include other costs (like the cell phone) in the percentage of income you ask him to contribute.</p>
<p>I would also ask him to investigate a box lunch possibility from the dining hall if his school works that way.</p>
<p>Thanks all. Our finances permit us to pay whatever we decide to, it is just that I think someone earning that kind of money should contribute toward his own living expenses. He worked full time this past summer and was able to earn about $5,000. $3,000 went into an investment account and the remainder was his to spend. He is not a spendthrift.<br>
I like cnp55’s approach…will talk to DH.<br>
Any other advice or previous experiences welcome.</p>
<p>Ebee, I think it’s great that you want him to contribute. As the $$ is not a burden to you, perhaps you could consider requiring him to put half into that investment account while you continue the support? Either way, you are building on his fiscal responsibility lessons that he seems to be absorbing quite well. He must be pretty sharp to have merit scholarships + a nice internship lined up at age 19.</p>
<p>I also like cnp55’s approach which teaches fiscal responsibility - and that is probably what I would do myself. I guess I was just thinking about all the money one often has to come up with when starting out on their own - first and last month’s rent, security deposit, etc. - in our part of the country, that usually amounts to several thousands of dollars. Good luck working it out - I’m sure whatever you decide to do will be fine.</p>
<p>Ours was on his own for everything during his college job including R & B. On net, he lost a $400 suit ensemble, paid income taxes in two states, making it only a slight monetary gain if he had not worked and definitely far less if he had found a job in his home state. </p>
<p>Intangible gain in knowledge and the gratitude from those who he worked worked immensely latter on. The actual monetary payoff was getting into his graduate college on a full ride plus TA and an upcoming graduate fullride internship.</p>
<p>ebeeee
thanks for starting this thread. I’ll be following this discussion closely, as DD will be in the same boat & I’ve started wondering about the financial logistics. We sent D to Northeastern with the idea that her co-op money will help with some of the tuition costs. So keep those posts coming, CCers.</p>
<p>When S did his first co-op assignment in Pittsburgh, he paid for all living expenses with his co-op earnings ($14/hr and a $300/month apt.). Last summer, he lived at home with us and worked two summer jobs, one of which was related to his field. Since he didn’t want to sublet the apt., he paid his rent in Pittsburgh while living at home. In both case we paid car insurance so that he could get back and forth to work. He is coming home to do a six month co-op at a local company. It is up to him what he wants to do with the apt., but he will need to pay the rent if he doesn’t sublet it. Seems stupid not to sublet, but… He saved enough last summer to pay expenses for the fall and it is anticipated that he will save enough working for six months to pay for one semesters expenses. Hasn’t had to take out any loans yet, so he is happy. Is learning fiscal management, I hope. Again, we will pay for car insurance again.</p>
<p>^ DS got only $12/hr (may have been lower) from his major department cmu. Nothing was paid in the spring term when he started the project although he did get credit hours, which he didn’t need. Money isn’t everything.</p>
<p>I think he can “afford” to pay his own expenses whilst interning, so the idea of investing is a nice way to gift- perhaps have him/you put the R&B amount into a Roth IRA?</p>
<p>katliamom,
lots of prospective NEU parents talk about the coop money helping with tutition costs but I don’t see it. If they live in the dorm during coop, one semester is $3005. Add the meal plan and the cost of R&B is almost equal to what they are earning. Then for the West Coast contingent there is coming home once in a blue moon and that added cost. </p>
<p>Merit scholarships are only good for terms when you are in classes, not coop so living expenses are totally out of pocket. We knew the transportation cost would be significant when he chose this internship. </p>
<p>Thanks to all again. I am going to discuss all with DH and with DS and I am sure we can come up with something that will work. Probably a happy medium of him contributing to at least transportation costs and saving some money. The earlier post about the costs of starting out is a good one. </p>
<p>I like the idea of the Roth but I would rather see him have the money for something more immediate than retirement. I started my IRA stuff after undergraduate school and it has worked out just fine. </p>
<p>Times have certainly changed…My first out of college job was at Yale University. I was earning about $18K per year and living in a ratty apartment. Rent was like $200 a month and my furnishings were garage sale. Food bill included lots of mac and cheese at 25 cents per box.</p>
<p>Yes, times have changed. I am a NU graduate who paid her way through college with co-op, loans, and a well paying waitressing job. My rent on a studio apt. in the Fenway was $300 a month. The only good thing my S has going for him is cheap rent in Pittsburgh. He has the largest room in the apt. One of his roomates is paying $200 a month.</p>
<p>Charge him 30% of his income as a room and board allowance. If you want to put that in YOUR bank account as a reimbursement … that’s one way to do it. If you want to put it aside towards his future expenses … that’s another. I don’t see the two approaches as being mutually exclusionary. The upshot is that he’s still paying a chunk of his income towards expenses. Even if you gift it back to him later – he’s had the benefit of some budgeting his earnings.</p>
<p>cnp55, absolutely agree. Talked to DH and he agreed. I think we will put it on OUR account as reimbursement. …we might need it. DD is a HS jr. looking at private schools in CA…DH offered her a sports car if she would consider a state school. Every time we see a nice car, we tell her “that could be yours…”<br>
If you do the math, if she takes the car we will come out way ahead.
Before everyone goes too crazy, we are really only kidding her. Never have, never will buy either kid a car.</p>
<p>When I lived at home and worked, my dad charged me a monthly rent and board cost. What I didn’t realize was that my dad banked every nickel I paid him. When I got my first “real job” and moved out, he gave me a check for the full amount I had given him. The only caveat was that I was sworn to secrecy as I have three younger sisters and he did the same for each of us. SO…my suggestion would be for you to have your son make a contribution for his education (you determine the amount). Then bank it, and give it to him when he graduates.</p>
<p>Ebeee, my dad used to make me the same promise if I dropped out my private school and went to the local public. I doubt they were serious–my mom was chair of the board and three older siblings went to the same school! It’s actually a nice little joke because, for younger students, it really points out how much education can cost. I think it’s hard for young kids to understand big price items, what’s comparable to what, etc.</p>