<p>Okay, just starting to figure out the whole process (kiddo is a h.s. senior). Let’s take tuition and room and board out of the mix, and assume she’s got a decent meal plan, living on campus. Let’s also assume that she doesn’t have a job while attending college. How much do you budget per month (or whatever) for your kid (who will not have a car) while on campus? I’d imagine a bigger “bump” when books are being purchased, but what about laundry money, occasional pizza or soda, clothing, a movie or two? (Let’s leave transportation to/from campus out of the mix, too.)</p>
<p>Do you just add $X to a kid’s account, and say, “this has got to last you a month,” or add money when the phone calls come in? I’d love to figure out a ballpark figure of what those expenses really are, as well as a way to manage expectations and set some ground rules.</p>
<p>Also, for kids away – did you open a bank account for them in their new city, give them their own or a joint credit card, or some other way to have them manage the money? She currently has a PayPal student card, which I load and can monitor transactions…will probably stay with that…but there will be times she needs access to cash, too…</p>
<p>Would love to hear how parents, who are choosing to support their kids through college, are able to be reasonable (adult definition of reasonable!!) in funding those…unfunded parts.</p>
<p>Make it easier on yourself and more enriching for her - have her get a campus job and earn her own incidental money. The campus jobs are typically very flexible on hours so the kid can study for the big mid-term and limiting on the total hours - typically the hours woul be between 10 and 20 hours/week. The student usually needs to develop good time management skills to handle it which helps them in other ways in school.</p>
<p>Aside from that - </p>
<p>If the kid has a bank account that you’re a cosigner/co account holder with, then you can deposit money and the kid can take it out with by writing checks (like to the bookstore for a load of $$$ books) or through an ATM. They don’t really need a bank account in the new city but it can be helpful to use something that has a ‘free’ ATM on campus - like networks credit unions use.</p>
<p>If the kid’s off-campus we found that some grocery stores allow one to have a grocery card and have it topped off so the kid can use the card and the mom can top it off remotely.</p>
<p>Some campuses have their own ‘money cards’, sometimes dual purposed as the campus ID card, that allows one to load up with credit which is good at campus eateries/stores and even some off-campus ones (example - the UCLA Bruincard). You can top these off online.</p>
<p>I think actual expenses will vary too much for you to get a sound figure from posters. It varies with the individual and their lifestyle, the location (ex: NYC vs mid-west), how busy they are (humanities major vs engineering major plus on campus job and/or volunteering or theatre person, band/orch, sports, etc.), what they like to do for entertainment ($$ for restaurants/movies vs free beach, biking, hiking, etc.) and how expensive their tastes are.</p>
<p>It depends on how your child has been raised…does he/she expect to go out every weekend now, while at home? If so, that trend may be continued in college. Though, on campus there are more things to do that are free (concerts, games, etc) which in addition to being fun, new and different, will expand your child’s horizons for a reduced amount of cash. Yay for freebies!
Seriously though, if your kid is able, a campus job is great. They get discretionary funds without mom or dad needing to foot the bill, and might just meet some new friends while doing so.
We’ve told our daughter that her summer job money IS her spending money. She was very frugal all summer (didn’t have time to go out much anyway due to sports obligations) and now has a nice bank acct. to fund some extra activities.<br>
That said, she has been at school 3 weeks and we’ve already sent one care package and some cash for an unexpected team expense. We have friends, on the other hand, who regularly put 50 bucks a week in their kids’ accts. One said it was too much (surplus at the end of the year, so it will be reduced this year) and one not enough. So again…high maintainance kids in high school tend to continue that trend in college. Likewise for the frugal types.</p>
<p>Incidental expenses are going to vary greatly depending on where your kid’s college is located. Things simply are going to cost more for someone attending Columbia than they would for someone at, say, the University of Illinois.</p>
<p>I have been very surprised to find that the best dining plan only allows for one visit to the dining hall per day, and approximately $4 per day in campus dollars. This was the plan required for all freshmen. I thought she would be eating in the dining hall three times a day, instead she is keeping cereal in her room and going to Subway every day. That’s going to get old quick.</p>
<p>As for bank accounts, Bank of America has a good student account. It is free for 4 or 6 years and can be joint with parents. There seem to be ATMs everywhere. I can put money in her account in California, and she can instantly access it in Philadelphia. I can also monitor the account balance on-line or at the ATM machine, as can she. </p>
<p>I second the notion about a campus job. There is more free time at college than I expected and she has plenty of time to keep her studies up, work a few hours, and still go to concerts and plays and football games. The schedule is so much better than senior year of high school.</p>
<p>My mom’s name is on my bank account. Occasionally when she has a few extra bucks she transfers it to my account and texts me to let me know she did it. If I NEED money for something I can call and ask and she can transfer money online 24 hours a day-- which made us both feel better when I went on a school trip this weekend, my mom knew if I missed the bus home she could get me money at any time if needed. I don’t get any kind of regular spending money from her. I would have to get a job for that. I can’t keep up with my schoolwork and work a job right now so I just don’t have spending money besides the few dollars she sends me from time to time. I eat in the cafeteria twice a day and have a bag of pretzels in my room and some bagels. Works for me. <em>shrug</em></p>
<p>Not necessarily. Sometimes, a minimal meal plan is a good idea. What with classes, activities, and maybe a part-time job, it can be very difficult for students to get to the dining hall at mealtimes. Often, students on more complete meal plans miss a lot of the dining hall meals and have to pay for their cereal and trips to Subway on top of an expensive meal plan.</p>
<p>As a sophomore, my daughter lived in a dorm on the edge of campus, next to a street full of stores and restaurants. She was not on a meal plan. The Subway people knew what type of sandwich to start making the moment she walked in the door.</p>
<p>My D got 2 meals a day in the dining commons…about $150 per quarter flex money to spend at other campus eateries…and she popped the ATM for $40 a week “spending money”. It worked out fine. A movie- a Starbucks–and if she desperately needed a new pair of jeans----she saved it up!
Campus jobs are great (she has one)—but they are incredibly hard to come by!!! Recession baby!!! Everyone of the 25,000 kids at her university covets a student with a on campus job!</p>
<p>S had a summer job, he was supposed to save money from it to pay his incidentals. Well, it’s the beginning of October, and he’s broke. Because he didn’t save much. But he had the best summer ever. So it was his choice and a lesson in the importance of budgeting.</p>
<p>I’m putting $25 per month on his campus card to cover laundry and a very few incidentals. He will be working over the holidays and will hopefully save something toward the spring semester. Or have the best winter break ever. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>My D (current freshman) worked over the summer and went to school with about $2000 in her account. We had her open a new bank account at school because there was no branch/ATM of our home bank nearby. She has a meal plan with 2 meals per day, and $300 per semester in campus bucks. So…I think she has been spending maybe $25 per week of her own money on meals out, subway ticket, entertainment, etc. IMO, they are much more frugal when it is THEIR money vs. mom and dad’s money.</p>
<p>I didn’t read through all of this, so sorry if duplicating. This system works for us:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>We pay tuition and room & board up front directly to the University.</p></li>
<li><p>S had a summer job, and has had a checking account with a debit card for a long time. (He understands how to use ATM, debit card for purchases, and check balances & etc. online.) Before summer job, we had deposited an allowance each week into this account to get used to “budgeting” his money. He paid his own gas, haircuts, toiletries, tickets, music, etc. from here. I highly recommend you start this NOW if you don’t already. They need this practice before they are miles away. (Make the mistakes at home!)</p></li>
<li><p>S has a savings account from past birthdays, etc. When he graduated, he cashed all of his checks and deposited them here also. The only money to come out of this was his new laptop - and since we bought it at orientation, the college computer store threw in a printer. Otherwise, he added this to his checking account, and this is his spending money for the year.</p></li>
<li><p>Due to the years of “budget” training, he reasoned he would need about $50 a week for EVERYTHING, so he saved about $1800 to take with him to school. Toiletries, pizzas and other carryout, hair cuts, Starbucks, laundry, etc. is his responsibility. He does not have a car (gas) to worry about. He tells me he is not even using this $50 per week, and hopes to carry a good part of it over to next year. Yeah!</p></li>
<li><p>Wells Fargo issued him a credit card in his own name once he turned 18 (not every bank will do this but they will give you an extra card on your account that he may use). He keeps this “just in case” there are things I would want to pay for as a parent, because they are not just “discretionary” spending (books, sheet music and shoes/clothes for his musical theatre classes, a rug for his room, etc. - anything he clears with me in advance and I agree to pay for) I pay that bill online for him. He builds a credit rating, and I feel better knowing he has an “emergency” credit card just in case.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Is that more than you wanted to know?
I know your only question was how much discretionary spending…so I guess the short answer is less than $50 per week for us. But I see it as more complicated than that. It all depends on what you expect your student to pay for out of that money…and how many times you want them to come back to beg for more. With our system, he knows how much he has to spend, and there are no arguments. Gone is gone.</p>
<p>His schedule does not allow for an on-campus job. Most majors may, but his just does not (plus they have mandatory rehearsals each night - musical theatre major) so be realistic about whether your daughter can work…or whether you want her to. Son had to make all of his money on a profitable (tip-related) summer job…which is hard to find for many teens.</p>
<p>Also, Wells Fargo did not have a branch in his college town (sadly) so we did switch banks (except we kept the credit card) so that he would not incur ATM fees for cash. If you can stay with your bank, it is SOOO much easier, because you can make online transfers between your account and hers (and monitor her spending).</p>
<p>Oh…and girls will TOTALLY need more than boys! Just in cosmetics alone! I stocked him up on a lot of things before he left, and I restock him now and then with care packages as a treat. We will buy most clothes (like his new fall wardrobe!) If you want clothes to be her expense, allow for more.</p>
