Most of our kids are authorized users on our card, but they ask first. They also have their own credit cards.
1 Like
Soudns like maybe the advice should be “tell your kids not to eat the chicken”. 
3 Likes
This is such a great thread! I am taking notes 
2 Likes
My kids have had credit cards since middle school for emergencies. They were allowed to charge for food at the stores in walking distance. Anything else, they needed to ask us permission for. So by the time they got to college, we were set in our routine, and I didnt have to worry about them being stranded somewhere.
1 Like
My kid is an authorized user on my card only for credit score boosting purposes; “his” card for my account lives in my desk drawer at home.
He has his own credit card, and still reviews his charges and pays it off every Saturday morning.
My daughter was on one of ours for awhile in high school. She traveled internationally for her sport and needed access to money on her trips at times for meets, etc.
When she went to college we wanted her to start building her own credit. The fact that she was on our card made it a little difficult. She was turned down the first time she applied because she had access to a high amount of credit already on our card. So we went to our bank and they have her a card that I co-signed for with a small credit limit. Eventually they offered her a card with a higher limit and I am not a co-signer. She uses it for most of her purchases but also has one of ours for emergencies or for the occassional thing we pay for.
EXCELLENT advice.
Also,have your student request their vaccination records now so you both can review and check to see if there’s anything missing, and make plans for vaccines that perhaps require two doses or other needs for spacing, as you have about six months to get these completed. Your student can confirm the immunization plan with a quick phone call to the doctor’s office, and then make separate immunization appointments and get that schedule rolling rather than waiting for a later checkup day.
And make sure that they also talk about the meningitis vaccine(s).
Students can check with their future college’s health clinic to see if they will be offering vaccines in the fall; many do offer walk in flu shot and covid booster days but you need to check! My kiddo was so amazed at how easy it was to get his flu shot - they had multiple days in October and November where you could run over without an appointment and be in and out within minutes.
4 Likes
Regarding laundry:
My kiddo has been doing his own laundry since he was about 11, but he proudly told me the first week of school how he figured out a system where he didn’t need to wait around for it: he could put his laundry in the washer at night, and then in the morning after breakfast he could put it in the dryer, then come back after class to pick it up!
“Wait, WHAT?” I replied.
I gently told him about laundry etiquette—that you can’t leave things in either the washer or dryer for hours in a dorm. Needing to be on top of your laundry in this particular way was just something that might not occur to some kids who know how to do laundry, but have never lived in a big community before 
9 Likes
We’ve done the credit card thing both ways. Originally I was all into the “Kids need to build their own rating. They shouldn’t be able to mooch off of Mom & Dad.” So older S applied to USAA right before leaving for college, got his card, and off he went.
3 years later, younger S is going off to college and applies to USAA and was rejected. Huh? Should have been the same basic profile. I didn’t know what to do as we were running late and just added him as an authorized user to my card. Shortly afterwards he got his own student Discover card.
It’s a whole lot easier with the kid being an authorized user! The kids would charge things like books, parking fees, and I would pay for things groceries, car repairs, etc. With older S I kept having to reimburse him for everything. Younger S would just put it on that card and be done. And he would ask every single time before he used it, and I would be like “OF COURSE! You don’t have to ask. Just buy the books!”
He still is listed on the card and I have him use it for things that I want to be nice and pay for… He often orders his own bday/xmas presents (especially if it’s clothing). And sometimes if something really good happens, I tell them to go out to eat on me. Easy to just put it on that card. For older S I have to Zell him.
I do feel kinda bad since older S had to build up his rating from scratch and younger S had a good one immediately. But fortunately older S is very keen on money issues and got it pretty high in a short time.
1 Like
Is it better for their long term credit if they have their own acct at low limit vs being an authorized user with high limit? (I would pay it off every month either way)
If they are an authorized user on the account with their own card, they are building a credit history.
3 Likes
My kid’s school – and I suspect many others – didn’t charge for laundry. But you needed an app to use the machine, and it sent a text when the cycle was done. Struck me as clever, having witnessed many an altercation over “finished” laundry removed from a machine by someone other than its owner. (NYC apartment buildings were fiercer than college dorms, btw…)
6 Likes
I think it’s 60/40 for my kids and having to pay for laundry.
2 Likes
Wordle and Connections are my ‘proof of life’ with my son. 
We send each other our colorful squares every day.
6 Likes
I always check 360 before I call. We talk often, but I always wait til I know he’s in his dorm room (that’s how accurate it is).
1 Like
Our kid left for college with just this:
And could have arrived with just the shirt on his back if he didn’t mind government-issued substitutes. Not recommended.
There was no concern for decor or furniture arrangement as every room was identical with most furniture bolted to the floor. So easy, right?
We got 60 seconds to say goodbye before he walked through those imposing doors for a uniform and haircut, civilian no more. We had no communication for six weeks while he was in Basic. I think DH and I must have had a few extra Manhattans during those weeks as I’m not sure what happened to the bottle of Angel’s Envy.
For food, the mess hall served three meals a day, each one eaten simultaneously by 4,400 cadets in 30 minutes. The logistics of that are mind boggling as West Point makes over 13,000 meals a day. Yum.
As for laundry, Plebes (serfs) were responsible for getting their own dirty uniforms and those of the upperclassmen in their company to the post laundry, but the actual washing/drying/dry cleaning/pressing/returning was done by the post laundry service. However, all cadets knew how to iron a perfect crease when they had to and how to polish and spit-shine shoes, buckles, and weaponry. So useful.
Uncle Sam issues paychecks and AMEX cards to all cadets who also have wills and funeral directives and prepare and pay their own taxes. What fun.
So not college.
So many CC threads for which our son’s choice makes me the outlier. Sigh.
Things I Wish I Knew Then: Pretty sure if we had known he was going to join the military, we would have kept him home for high school. It would have been the wrong choice for him and a selfish one on our part, but we regret those lost earlier years now. Once he left for the academy, he never really came home again, just a bit of leave here and there, so I would give anything to go back and have those high school years with him at home. We lost him too soon. We’d never tell him that, though.
9 Likes
Our kid only had a debit card, but Midd has unlimited dining, there are small kitchens in the dorms (and larger kitchen when she moved to the theme housing), and it’s in the middle of nowhere, so little to spend her money on. She also took a job for pocket money. During her four years there, she contacted us for so money only for out of pocket medical costs, and when she had to get plane tickets herself. She also had Venmo, in case her card was lost, stolen, or hacked.
I think that she only got her first credit card now, when she got her own bank account at the MIT Employee Credit Union.
You can do both, make them an authorized user on your card and they can open their own credit card as well. Then they benefit from both histories.
Credit utilization—the proportion of the credit line they’re using—is tracked, which is why I told my kid it was in his interest to use the card consistently, but to also not to go over about 25% of his credit limit. Paying off his card every week does double duty: he “feels” the spending and the money going out the door (important, as swiping or tapping a card doesn’t register for most people as much as handing over the equivalent amount in cash), and it keeps him at a consistently low amount of credit utilization.
I’ve also suggested that if he buys something expensive like a pair of concert tickets, to just pay it off the same day.
3 Likes
So much great advice.
Adding one more, we set up our kids with an Uber/Lyft account (connected to our card for now) for the times they may be out with friends and whoever drove them has had one too many drinks, or they’ve missed the last train/bus to get back to campus, or need to get out of a situation, whatever the case.
Thankfully they have not had to use it for those reasons, still, it’s a comfort knowing they have access to a safe ride if they need one.
6 Likes
My kids have had Uber apps since 16 or so (and yes I know the legal age is 18). They are all in their 20’s and it customary to Uber every weekend, it’s second nature.