<p>Stringkeymom, every family seems to differ on the “allowance” question, but here are my two cents: our son is on his own for spending money! He taught lessons, gigged and accompanied all through high school, and had saved quite a tidy sum. Because he is in school in a city, we knew that his expenses would be much greater than those of his friend at Oberlin, for example (whose mother and I joke that the most her son spends is an Obiedollar here or there for a smoothie). </p>
<p>My son, OTOH, has spent over $200 a month (some months closer to $300), on concerts, movies, clubs, restaurants, shopping, events. Since it is his money, I have not had much to say about it, besides a gentle reminder that it may be hard for his bank account to sustain his current rate of spending. 
Fortunately, he does plan to do accompaniment next fall (we had actually encouraged him NOT to work the first year), which will bring in a nice amount of money, so he can balance out his depleted account. If his dad and I were funding his off campus activities, I might have a lot more to say about how the money was being spent (and would probably be much nosier), which is why it is a good thing I am not the funder.</p>
<p>So, the allowance question really depends on who is doing the funding and where the student is in school. Student life in a city is expensive, much more so than life in a campus-oriented college. A student at a city school would have a lot of trouble getting through the month on $50!</p>