College age allowance

[Anonymous]

Starting a new thread, because I feel like this question is a little different. How much do you give your college student monthly or weekly? In an apartment so no meal plan. And how often do you help them with new clothes or events like small trips that type of thing. I find it really tricky to navigate the financial space at this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starting a new thread, because I feel like this question is a little different. How much do you give your college student monthly or weekly? In an apartment so no meal plan. And how often do you help them with new clothes or events like small trips that type of thing. I find it really tricky to navigate the financial space at this age.

My mon paid my tuition, housing and meal plan in college which is plenty. There was no allowance. I was responsible for everything else. Does your child have their own bank account with savings? Do they work part time? Sumner job? That’s where my funds came from primarily.

[Anonymous]

No set allowance. She has a credit card that she uses as needed. We pay the bill.

[Anonymous]

No allowance here either. We pay for tuition, books, and room and board (meal plan) when on campus.
Next year will be off campus, we will pay rent (it is equivalent to dorm fee). Since we also paid for the meal plan when on campus, we will pay that same amount towards food next year, when off campus.

All other spending money, for going out, for going on trips to visit friends or significant others, any kind of pizza and beer money, is on them. They have a summer job that earns them plenty - it's a great way to learn budgeting

[Anonymous]

When DS was on campus we paid the housing and meal plan. Now off campus we pay rent and give $250/mo for food plus the initial set up for the commuter meal plan (it's cheaper to buy food on campus if you do it through the meal plan). Once he ran through the initial $$ on the meal plan, it's up to him if he wants to put some of his food money on that vs. for groceries, restaurants, etc. He works summers so has money to cover other needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting a new thread, because I feel like this question is a little different. How much do you give your college student monthly or weekly? In an apartment so no meal plan. And how often do you help them with new clothes or events like small trips that type of thing. I find it really tricky to navigate the financial space at this age.

My mon paid my tuition, housing and meal plan in college which is plenty. There was no allowance. I was responsible for everything else. Does your child have their own bank account with savings? Do they work part time? Sumner job? That’s where my funds came from primarily.

+1 I worked for the extras. Same with DH.

We are gonna do the same for our kids. 17 yr old already has a job and fully expects to be working while at college. DC already pays most personal purchases on their own including eating out. DC said we could stop giving them allowance when the got a job last year.

[Anonymous]

We found this very helpful. College Board website Big Futures, specific to each university, has money figures for expenses for typical off-campus living.

[Anonymous]

New clothes during the school year? Mostly on them. I would pay for new winter boots if their's were leaking or worn.

Trips? I assume you mean spring break. That was 100% on them. Train or bus to come home for Christmas? I paid for.

[Anonymous]

We still do a big shopping trip each summer before they head back to campus. We pay for all of the clothes/shoes/personal care items they need. We usually do the same thing before they head back to campus for Spring semester. Between those two trips, they buy the rest on their own.

They all work during the summer and save that money for during the semester because we don't allow jobs while they are in school.

They have access to the amazon account and all use that. They also each have a credit card and we pay the bill on that but they know it's not a free-for-all situation.

DD's college requires all students to have a meal plan regardless of where they live, so we pay for that. She has the commuter meal plan and usually spends around another $200/month on the cc eating out and buying groceries.

DS is in a fraternity so we pay for that and he gets 99% of his meals that way. He usually spends around $100/month on groceries and eating out.

DS2 still lives on campus so we pay for that and his meal plan. He spends maybe $100/month on food.

We don't pay for spring break trips. They have to save their money for those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting a new thread, because I feel like this question is a little different. How much do you give your college student monthly or weekly? In an apartment so no meal plan. And how often do you help them with new clothes or events like small trips that type of thing. I find it really tricky to navigate the financial space at this age.

My mon paid my tuition, housing and meal plan in college which is plenty. There was no allowance. I was responsible for everything else. Does your child have their own bank account with savings? Do they work part time? Sumner job? That’s where my funds came from primarily.

+1 I worked for the extras. Same with DH.

We are gonna do the same for our kids. 17 yr old already has a job and fully expects to be working while at college. DC already pays most personal purchases on their own including eating out. DC said we could stop giving them allowance when the got a job last year.

+1 My parents paid tuition and housing. I got an on campus job my freshmen year, to cover other expenses.

[Anonymous]

We pay Tuition, Room and Board. Kids will graduate with no debt. An aunt gave them each a $1000 Amazon gift card to cover books. We cover medical expenses and anything else that is truly necessary.

Kids are expected to work summers and/or 5-10 hours a week during school to cover other expenses.

One thing I do do. If a child has a summer non-paying study abroad or unpaid internship *that will meaningfully advance their degree of career goals*, I will pay them $400/week for that time ($10 and hour * 40 hour week). I don’t want to pay $200,000 for college and then not have them take advantage of opportunities that will help them long term. For example, DD is doing a 5 week immersion this summer in a critical foreign language. She is an IR major, minoring in the language. So, she will “earn” $2000 spending money for that time. They are expected to seek funding from the university or department first.

[Anonymous]

They don't have to experience adversity in order to learn value of money.

[Anonymous]

They have my credit card for groceries when off the meal plan. If the amounts were crazy, I would put a limit but that hasn't come up. I pay for basic clothing and trips home. They pay for meals out entertainment and trips. There is no allowance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay Tuition, Room and Board. Kids will graduate with no debt. An aunt gave them each a $1000 Amazon gift card to cover books. We cover medical expenses and anything else that is truly necessary.

Kids are expected to work summers and/or 5-10 hours a week during school to cover other expenses.

One thing I do do. If a child has a summer non-paying study abroad or unpaid internship *that will meaningfully advance their degree of career goals*, I will pay them $400/week for that time ($10 and hour * 40 hour week). I don’t want to pay $200,000 for college and then not have them take advantage of opportunities that will help them long term. For example, DD is doing a 5 week immersion this summer in a critical foreign language. She is an IR major, minoring in the language. So, she will “earn” $2000 spending money for that time. They are expected to seek funding from the university or department first.

Does the Aunt know that books are not really a thing in college anymore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We pay Tuition, Room and Board. Kids will graduate with no debt. An aunt gave them each a $1000 Amazon gift card to cover books. We cover medical expenses and anything else that is truly necessary.

Kids are expected to work summers and/or 5-10 hours a week during school to cover other expenses.

One thing I do do. If a child has a summer non-paying study abroad or unpaid internship *that will meaningfully advance their degree of career goals*, I will pay them $400/week for that time ($10 and hour * 40 hour week). I don’t want to pay $200,000 for college and then not have them take advantage of opportunities that will help them long term. For example, DD is doing a 5 week immersion this summer in a critical foreign language. She is an IR major, minoring in the language. So, she will “earn” $2000 spending money for that time. They are expected to seek funding from the university or department first.

Does the Aunt know that books are not really a thing in college anymore?

who cares, you're a snitch