charging rent for young adults

[Anonymous]

We have a kid who is graduating from high school but is pushing back on going to college, at least right away. We are going to require him to work full time and pay rent if he is going to live at home. What is a typical amount to charge in this type of situation? We are thinking about also making him pay for his portion of the phone bill and car insurance.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t charge my child rent immediately out of high school. I would expect them to get a job, start saving and pay their other expenses though.

[Anonymous]

car issuance and cell phone is fine, if they don't want they can take the bus.

[Anonymous]

My mother's rule was that as soon as we weren't in school anymore, we were paying rent. Which I had to do after I dropped out of college and my brother had to do after high school when he chose not to go to college. I also had to pay for my car insurance (no cell phones back then!). I intend to do it as well with my kids, I have a son graduating college next year and he'll be paying rent if he's living back at home.

For a typical amount, I'd look at comparable rooms for rent in your area and go from there. I'd share those amounts with your son and work together to determine a reasonable amount. I wouldn't charge as much as those rooms, but a lesser amount that is enough so that he understands how real life works.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't charge rent but he can pay for his own car insurance and cell phone bill. My parents didn't pay for a single one of us 6 kids' cell or cars.

[Anonymous]

I would not charge for anything at this point, so long as they are working or doing something to further a career. I can afford to keep them on our stuff for awhile and I don't see the need to make everything a lesson just bc they're 18 and following their own path.

The good old days of going to college for cheap and getting a decent paying job for which you can buy a home and put away some money are over. I don't see the need to make it harder if I don't have to.

[Anonymous]

My kids had/have HS jobs. They were/are required to pay their portion of car insurance as soon as they could reasonably afford it. I did not require that for phone bills because that really wasn’t significant in terms of expense. They are also required to pay for their entertainment, gas and clothing. We also don’t give our kids cars so they have to get their own. I am willing to loan money for that but it requires a payment plan.

When my oldest moved back in, I worked backwards. I looked at what he earned and then required 25%. During occasional periods of suboptimal employment, like training that was unpaid, I dropped the rent requirement.

Not that you asked but I’d be looking at why they are not interested in college and what do they plan to do otherwise. I think in the DMV, kids are pushed so hard towards college that when they realize it’s not for them, they haven’t explored what else is out there and what it takes to train for different sorts of work. So they’re lost.

It sounds like you’re really disappointed about the decision and kind of punitive but really would you rather they had wasted their/your money and then dropped out?

[Anonymous]

If you do charge rent, I would put it in a savings/investment account to give them for something later, like college or a down payment.

[Anonymous]

I think it would really depend for me on why they were doing what they were doing. But I can see why it could be a useful exercise and I agree with PP that id probably save it somewhere (with their knowledge). Maybe just to save up first and last month and a deposit for an apartment.

[Anonymous]

I would find comparable rooms for rent in the area and charge 50% for the first 6 months, 75% for months 6-12, and 100% the following year.

How much of his salary is consumed by rent, insurance, and phone is going to be shock. But you want to get him used to it and encourage him to eventually move out and be self sufficient.

[Anonymous]

We had a similar situation when our oldest dropped out of college after one year, and decided to pursue a different career path and one that didn't require a college degree.

He had to wait about 18 months before reaching the minimum age to begin the job training, and we decided not to charge him rent in that time. But the agreement was that he had to be working full-time in those 18 months and he had to update us monthly on his progress towards his qualifications for the new career.

[Anonymous]

What about going to community college part-time and working part-time? Even if it's an unpaid internship or informal shadowing. It sounds like he doesn't quite know what he wants to do, and it might benefit him to be around a) professors who are skilled at guiding nontraditional students and b) people in the workforce who might have also had multiple changes of direction and can normalize that.

Don't force him to pay rent as a punishment. Instead, talk about how you want him to be an engaged and responsible housemate, plus you want to help him build a savings cushion for when he's ready to move out/on. Decide together on an amount, and put it in escrow until he's ready to launch.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on how much he is making.
Is he getting $500 after taxes a week vs $500 bi-weekly vs $500 a month.

Teach again (more like remind), save some, spend some and pay for some expenses.
Cell phone and car insurance is the minimum if you ask me. If he is making enough that paying for the car insurance is not a big deal, I would have him contribute to other expenses, maybe groceries, like go buy groceries once a month so he can learn some decision making skills on healthy eating and purchasing. You know, would he buy $5 ice cream, $5 sodas or $5 oatmeal.

If he is making less than $500 month, that's where I would remind him, that's why you go to college or you better have very valuable skills to market.

[Anonymous]

Rooms go for $800 in DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't charge rent but he can pay for his own car insurance and cell phone bill. My parents didn't pay for a single one of us 6 kids' cell or cars.

They probably couldn't with SIX kids!