Spending money in college

[Anonymous]

Rising freshman DS has not been able to get the hours he anticipated at his summer job and is therefore not likely to make the money he’d hoped to bring to school. We are paying tuition/R+B but had said the rest is on him. How much spending money do kids take to school?

FWIW—he’s an introvert who does not have a lot of interest in partying and chose a school with that in mind. His college is in a big city.

[Anonymous]

I would encourage him to get an on campus job. That will give him spending money plus is a good way for introverted kids to make friends.

We gave our kids $50/month the first year + they spent from their savings so I don't know what their actual expenses were.

[Anonymous]

If he never leaves campus and eats all his meals at the dining hall, give him 100 bucks month.

If always leaves campus (even if he makes one or two friends who like to be in the city - why else go to school in a big city?- for events, site seeing, sports, etc) and eats all his meals outside the dining hall, give him 800 bucks a month.

[Anonymous]

Respectfully disagree with getting a job freshman year if you can afford not to. Rising DD is working like crazy this summer (full time job plus lots of babysitting and dog walking) to avoid that. She's off to Michigan and we are encouraging her to eat in the dining hall but anticipate she will have fun going out and expenses with rush in the winter (and those costs are all on her). Midwest isn't the big city but $500 a month seems likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Respectfully disagree with getting a job freshman year if you can afford not to. Rising DD is working like crazy this summer (full time job plus lots of babysitting and dog walking) to avoid that. She's off to Michigan and we are encouraging her to eat in the dining hall but anticipate she will have fun going out and expenses with rush in the winter (and those costs are all on her). Midwest isn't the big city but $500 a month seems likely.

Some work can be good for a student: "the academic performance (greater hours studied and higher grades) of students who worked 10-19 hours per week was superior to all other students, working and non- working. We suggest that the increase in performance is due to an optimal work-college balance that establishes structure and discipline not achieved by working too few or too many hours."

https://community.pepperdine.edu/studentemployment/content/balancing-work-article.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Respectfully disagree with getting a job freshman year if you can afford not to. Rising DD is working like crazy this summer (full time job plus lots of babysitting and dog walking) to avoid that. She's off to Michigan and we are encouraging her to eat in the dining hall but anticipate she will have fun going out and expenses with rush in the winter (and those costs are all on her). Midwest isn't the big city but $500 a month seems likely.

Some work can be good for a student: "the academic performance (greater hours studied and higher grades) of students who worked 10-19 hours per week was superior to all other students, working and non- working. We suggest that the increase in performance is due to an optimal work-college balance that establishes structure and discipline not achieved by working too few or too many hours."

https://community.pepperdine.edu/studentemployment/content/balancing-work-article.pdf

Original poster here - totally agree and I'm sure she'll work after this year as her dad and I did. Just hoping to avoid it during the first transitional year.

[Anonymous]

If he's an introvert, more than likely, he won't be spending much.

UMD has "dining dollars" that can be used at participating restaurants on campus as well as the student store where they can buy snacks and some toiletries. So, he used those at those. He also went out a few times with his friends to eat but that's about it. So, maybe $150 per month, if including the money spent from dining dollars, as well.

[Anonymous]

Planning on giving our son $200 a month, plus will help fund travel to come home (train). He has $5K in savings and can spend his own money past that.

[Anonymous]

We plan to do $250/month but are open to renegotiation after a few months if kid is tracking expenses and can show where the money is going and why they need/want more. They’ll have some summer job earnings hopefully.

My parents gave me $500/month freshman year but I didn’t get a job until the summer after freshman year of college.

[Anonymous]

Are there some things you could pay him for over the summer...mowing the lawn? House projects? I would rather do that then just give him cash.

[Anonymous]

We decided in addition to covering tuition, room, board and books, to also cover $50 per week for spending. This allowed the occasional pizza and chipotle etc. Worked well for freshman year. It is nice they have some to go out when they make a friend but also learn to budget.

[Anonymous]

How much money will he have by the end of the summer? I don’t give my kid any money because the tuition, room/board is already a stretch for me. He managed to do just fine with around $800 last year for his own spending money. He’s even more frugal than I am and when it is his money, he’s very selective with it.

[Anonymous]

What? They live on Campus and housing and meals are paid for. $$$

What would they need money for?

[Anonymous]

it just is so kid dependent - my first is going into her senior year of college, is in a city with endless opportunities to spend money, but really mostly lives a campu-based life with free events etc and spends next to nothing. She's also a cheapskate and loves nothing more than free stuff so is always in search of it. My second kid will start college next near and blows through money like a tornado so I anticipate he'll spend much more. Neither kid will get spending money from us, that's on them from summer work etc. But how much they spend will vary enormously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What? They live on Campus and housing and meals are paid for. $$$

What would they need money for?

Lol. Girls especially will spend money on food outside the dining hall (if not meals then coffee, snacks, pizza), personal upkeep (nails, hair, waxing - particularly if they are going out or rushing), clothes, ubers, dorm decor, gifts... not excusing it but it is what it is.