Allowance

[Anonymous]

Are all of these college students 15? Accelerated track 3-year pre-meds? Disabled in some fashion?

If not, is there a reason they can't get jobs?

The correct answer is zero. They're adults. Time to pull some weight.

[Anonymous]

I'm not givin' you money for walkin' around doin' nothin'. An allowance? I allow you to sleep here at night. I allow you to eat them potatoes. I allow you to use my lights. I allow you to drink my Kool-Aid. I allow you to nibble on them green beans. I allow you to look at that TV. I allow you to run up my gas bill. I allow you to walk up my stairs. I allow you to ask me these ridiculous-ass questions. Why should I give you an allowance when I already paid for everything you do? Who you know that gets an allowance? Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have picked a better career if you get to the end of a month and do not have $400 left for extras. That's just sad.


Go away, shitty person that you are.

Well said. You, I like.

+1.

[Anonymous]

There is a strange dichotomy on this board. One group wants to give their kids everything and the other group wants them to pay for their own braces. I got a reasonable allowance while I was in college and will be giving my son one too. Guess what, I turned out to be very successful, I doubt the allowance had anything to do with it one way or the other. To the original posters question: I am giving my kid $500 a month at a rural school. PS I also paid for his braces. That kid sure had it easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a strange dichotomy on this board. One group wants to give their kids everything and the other group wants them to pay for their own braces. I got a reasonable allowance while I was in college and will be giving my son one too. Guess what, I turned out to be very successful, I doubt the allowance had anything to do with it one way or the other. To the original posters question: I am giving my kid $500 a month at a rural school. PS I also paid for his braces. That kid sure had it easy.

I think that's fine for 1st semester freshman year. But I would hope that by 2nd semester senior year, the allowance has stopped. I think there needs to be a gradual phase out of mom and dads money and a gradual phase in of money a student earns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a strange dichotomy on this board. One group wants to give their kids everything and the other group wants them to pay for their own braces. I got a reasonable allowance while I was in college and will be giving my son one too. Guess what, I turned out to be very successful, I doubt the allowance had anything to do with it one way or the other. To the original posters question: I am giving my kid $500 a month at a rural school. PS I also paid for his braces. That kid sure had it easy.

I think that's fine for 1st semester freshman year. But I would hope that by 2nd semester senior year, the allowance has stopped. I think there needs to be a gradual phase out of mom and dads money and a gradual phase in of money a student earns.

I'm happy to let my kids get through college debt-free and without a requirement of a minimum wage-paying job. Now the debt-free college graduate can make it on his own and within his own means. And yes, we paid for their braces too.

[Anonymous]

When you graduate from college you get a job and are on your own. I do not want my kid to have to work during the school year. Most career oriented summer jobs these days have become unpaid internships (a very disturbing trend that I hear about from most college going parents).

Are there actually any parents with kids in college reading this thread? What are you doing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a strange dichotomy on this board. One group wants to give their kids everything and the other group wants them to pay for their own braces. I got a reasonable allowance while I was in college and will be giving my son one too. Guess what, I turned out to be very successful, I doubt the allowance had anything to do with it one way or the other. To the original posters question: I am giving my kid $500 a month at a rural school. PS I also paid for his braces. That kid sure had it easy.

I think that's fine for 1st semester freshman year. But I would hope that by 2nd semester senior year, the allowance has stopped. I think there needs to be a gradual phase out of mom and dads money and a gradual phase in of money a student earns.

I'm happy to let my kids get through college debt-free and without a requirement of a minimum wage-paying job. Now the debt-free college graduate can make it on his own and within his own means. And yes, we paid for their braces too.

That's great. But when does the child learn about work ethic? And when do they learn that sometimes a 40 hr/ wk job isn't enough? What about the newly minted teacher in this area who has to work full time, prepare lessons, grade papers, AND work as a waiter/ waitress to make ends meet? When as a parent do you begin to tech your child real life skills?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a strange dichotomy on this board. One group wants to give their kids everything and the other group wants them to pay for their own braces. I got a reasonable allowance while I was in college and will be giving my son one too. Guess what, I turned out to be very successful, I doubt the allowance had anything to do with it one way or the other. To the original posters question: I am giving my kid $500 a month at a rural school. PS I also paid for his braces. That kid sure had it easy.

I think that's fine for 1st semester freshman year. But I would hope that by 2nd semester senior year, the allowance has stopped. I think there needs to be a gradual phase out of mom and dads money and a gradual phase in of money a student earns.

I'm happy to let my kids get through college debt-free and without a requirement of a minimum wage-paying job. Now the debt-free college graduate can make it on his own and within his own means. And yes, we paid for their braces too.

That's great. But when does the child learn about work ethic? And when do they learn that sometimes a 40 hr/ wk job isn't enough? What about the newly minted teacher in this area who has to work full time, prepare lessons, grade papers, AND work as a waiter/ waitress to make ends meet? When as a parent do you begin to tech your child real life skills?

Their trust funds kick in at age 25. They'll more need to learn how to handle money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you graduate from college you get a job and are on your own. I do not want my kid to have to work during the school year. Most career oriented summer jobs these days have become unpaid internships (a very disturbing trend that I hear about from most college going parents).

Are there actually any parents with kids in college reading this thread? What are you doing?

Seriously. So many posts from the pack of preachy posters who love to tell others where/how they should be spending their money and how they should parent their kids. It's nice when the college forum is just people with college Q&As.

[Anonymous]

Lesson number one to teach your kids. Teaching is great but unless you are a college Prof., at a top school, it does not pay very well. Go into a field that you are interested in that also pays well. It's not that hard to do. I do not understand why this concept is so hard for people to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lesson number one to teach your kids. Teaching is great but unless you are a college Prof., at a top school, it does not pay very well. Go into a field that you are interested in that also pays well. It's not that hard to do. I do not understand why this concept is so hard for people to understand.

Do you actually listen to yourself? So your advice would be that no one should be a teacher? How's that going to work?

Teaching is actually not a bad gig at all. First of all, your chances of getting a job straight out of college are quite good. Second, job security can also be good. Third, pay is actually well above the median income. And fourth, benefits are excellent. All the teachers I know (and I know a lot, since I'm married to one) are quite comfortable and happy, thankyouverymuch.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Lesson number one to teach your kids. Teaching is great but unless you are a college Prof., at a top school, it does not pay very well. Go into a field that you are interested in that also pays well. It's not that hard to do. I do not understand why this concept is so hard for people to understand. [/quote]

Lesson #2. You will be successful if you do what you love. If you love teaching, so be it.

Lesson #3. It's not the end of the world if you can only afford a small colonial on your teacher's salary. Plenty of people have done this and survived, because they were happy in their jobs instead of slaving for Big Law.

Lesson #4. It's not all about the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a strange dichotomy on this board. One group wants to give their kids everything and the other group wants them to pay for their own braces. I got a reasonable allowance while I was in college and will be giving my son one too. Guess what, I turned out to be very successful, I doubt the allowance had anything to do with it one way or the other. To the original posters question: I am giving my kid $500 a month at a rural school. PS I also paid for his braces. That kid sure had it easy.

You're creating a dichotomy where none exists. Only a single poster mentioned not paying for braces, and that was her ILs, and she said she was shocked by it. On the other hand, several of us have posted to say that our kids have summer jobs, but we don't expect them to work during the school year and we also paid for tuition and the braces.

So basically, several of us are saying, get a summer job to cover your beer money, and we'll pay for tuition and the braces. There's no child abuse or boomer greediness going on here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you graduate from college you get a job and are on your own. I do not want my kid to have to work during the school year. Most career oriented summer jobs these days have become unpaid internships (a very disturbing trend that I hear about from most college going parents).

Are there actually any parents with kids in college reading this thread? What are you doing?

My step son is in college. He doesn't have a summer job. I keep my mouth shut.

I work in IT consulting. We have a lot of paid summer interns. For a rising soph with none to min experience we pay $10/hr. If you're good, we'll offer you an opportunity to do documentation during your winter break. All of my projects require documentation. It's not hard, but it's boring and no one likes to do it.

If you're good, we'll ask you to come back the following summer. As a rising jr with 1 summer of experience, we'll pay you $15/hr. As a rising sr, we'll pay you $20/hr. If you've been with us for 3 summers, chances are good that we'll offer you a full time job. Starting salary is around $45-$50K. We'll give you 3 weeks PTO and a great health care plan. We'll offer you a small relo package and a small signing bonus.

Now, if you take me to lunch prior to accepting the offer, I'll tell you to live at home with mom and dad. Our 1st yr consultants travel 4 days a week. They go home to open their mail, do their laundry, and sleep. I don't care where you live as long as you live close to an airport. I'll tell you to save your money, pay down/off your student loans or save for your first house.

After about 3 years, this life gets old. So we move our good consultants into entry level management positions. Now you only have to travel a few times a month. At the same time, you're probably itching to get your masters degree so you can get a better salary. My company does tuition reimbursement.

All this is to say that while $10/hr as a soph is not a great wage and there are probably opportunities to make money elsewhere, the long term opportunities are pretty good if you're willing to pay your dues.