College student - credit cards, limits, Ubers, food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD kid living on campus with meal plan. We don’t give any allowance, credit card is for books, school fees, medical copays and emergencies only. Had a summer job and still has most of the money in own accounts. You’re giving way too much, OP.

+1

We have the same deal for our 2 kids. One is in an apartment so we give her $50 a week for groceries and will do the same for our son next year when he moves to an apartment. They’re expected to work summers and make that money last all year. If they aren’t careful, they need to get a job during the year. They have room, food, tuition and healthcare which is plenty.

Have you accounted for inflation at all? $50 doesn't seem like much to me, so I went to the Walmart web site and started adding things to the basket. Here's what I got for $46.23 before tax (FWIW, I didn't worry about organic or avoiding prepared foods, I just got what seemed like the cheapest).

white sliced sandwich bread
1/2 lb cheese
dozen eggs
16 oz. sliced ham
10 oz. bag of salad
bananas
carrots
5 apples
5 lbs potatoes
hot dogs
1 lb. of chicken breasts

I guess maybe a young person who doesn't eat a lot could theoretically live on this for a week? Two eggs for breakfast for five days and one each for the other two, ham sandwich with cheese for lunch (you'd have one thin slice of ham and cheese per day) with one piece of fruit or a carrot, a salad with a chicken breast a couple of nights, hot dogs (use the sliced bread for buns) for dinner a couple of nights, or a roast chicken breast with potatoes and carrots. This sounds like what someone who is trying to lose weight would eat. My teenage boy would starve to death.

FWIW, I had almost no money when I was in college, and I lived on Kraft Mac n Cheese and Ramen noodles. I know it can be done. But I'm not going to make my kid do that (or work just so they can have an adequate amount of food).

Why would a child who is on a meal plan need to buy all that food?

Hot dogs? White sandwich bread? Lunch meat? Ick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow that's so low, our high schooler gets $55/week and when I was in college 20y years a go I got $2k/months which also included 5-700 for rent.

What would they spend $55 in high school. We give per going out but no way they spend that a week.

what does your high schooler do for social life in a typical week? Mine goes to Chipotle or similar with friends after practice or game at least 1-2 x per week and has at least one Uber trip per weekend - not to mention buying some soda or chips while out with friends ....easily spends more than 50 dollars a week........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow that's so low, our high schooler gets $55/week and when I was in college 20y years a go I got $2k/months which also included 5-700 for rent.

What would they spend $55 in high school. We give per going out but no way they spend that a week.

$55 is one hoodie. Life has gotten so expensive. My kids work but I do give them money here and there on top of it because even a fast foodish meal is $15.

We pay generally under $15 for a hoodie. Not that expensive. And fast food can be had for less.

This made me laugh. No way an adult hoodie cost $15 unless it's some random champion hoodie from Walmart that's on clearance.

I don't have college kids but recently did graduate school and went to buy myself a hoodie from my college and it was $60. I would love to live in the world with these people who find all these cheap items that people want to wear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two kids in college. One in a very small town and one in an urban area. Their spending is very different. For the kid in the small town it would be hard to find ways to spend $100 a month. Kid lives in a dorm and has a full meal plan. Town has maybe 3-4 cheap places to eat that kids don’t really go to and 1 cheap place kids like. The other kid lives off campus with no meal plan. Kid grocery shops and cooks but the social life for that DC is totally different. Friends are in apartments across a big area. Weekends involve eating out and socializing that costs money. Kid in the urban area spends more.

We used to give our DD in a rural college $100/month were she barely spent $60/month. She now attends a larger, more suburban school and we up’ped her to $150/month which is still a little too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:really struggling with what is best. DC goes to school in an expensive city, has a required meal plan (food is bad), no income (had a summer job but those funds were used up quickly), looking for a part time job now (we had reasons for not allowing a job while in school til now), gets $300 a month allowance and a has a credit card & Uber account attached to his bank account - credit card is set to automatic payments and its not working out very well since he is spending more than he has. For those who give their kids a credit card, do you set a strict limit? Is it attached to your bank account or theirs? What about Uber accounts for city kids? I need some guidance without judgement please. Thank you

Time to cut the cord.
Student finds a full time job while attending school full time.