We just had a thread about this. Some kids spend nothing. Some kids spend without concern. Teach your kid about how to work out a budget based on what THEIR situation is.

$250 a month because he’s in a major city with notoriously horrible dorm food. We pay for uber separately and also cover whatever toiletries he needs. He has a CC and codes everything appropriately. Anything over $250 that’s not mentioned above, he covers.

this was not our concern. Our college student was expected to work over the summers and that was his spending money for things like eating outside the campus meal plan, movies, etc. We paid for literally everything else.

We just gave our college kids a credit card to use as needed. No one abused it.

we give DD $250/month (pizza, tickets, clothes, toiletries, snacks). she has $$ saved up from summer jobs for anything extra.

Anonymous wrote:How much spending money did your kid need during their first year in the dorm? We are trying to budget for the upcoming years.

In the dorm with the (required) full meal plan? My kid got $0. If he wanted to spend extra for nights out or whatever, that was on him.

How much did your kid spend in high school? Room & board were taken care of then.

If they were spending $$$$$ going out to eat with friends, the movies, etc. that will probably continue. If they were spending $ meeting up with friends to workout, play games (board, video),to watch high school sport games, etc. then that spending habit will likely continue

Anonymous wrote:How much spending money did your kid need during their first year in the dorm? We are trying to budget for the upcoming years.

There is no good answer. It varies from nothing at all to free use of credit cards. It all depends on your family.

In the dorms with a meal plan? We didn't provide much -- they earned their own pizza and beer money on the summer.

Off-campus is a little trickier. They get a distribution from the 529 for the "board" bit for groceries, etc. Usually around $500/month.

How much spending money did your kid need during their first year in the dorm? We are trying to budget for the upcoming years.