She made almost $4000 over the summer. That’s her spending money. I told her to keep it below $100/week

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: yes should have asked "how much does your child spend?"

Short answer is that they will spend as much as they can. Best to give them a budget.

This. My son is a freshman and just told me he needs to slow down his spending so he will have enough until next summer.

We don’t have a set limit. We’ve said we are happy to pay for stuff we paid for before, like some clothes and all more expensive things like winter coats, boots, suit for internship interview. We also will pay for all uber rides. College kid pays for concerts, eating out, presumably beer etc with their savings.

$500 per month

400/ mo during school months

I had their HS allowance set on autopay to their bank acct so I never really turned it off. Plus if they are sick or something they can order off our amazon account.

We pay tuition, room and board, and full meal plan. We also buy tons of toiletries at the start of each semester (shampoo, deodorant, laundry detergent, etc). And when we visit (parents weekend) or they visit (Thabksgiving, Winter break, etc), we load them up from the grocery store.

Pizza and beer money is on them, from summer jobs.

$100/week - campus food is not great so this pays for the occasional Door Dash meal, dinner out with friends, movie tickets, etc. She also has to cover things like clothes and makeup out of her allowance/summer earnings. I pay for tuition, room & board, books (minimal), and travel costs to and from school.

Now that she is a sophomore and a little better at managing her $, I will switch to giving her allowance monthly either next semester or next fall so she can continue to learn budgeting.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: yes should have asked "how much does your child spend?"

Short answer is that they will spend as much as they can. Best to give them a budget.

OP here: yes should have asked "how much does your child spend?"

I think a better question is how much do they spend in a month because people tend to
say they use gift money and summer job which is not an answer. I am going to
assume 1k a month on spending because kids will go out to eat with friends and need odds and ends. Also a credit card for items that need permission first ex-invited to a formal and need a dress or sports coat if you didn’t bring one. An opportunity to go
sking or camping and need some extras that are not usual spending. I am
assuming we are covering everything freshman year because our kid had an internship before senior year and no one gives our kid in our family $$ gifts ie no bat mitvah or confirmation etc etc. The babysitting $$ our kid has goes to current stuff.