Recent college grad has about 20K, she has squirrelled away money from jobs, research grants et cetera and is super frugal. Is now able to pay part of her way through a graduate program abroad and we will help out a bit.
Freshman in college has about 500. He has made a lot but always spends it immediately and now is realising he’s going to have to find a way to earn more so he doesn’t run out.

Freshman in college has $150. We don't have a large extended family or generous grandparents who ever gave birthday gifts beyond $20..and we're not Jewish. He earned about $2000 each summer of high school but spent it each school year, including in international travel with friends the summers after junior and senior years of high school and during senior year of high school. So he is rich in experiences and poor in cash. He just got a college job which will pay him at least $100/week but is limping along until that money starts accruing.

Junior in college has about $7,000: $1,000 that we gave to him starting out, $3,000 in savings from freshman summer, and $3,000 in savings from sophomore summer (he made more, but had to pay much higher rent)

I have no idea how much my 21 year old has. Should I ask him? I know he's had a Roth IRA since he was 16, and pays his own rent in Arlington while working at his first job.

I have two college students. The senior has $35,000 in savings (a lifetime of small birthday and holiday $ gifts, part time jobs every summer since starting high school, and a full-time six-month co-op during college that paid well). We pay for tuition, housing and groceries in college; DD pays for fun stuff. They also started investing $100/month in an IRA about nine months ago. They are saving for grad school since the college fund will be nearly gone by the time they graduate.

My college sophomore has about $8,000 saved from birthday and holiday gifts and part-time work over the summer. They're working part-time on campus this fall too. Again, we pay for tuition and room & board; kid pays for fun stuff like concert tickets and weekend meals out.

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t have zero or negative assets at 20 you are doing it wrong

Ha! Some people are bankrolled by parents. I’d rather have had that than the zero I started with.

Mine is a junior and after paying his car insurance he has around $2k left in checking and savings. He will make more these next few months doing food delivery because he wants more money for when he studies abroad this spring. He’s frugal and has always been a hard worker.

My college sophomore earned $4500 from working this summer for extra spending money during the school year. We pay for everything and more, and she has a pretty much everything she needs! And we reimburse for toiletries and can send her other necessities from Amazon , like a new phone case or socks. But we refuse to fund her entertainment and impulsive or discretionary purchases.

She has budgeted herself @ $100 a week and so far splurges on Saturday lunch out with friends. I can also see that she bought Starbucks, a new pair of Abercrombie jeans, and something from the bookstore last week.

Unrelated, she owns about $600 in a stock of a company that has special meaning to her. But if/when she ever cashes it out she owes her uncle the $500 he seeded/gifted her to buy it a few years ago. (She was interested in learning about investing and he thought it was a good bonding moment and learning experience and gift for her 16th birthday.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest son who is a Naval Officer has close to $600,000. Inheritance, invested aggressively from age 18, lives well below his means (currently deployed on a ship). Still drives our old Toyota Camry we sold to him upon high school graduation.

this post is simply stupid unless your son is 20/21/22 yo. how old is he?

What is stupid about the post? It sounds like the young man is off to a great start.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest son who is a Naval Officer has close to $600,000. Inheritance, invested aggressively from age 18, lives well below his means (currently deployed on a ship). Still drives our old Toyota Camry we sold to him upon high school graduation.

this post is simply stupid unless your son is 20/21/22 yo. how old is he?

One year out of college.

my guess is over 300k between DC's business inventories, checking/saving and investments (mostly stocks and some crypto) - junior in college.

we are paying tuition only - DC pays own expenses.

My college senior will have btwn $15-20K by graduation. We pay all college expenses plus groceries. She works over the summer and on breaks and is not a big spender.

Anonymous wrote:My oldest son who is a Naval Officer has close to $600,000. Inheritance, invested aggressively from age 18, lives well below his means (currently deployed on a ship). Still drives our old Toyota Camry we sold to him upon high school graduation.

this post is simply stupid unless your son is 20/21/22 yo. how old is he?

100k+. Extremely well paid summer internships and investments.

My freshman DD has a little over $10K from gifts, allowance and working over the years. We are paying her tuition and reasonable living expenses. (Eating out, beauty products, etc. are on her.)

Several of younger DS’s friends got in the $30-40K range from bar and bat mitzvahs. I assume most parents in our area (not DC) will pay for college, and this money is seed money for life.