DS is a rising sophomore, and this summer had his first real job (6 weeks for enough money that I don’t think it would have taught him the value of a dollar; it’s a good thing he mostly has a sense of it).
He does not have an allowance, but can spend as he sees fit. He does so responsibly. I would rather he not have a job for money; he tends to load up on tough courses, and that’s his job now. He is sensitive to classmates’ differing situations, and I think sometimes he covers for them, but as long as it doesn’t get out of hand or become “using,” I don’t think it’s so bad. I honestly am pleased if he sleeps more, studies more, canoodles with his GF more rather than having a job. He will have plenty of time for jobs later. My dad felt the same way, and treated me accordingly.
To counter some observations upstream, he is much more frugal with our money than with his.
We did $100 a month as freshmen when girls had full meal plans up to $300 for older D who had no meal plan at all senior. D2 didn’t have meal plan her last two years but had overage money that would have paid for meal plan if she chose. We did pay for books and a couple of toiletry re stocks during the year. Summer savings went to sorority (D1) and study abroad extra week plus major savings for grad school (D2)
PG, we absolutely could afford to give our kids an allowance in college. We didn’t. Believe me, we gave them plenty of money…but not a set monthly allowance. And if there was something they needed, we paid (e.g. Hard drive died on a computer and we replaced it. Ditto a battery).
I talked to the Financial Aid people, and they suggested that the COA that the school provides is pretty accurate and realistic. I have found that to be true. I provide the Parent’s responsibility, and give occasional support for unexpected catastrophes (as @thumper1 mentions in post #122).
My somewhat fuzzy plan is to not give them a lot of money, so they need to text me and ask us for money, then I get to say, hey, call me! Then they’ll call me and say I need money and I’ll say, for what? And they’ll say they’re going sock shopping, yadda yadda, and I’ll have been able to talk to my kids I’m nefarious and manipulative :D.
Right now as a junior and a sophomore in HS they get $100/month on their debit cards, which automatically re-ups on the 15th of each month. Second DD is hurtin’ just to get to the 15th with anything left, DD1 never spends hers, so I’m assuming I’ll get to talk with second DD more when she’s in college.
@MotherOfDragons , that sounds like a good plan, but the kids sometimes outsmart you by earning their spending money. DS earned enough this summer that he still hasn’t asked for more, and the internships he’s applying for will provide more than enough for next year (if he gets one).
That said, he’s one who likes to stay in touch, although more often via text than call.
We did not give any allowance. We just paid D’s credit card for 8 years - UG + Med. School. She has been on her own for about 5 months and financially doing better than we expected.
Actually, we never give either of our kids any allowances… We just paid for whatever they needed.
Grades, scores, …etc. were their own business. If they wanted nice future, then they had to work hard to earn it. They had enough common sense to understand that. S. never tried hard in HS and barely got where he wanted to be in college…from the waiting list. I guess, that was enough lesson to learn to work harder and he was on Dean’s list for many semesters at college.
D. was very competitive, in competitive sport since age 5. I told her that simply doing her homework would result in “winning” at school, which is getting an A. She pursued it and never had a single B from kindergarten thru graduating from college. That would be a very expensive idea for us to pay for all her As and high scores. Instead, we simply paid her credit card and other expenses, all of them, including great amount of travel abroad that she is done in her young life. It actually paid off for us. In appreciation for her “easy” life, she choose to attend UG that offered her full tuition Merit.
Our family simply does not believe in allowances, I guess…
I pay for my son’s books and any other materials REQUIRED for classes, food, cell phone (which is on a family plan), and car insurance if you count any of that as an ‘allowance’.
He pays for all incidentals and his own car payment with the money he earns from his co-op.
Our son will start out with some money in his bank account, but we expect him to work 5-10 hours a week at a campus job. Not only will it provide spending money, it will also give him some work experience. I worked at the library in college, and ended up becoming a librarian.
We have an automatic fund transfer set up from our bank account to DS’s for $20/week. He has a food plan and housing pre-paid, plus his books, so this is just to cover incidental expenses and the occasional dinner off campus. Anything more extravagant he has to earn for himself.
I get $50 per week. I also applied for many jobs on campus, did a few freelance positions that got me $75 for each gig. I applied to 4 work study position, unfortunately, I didn’t get them. For a lot of jobs, they’ll only accept maybe 1 or 2 work study positions.
No allowance. We are already paying tuition, room, board, books, fees, car insurance, phone, necessary clothes. Our kids are expected to pay for entertainment, personal items, and gas. D2 earns about $50/week with her orgo lab TA/grading job, more with her summer jobs.
My parents deposited all college monies available to me into my savings account prior to my freshman year. It is my responsibility to make those monies last my entire college career. I pay 100% of my education and entertainment expenses out of these monies and currently have them budgeted to cover grad school as well as under grad. I am currently allocating about $250 a month for food and entertainment. I do work about 6 hours a week.
The general feeling of my parents seems to be that if you are old and smart enough tho attend college then you should be able to manage your finances. They don’t have much sympathy for being stupid with money. They are kinda scary:)
So with that said I would just deposit what ever amount of money you plan to give over the course of the year in a lump sum at the beginning of the year and see what happens. My brother got a little behind on his budget his 3rd year in college and had to do some creative investing to make ends meet. It was actually pretty funny seeing him freak out.
Parents weren’t in a position to give me allowance money, but I did earn enough to cover what my near-full ride didn’t cover and have a bit of spending money left over from summer/part-time jobs doing tutoring and computer tech jobs.
Wasn’t into booze in college due to financial considerations and negative associations with drunks/addicts in my old NYC neighborhood.
If I was, however, and had a parental allowance…using it to buy booze wouldn’t occur to me for another reason.
Why buy when there’s so many opportunities to get free booze(and food) from parties…without and with invites. I’ve also had a few Profs offer me drinks when invited to their homes…including some high-end liquors. Ended up turning down the generous offers as it coincided with my having early morning classes and/or quizzes/exams.
No soup for you! As a freshman living in a dorm, on a meal plan, without a car, and having a work-study job, D has managed to save money this semester. This may change in the future when her college life includes more having financial responsibilities (car/rent/utilities/food). She/we set up checking/debit and credit card accounts in her name at a national bank a couple blocks off of her campus. We also use this bank even though we live 1500 miles away. D’s payroll checks get direct-deposited into her checking account. Overall, this setup has been extremely smooth for us. YMMV
"My parents deposited all college monies available to me into my savings account prior to my freshman year. It is my responsibility to make those monies last my entire college career. I pay 100% of my education and entertainment expenses out of these monies and currently have them budgeted to cover grad school as well as under grad. "
That doesn’t seem to make financial sense to pull such a huge chunk into a savings account and leave it there. It would make more financial sense to pull out a certain amount as needed and let the rest stay in investments until such time as they are needed. Always remember the compound value of interest!
^^ I agree, especially with the low/nonexistent interest rates. I think there are better and safer ways to make your money work for you and not have it be so accessible in one giant, non-interest bearing pile.
“The general feeling of my parents seems to be that if you are old and smart enough tho attend college then you should be able to manage your finances. They don’t have much sympathy for being stupid with money. They are kinda scary:)”
But they’re not being smart with finances either. That really isn’t prudent to pull a big chunk of money into a savings account and let it sit there as you pull it down. People who are smart with money keep it in investments as long as possible and turn it liquid only on a “just in time” basis.
I’m nefarious and manipulative :D.