<p>Hi y'all! My 16 yr old is headed to NEU this fall n I am perplexed abt what to do abt his spending money! Can anyone help? Do I give him a credit card wth a low limit or do I just put a lump sum in his bank acct? Any input will be greatly appreciated! Hope everyones doin awesomely well!!</p>
<p>He will need either a credit card & cash or a debit card which he can get cash off of. I would not recommend large amounts of cash, I have known quite a few safes in dorms to turn up missing often with $5,000 + in them.</p>
<p>Well, my two D’s are responsible for earning their own spending money.<br>
But if I were to provide spending money, I would opt for a regular monthly deposit into their checking account. That way, they have to learn to live within a budget and won’t spend the entire amount in the first month away at school.</p>
<p>For a 16 year old, I agree with mrsref. </p>
<p>My son also provides his own spending money, but when he went as a freshman he was not 16. He had been able to save from summer earnings for 2 summers. What I suggested to him was that we divide his money by semester. He had half his money for the year in his student account, and the other half was in a different savings account. His student account allows for a checking account, debit card, savings account, and credit card with a very low limit.</p>
<p>For someone 16, I think that providing money monthly or even biweekly at first might be best.</p>
<p>Lots of threads about this on CC. It is your family decision whether to give your college student spending money. We did NOT. It was up to our kids to earn their discretionary spending money including books. However, if you want to give your kiddo money, I would suggest that he open a bank account in a bank where you can also deposit money each month. Then set an amount…and deposit it. He can take it out via ATM at his college location.</p>
<p>Agree with above posters. If you are going to give your student money, make deposits bi-weekly or monthly. Ensure you’ve discussed the amount and how it will be handled if they need more (will you just give more or it depends on what it’s for or you cut them off). Also take some time to discuss how to budget. Many students haven’t ever had to do that and it’s a mystery to them. My S has his own spending money and will get a job at college but we’ve still discussed budgeting as he needs to understand how to make his money last.</p>
<p>Yup, discussed many times. Have your checking account and his linked so you can transfer money to him. Then he should have an ATM card. Collegeswill often cash checks at the bursars office, or stores will give cash back with small purchases.</p>
<p>Both of my kids were lucky enough to find banks that had branches in our home town and on their respective campuses, so it was easy for me to get money to them and for them to get money out of their checking accounts.</p>
<p>In the beginning, they got money every month, either by me sending a check, which they deposited, or by me depositing the money in their accounts. But eventually I got lazy and just gave them a whole semester’s worth at a time. With kid #2, I eventually ended up writing one huge check for off-campus rent money, food money, book money, and spending money before each semester. It worked out OK, but it was a kid who is not prone to wild spending urges.</p>
<p>I’d get a sense of what your child needs money for – for ex., my D had a meal plan that provided lots of food, so I did not factor in eating out money into her budget. Her dorm was paid for. Really, while things came up [printer cartridges, for one], she did not need a lot of money, not having a car. I figured pizza, a movie, and some supplies was all she needed, and if there was an extraordinary expense, she could call or email me. [for ex., one course had a solutions guide that was over $100 that had been recommended but she felt it was necessary after three weeks into the class].</p>
<p>I’d deposit it into his bank account every 2 weeks and if he was able to budget, i would then make just a monthly deposit, and work up to a whole semester’s worth of funds.</p>
<p>DS didn’t have and didn’t want a credit card, debit card or ATM card. He opened a checking account and just wrote checks at the bookstore when he needed cash. Not sure what the policy is at NEU, but just putting this out there as another option.</p>
<p>We have an automatic transfer set up from our checking acct. to his.</p>
<p>Gave D1 monthly allowance while she was in college, transferred money in first of every month. When she lived off campus, we gave her money for rent/food/parking/allowance beginning of every month. She had our credit card and she bought some clothes/accesories from time to time. She woudl usually tell me before she something on.</p>
<p>It does really vary by kid and by family. For my D, we agreed to give her 1/2 of her estimated spending money needs her freshman year and pay for books. She had savings from a summer job to make up her 1/2 and was not expected to work much her freshman year. This was the same expectation my parents set with me when I went to college – that my primary job was to get settled and focus on school. The spending money we gave to her in one lump sum at the beginning of the school year with the warning that when it was gone, it was gone and not to bother coming back for more.</p>
<p>This year, she will be working quite a bit more and so we will drop back on the spending money support but I think we’re still planning to pay for books (still negotiating this)</p>
<p>D’s account is linked to mine and I transfer a set amount per month, plus extra when extraordinary expenses come up. If she has a question about whether something is okay, she asks. I can monitor as I wish how she is spending but as time goes on I feel less need to do that. It worked at first because I was afraid she would be as undisciplined about her money as I was at her age…turned out not to be a problem. Make sure you choose a bank with a branch convenient to your child and with handy ATMs. The ATM charges for using a different bank’s ATM really add up. I would not let a 16 year old have access to much money at a time, no way.</p>
<p>I gave my son 1/2 of a year at a time. One check was sent to him in August and one in January. Worked like a charm. I never monitored anything and he never asked for more money. He told me he appreciated getting a lump sum since he could budget for anything he really wanted to do.</p>
<p>BTW-- my son worked each summer and had money other than what I provided. He got the exact amount that the school website suggested. As he progressed through college he got the amount they suggested for that year even though it was up to him to make his choices on how it was spent.</p>
<p>He went off campus his Junior year, He told me it cost less to live off campus and cook than to be in campus housing and use a meal plan. I have never asked for the specifics but I imagine this provided a “boost” to the amount of money he had to spend.</p>
<p>He’s now graduated (spring 2011). He leaves next Tuesday for Taipei for his first post-graduation job. I have no access to any of his accounts since he is on his own and it is none of my business.</p>
<p>Which NEU is that and where do you live? My wife has a joint checking account with our son at Bank of America which has branches in Boston and of course lots of branches here in NC. It has been very convenient, but I am otherwise not a big fan of the bank. I just noticed they no longer offer “Campus Edge” checking accounts, which was a no-fee account for college students. I don’t know what the alternative is.</p>
<p>We deposit once a month for our daughter. This year the amount will go up a bit because it will include rent each month where in the past we paid R&B to the college.</p>
<p>My dad just gave me a check before I left for school and said “don’t spend it all in one place”. It actually lasted most of the year. He just checks in every few months to see if I’m running out. My parents don’t actually have anything to do with my bank account, and now that I am earning a good bit this summer I’m probably done getting spending money from them.</p>
<p>Agree with Thumper post #5. Your son is still very young so I would suggest depositing money twice a month. You can change it to once a month after he turns 18 or demonstrates his maturity and responsibility.</p>
<p>I have know one or two adults who if they had money in their pocket they would burn right through it. It requires impulse control to not spend money when it is available…16 year olds are not usually great about that.</p>
<p>I deposit money onto the card attached to my S’s school. He works during the summer for spending money which he uses for the things that I’m not overjoyed to pay for, and I make sure that he has a little extra for food and supplies at the local merchants where his card is accepted.</p>