<p>D has her tuition and books covered with scholarships (school and outside). She is using investment money to pay for room and board as well as a loan. I think the loan is important for her and presume she will have a small loan each year that she is reponsible for when she graduates. She has worked since her junior year of HS and saves her money. She is on our cell phone plan which doesn't include texting. She doesn't like to spend money( hers that is) so it will be interesting to see what she is willing to spend to outfit her dorm with all of the great things from BBB. She has no car on campus so if she comes home at a time where we haven't gotten her, then transportation is hers to deal with. I look forward to sending her car packages of micorwave popcorn and toiletries with a $10 bill. I would say she is responsible for any and all of her entertainment expenses. We will have to check out half.com for books.</p>
<p>We plan to be on the Weenie Plan too. My son is not a big spender, so I don't expect it to be too onerous. Especially as programming pays well.</p>
<p>We are on the Anxiousmom plan. We maintain her car at home, it only costs us $35, maybe $70 per year for her to remain on our car insurance. We have paid some of her plane tickets home, she has paid for some of them. She did extensive travelling before and after her study abroad, she covered those expenses. We do split her sorority dues, but that expense is low, and she gets better housing.</p>
<p>Clothes were a big freshman year expense for us because she wore school uniforms in high school, and went from no winter at all to NH winters. I put those clothes into the same category as a new computer - unusual one time expenses.</p>
<p>Yes they are very frugal!</p>
<p>I'm on the reverse weenie plan: I pay for tuition, room, board, and fees (the parts of it that financial aid doesn't cover), my parents help out with clothes, books, and some expenses (cell phone, laptop, freshman trip, and probably a pair of skis), and the $1,700 I earned this summer is mine to use at my discretion. This is less-than-ideal because none of us is sure how much money I'll actually need, but it also means I don't have to feel guilty about going to an expensive private school in the United States when I could've attended university for free in Europe. I'm hoping to be as independent as possible and will try to pay my parents back in some way once I've graduated.</p>
<p>We promised to pay up to a certain amount for college and our S is funding the rest himself. </p>
<p>The last two years we covered all school expenses including cellphone (family plan, too) and travel, with our S covering any personal extras, mostly video games and consoles, out of his own pocket. Since he's at one of the top ten "is it food?" schools, he's not on a food program, and gets a food allowance somewhat less that the plan would have cost. </p>
<p>This year he's paying for everything except travel (worried he might not come home!) out of summer job savings, a couple of modest loans and a small financial aid package from his school. We were quite surprised he received the later, btw.</p>
<p>Like others have said about their kids, he's pretty frugal, partially because of how he is and partially because the cofunding scheme makes him feel like a part of every expense is coming out of his pocket.</p>
<p>My parents pay for room & board and books, and a small part of tuition. (The rest is covered in scholarships, grants, & loans in my name.) My cell phone is part of a family plan, which makes sense with 6 people. :)</p>
<p>Anything else we might need comes out of our own pocket. I work during the summer and will have work-study during the school year. Thankfully I won't need a car until I graduate, so I don't have to worry about insurance/gas.</p>
<p>once again, all, thanks for the posts and input!</p>
<p>We're on the anxiousmom plan -- at least we will be, since s. is a freshman. How much (roughly) do kids spend on books? I hope he gets his required reading list early enough to find some good deals on the internet. He is working two jobs this summer so should be in good shape for the time being.</p>
<p>We had all the $$ saved in a trust and DS went for a school that gave him substantial merit aid. He's very frugal; must have gotten this from his Dad, but we were both raised without much extra money. Because he's cut his costs almost in half, we plan to cover expenses for at least the first year, but I think he'll end up wanting to work for his extras as time goes by.</p>
<p>THe only item I can mention that adds to this conversation is something my H thought up. We both attended Oberlin, where there's a college and music conservatory. We both remembered going to many great free recitals and concerts by students and faculty. HOwever, the absolute premium concerts with visiting musicians charged tickets for the series. Not much, on the order of $25./concert, but that was big money to us in those days.</p>
<p>It was always our frustration to be tight for money and didn't see every one of those concerts. The ones we saw were absolutely memorable (Yo-Yo Ma at age l9...). </p>
<p>So when eldest went to a different LAC, my H set aside $500 as an earmarked one-time only gift for 4 years of cultural events that cost tickets, so that S would GO and not scrimp there. It could also be a rock or jazz group, not only classical. S found at his LAC that every concert was paid for by the college and free to students, so he asked us permission to turn the money over to use to join his concert choir tour in Japan (that was a cost-share with students and the department). </p>
<p>When D went to Oberlin, the same ticket arrangement was in place for the great visiting artist "series" we remembered. We bought her the series ticket, and even sold the idea to the parents of her freshman roommate, so the girls had a built-in ticket together and went to every one. This started a habit to attend. In subsequent years she just went on her own and with other friends, but it was a great freshman activity for two new roommates. </p>
<p>My H told both our kids very clearly: this is for cultural events where, when you see the ticket cost, you'd say, "Ah, I'd go if only it weren't for that ticket price." It is NOT for a hamburger or to use because you're bored with the campus food.</p>
<p>Other families might have something they think is important enough to earmark like that. We gave it as a lump sum and let our kids decide which events to attend.</p>
<p>Beyond this gift, we fund tuition/ room / board (with finaid); buy plane tickets or refund bus tickets for vacations. The kids buy books. They work every summer and oncampus jobs for spending money. D had a hard time working on campus so she did more work in the summers. S was better at blending the oncampus work so didn't work quite as hard as she did each summer. </p>
<p>We sent each of them off with a shopping trip so there were clothes, but didn't replace them for 4 years. Nobody drives or owns a car, so that's not something we've had to consider. We bought each of them a new bicycle freshman year.
We pay for a family cellphone plan. They handle their spending money from their work earnings. Everyone's quite frugal by habit. Lots of ebay auctions to replace clothing (all 5 of us). When they're home, I pay for their haircut; if on campus, they pay... it just is working out fine.</p>
<p>Those who say "We pay the bursar bill" need to be aware that what goes on the bursar bill varies from college to college. This is especially important if you have more than one kid and are trying to treat them fairly.</p>
<p>S is a rising senior at the University of Maryland at College Park. D will soon be a freshman at Cornell. There are notable differences in what appears on the bursar's bill at the two institutions.</p>
<p>For example, long-distance phone calls made from the student's dorm phone are charged to the bursar's bill at Cornell. At Maryland, the student receives a bill from the phone company. At Cornell, students swipe their ID cards in the washers and dryers to do their laundry, and the resulting charges end up on the bursar's bill. At Maryland, students put cash in the machines. </p>
<p>At Cornell, if students buy "sexual health supplies" at the college pharmacy (a category that includes such things as dental dams, lube, and vibrators), it goes on the bursar's bill. I don't think that Maryland (or, frankly, any other university that I've ever heard of) has thought of this. (Cornell has always been a little weird in certain areas; back when I was a student there, men (but not women) had to take the required swim test in the nude! This practice seems to have been abolished a couple of decades ago, and apparently has been replaced by pharmacy weirdness instead.)</p>
<p>It may be necessary to take these different billing practices into account when deciding how much spending money a student needs and whether or not parents will automatically pay everything that shows up on the bursar's bill.</p>
<p>Um, would students want lube and vibrators to show up on their parents' bill?</p>
<p>I'm a little in shock, Marian!</p>
<p>I think it shows up simply as "Health Center" or "Pharmacy." I don't know. My daughter isn't on campus yet.</p>
<p>When my son has visited the health center at Maryland, the charges have shown up on his bursar bill simply as "Health Center," with no explanation. I presume this is for privacy reasons. He is an adult, after all. Other things on his bursar bill, like "Replacement of Lost ID," are indicated more explicitly.</p>
<p>You can get vibrators from the pharmacy? Ours has condoms (which shows up just like anything else as "Health Center or whatever) but I'm surprised a pharmacy would have vibrators. Oh well, good times.</p>
<p>We're on the Weenie Plus plan, which works out to the school's bill for tuition, room, board, fees, plus books, phone, medical, transportation to/from home.</p>
<p>Every thing else comes out of what we call the kids' "walking around money" which is their responsiblity to earn and manage. They never ask for money and know not to.</p>
<p>My kids' school gives away condoms at the health center, but only one per student per day.</p>