<p>how much are parents giving you to "spend" in college? I have 10 meals a week and will be living in an expensive california city (ucsb)...how much should i ask per month?</p>
<p>i think mine are giving $500 per semster... but I think there is no way I will even use half that much! I'm not complaining though :)</p>
<p>You guys are lucky they'll GIVE you money. I had a joint acct with my mum before I came to college, forgot to change it. So when I started spending my money 'frivolously' they took out the remaining 6200. Of which, 1200 was purely spending money. Now they won't give me any of it.</p>
<p>So any amount they give you is good.</p>
<p>I don't think I have a college allowance, lol~~</p>
<p>my allowance is...</p>
<p>5600 dollars (amount remaining once my school takes my tuition out of my financial aid loans) - (rent per semester) = which ends up leaving me with roughly 460-500 dollars a month to be spent however I want</p>
<p>I was told that for this year, my only allowance would be the graduation money I received last year. So I have roughly $850 for the whole year...but, of course, two visits to the nearby mall have sufficiently lowered that amount :X</p>
<p>I get $150 a month... I typically save about $75 of that each month to help offset my spring break trips, electronics, big ticket purchases... then I have all the money I earned from my summer which goes to my parents to help offset the cost of college.</p>
<p>dcfca, do you have a meal plan or do you have to pay for food with that money?</p>
<p>My parents are paying the majority of my tuition/room and board. I don't get an allowance
However whenever I go home my mom takes me shopping for the little things I might need. Shower stuff, snack stuff, etc. So she is helping me out, but she is not handing me money. They don't pay for my books either</p>
<p>My parents paid tuition, room, board, and books. My laptop was a graduation present and my tv was an early birthday present. I worked two jobs this summer to buy all my dorm room stuff, and I put $800 aside for spending money for this school year. My parents are giving me $50/ month, but that's it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
dcfca, do you have a meal plan or do you have to pay for food with that money?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I get 10 meals a week with my meal plan. The 'allowance' goes towards food on the weekends and other things i need.</p>
<p>My parents gave me 2200 for the whole year and plus (they expect me to have left over from that money. i'm used to saving money (except on some big stuff like computers mp3 players so on) so i don't expect to go over) and i just got a job and i make 300 ish a month... and i'm basically sitting here and studying.</p>
<p>2200 above was also for any extra costs though, like books (tuition and meals are already paid for)</p>
<p>My meal plan that i was forced to get also gives me 510 dining dollars which i spend freely on campus... I keep on spending it but i'm still far away from my weekly limit. sigh. (30 dollars per week) i spend it on smoothies jamba juice starbucks, random snacks and drinks etc... still have 70 dollars more than i should.</p>
<p>MY parents give me</p>
<p>Food = $0</p>
<p>Living = $0</p>
<p>Allowance = $0</p>
<p>Fun Money = $0</p>
<p>Tuition = $0</p>
<p>Book's = $0</p>
<p>Transportation = $0</p>
<p>The total if your bad in math is I get nothing.</p>
<p>Oh yeah Im away at school and still have to pay bills at home, as well as Half the rent per month which is $500 + around $200 in Utilities.</p>
<p>Dont complain, if your parents give you a cent, you have it made.</p>
<p>^ dude that sucks. (yeah, one of my friends are in that situation too) If my parents didn't give me any help i prob couldn't even attend college so.. XP that's why i'm trying to lighten their load by getting a job.</p>
<p>One of my poker buddies is on that boat. He's worked since he was 14 at Burger King. Now he is taking a year off before going to college because he has to make enough money first. Oh yea, his parents got close to a million dollars when his grandpa passed. That's so messed up.</p>
<p>I too am getting nothing from my parents. I have to pay for tuition, books, sorority dues, room/board, and anything extra. They bought me a lamp, laptop, TV, and hamper to send me off, and I just guilted them into giving me $30 for Halloween decorations. But I'm not getting money for X-mas either.</p>
<p>^lol i don't get money for x-mas either (well sometimes i did but not when i was small.. uhm x-mas ignored mostly in our family.. haha) but i have their credit card so.. hahaha</p>
<p>Sky Flyer, if you pull off not spending all 500 I would be impressed. Odds are a month before the semester ends you will be budgeting like hell to slowly spend what you have left. I spent easilt 1300-1500 my first year. I still don't know how i spent that much.</p>
<p>Since I got into a damned good school with relatively low tuition and little financial burden overall on the parents, my "allowance" is relatively high (I've spent $700 in one month). When first in college, get ready for a flood of sudden up-front surprises; for me it's $90 to use the sports facility because of a bureaucratic bungle, $70 to join the UC Rally Committee, $100 or so because of technical issues (our Residential Computing Center doesn't open until 5PM right now, so I had to buy USB keys to carry data around to print at copy centers), $70 for class readers I didn't find out about until the first day of school...lots of little things (don't forget FOOD - you'll be a hungry all the time in college)!</p>
<p>My parents pay my tution (minus my scholarship) and I'm pretty happy about that. I'm working for spending money.</p>