<p>I have to stress that this would NOT work with every kid or every family’s financial arrangement with their college kid. But when my D went abroad this fall, I got her a credit card under my credit card account. We discussed what types of expenses she could put on my card vs. what she needed to pay for on her own debit card (she got one from a bank overseas, and also has one in the states). She has kept the card, and now is using it here and will have it at school. It has been super convenient. Now if I send her to the grocery, or to pick up the dog from boarding, or whatever, she just uses that card. I think this can extend to school, so if she has expenses that I would normally cover, she can just use the card. Saves a lot of accounting/moving funds hassles.</p>
<p>intparent - we did the same thing - getting our kids a credit card and then telling them what could and couldn’t be charged on it - with a rule that if you want to charge something else, call first. They got their cards in their senior year of HS and then carried it forward into college. </p>
<p>In our case, I had our bank reduce my credit limit on my main card and issue a new one with a small limit for my DS and later a second one for my DD. My wife and I are also on these accounts since it is our credit that is being used. This way there is a tight limit as to what they can charge.</p>
<p>We also have a joint checking account with them. We deposit money in there twice a month - essentially the day after I get paid. That way they get used to the idea of a twice a month paycheck rather than an occasional lump sum.</p>
<p>As for how much they get, we worked with each kid individually to develop a budget. We then divided it into things that the parents would pay for and things the kids would pay for - and that determines how much money goes to them and in what time period.</p>
<p>On budgeting spending money, whether the source is the student, the parents or a combination, the common starting point on the forum seems to be around $200 a month. Some kids spend way more, some kids hoard that and have lots saved, but that seems to be the most common starting number</p>
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<p>I asked my son about this and he said that if you don’t qualify for w/s, an on campus job is very hard to get. My son also told me that without a car an off campus job is very difficult, but he does have one friend who is working off campus and he does not have a car.</p>
<p>My rule of thumb is that about 10 hours of week min. wage is about the right amount of spending money. Some will want more, some less. We have a joint checking account and joint credit card with our youngest so we can monitor his spending if we want to. He generally talks to us about big purchases - and there have been some - such as a trip over winter break for research. We got the money to cover the airfare in a grant from the college after he’d bought the ticket. I’d like my son to work eventually, but decided he didn’t need to work freshman year. He gets a very, very modest allowance from us and mostly uses money he has saved over the year. We cover room, board, textbook, a phone plan and travel to see us. He seems pretty frugal, but I worry about him, because he’s only worked for me and he was a lousy employee. (I’m sure he’d do better working for someone else, but I’d like him to have that experience.) Next summer he’s got language immersion lined up, and for various reasons I do think that’s even more important than a job for him.</p>
<p>Older son has earned enough in the summers that he doesn’t need to work during the school year. His internships gave him enough experience to make him marketable. (He’s a senior and has a job lined up.)</p>
<p>For weekly walking around money I think more like $100/week is needed. That’s just $10/day 5 days and $25/day Friday and Saturday to allow for some nights out, movies etc. I would also expect this to come from work or summer savings if everything else is already covered. Also assumes the campus is in a town with some services very near campus and not in an isolated spot with nowhere to go to spend money. $50 seems very little if you like a couple stops at the coffee shop per day and maybe lunch/dinner/late nite snack out a few times a week. Even cheap food from carts is $7 or more with a drink.</p>
<p>Our daughter no longer qualifies for work-study (which I am bitter about, but there it is), but she found that certain on-campus jobs do not require work-study qualification: lifeguards and resident assistants. Fortunately, she is a certified lifeguard, and she got an RA position. The RA position includes 50% off of room cost, plus a salary that basically all together is equivalent to the room cost. So, that seems like a reasonable contribution for a kid to make, in addition to a few lifeguard hours.</p>
<p>We paid tuition, room/board, fees, cell phone and transportion home for breaks. Our kids had jobs and paid for all other things including their books…this included all discretionary spending (including eating out if they wanted to do so). They worked about 10 hours a week. We found that they were much BETTER budgeting their own earned spending money than the money we gave them (which seemed to get frittered away). Both attended college in expensive urban areas and neither had any difficulty earning their spending money (or if they did, we never heard the complaints).</p>
<p>researching4emb - My D (college junior) has had no trouble finding jobs on campus without qualifying for work study. She has worked since spring of freshman year in the on-campus math/science tutoring center, and she has also worked as a TA and reader. Other types of jobs are also available; my understanding is that anyone who wants a job can find one. Her college is in a rural location, so there are few off-campus opportunities. This is just one example - clearly it varies a lot from one college to another.</p>
<p>On credit cards: we also added our kids to our family credit card when they were in high school. Both times we did it right before the kid was taking a trip without us, since we wanted them to be able to charge a hotel room or plane ticket if they needed to. For the current college kid, this is an easy way to handle buying books, which we pay for. We haven’t set up any rules or limits about what to use the credit card for, since I think it’s pretty obvious to all of us - it’s for necessities, pre-approved non-necessities, and emergencies.</p>
<p>I’m a former student from Chicago, and I would agree with the people who said that $75/week would be good. I think that in a bigger city, upwards toward 100 would be fair. </p>
<p>And while I would encourage DD to get a job, keep in mind that freshman year can be quite stressful enough without a steady job.</p>
<p>Also, I noticed you suggested $25/50/75/month, which is a very low figure. Keep in mind that a monthly transportation pass in a major city alone can cost $20+</p>
<p>I gave my daughter an allowance of $100/week in her freshman year. My husband and I talked about it and talked to other parents, and decided that this was a good amount for a school in a very large city.</p>
<p>I’m currently a freshman and my parents pay for tuition, room and board, meal plan, books, and cell phone plan. Most of my spending money comes from my own personal checking account and I end up buying extra food, clothes, occasional groceries, and other non-necessities. I don’t get any kind of allowance. I just ask if I need extra money, and they send me some. It’s worked really well so far. I’m surprised by the folks who are giving their kids $75+ a week. I can’t imagine what they’re doing with it or why they would need it unless they don’t live on campus/aren’t on a meal plan.</p>
<p>This is a wonderful thread! (And yes, my bad - it was in fact 25/50/75 per WEEK not per month. </p>
<p>We appreeciate all the time and energy that went into this thread - very helpful for us and I am sure others! </p>
<p>By the way, in our family we do best with written contracts, so we will be writing all this up as we did with her driving contract. Prevents misunderstandings, eases communication, etc.</p>
<p>On campus tutoring jobs (hired by the college) aren’t typically work-study jobs, either.</p>
<p>My daughter is extremely frugal and spends about $50/semester. It helps that she attends a middle of nowhere school and is on the full meal plan. I pay for her cell phone and load her up with school supplies and toiletries at the beginning of the semester. She is responsible for paying the summer and campus job amounts of her financial aid package and the rest of what she makes is at her discretion. I think she’s a bit too frugal but it is good practice for post-graduation life.</p>
<p>This is a topic that comes up frequently. Take a peek at the threads listed at the bottom of this thread for previous discussions. There are others-- try searching under the word “allowance”</p>
<p>Regarding on-campus jobs: I can’t personally speak for other schools, but it is very easy to find a job at the college I attend. They have listings of open positions on the school server and offer 800+ student jobs per semester (many students work multiple jobs each semester while others will have a course load too intense to have much time to work). I got an on-campus job my first semester, working about 10 hours per week, and made enough that my parents did not have to provide any allowance for the time during which I worked, although that period was only two and a half months. When I did require an allowance, I honestly spent no more than $20/week unless I was going to a show downtown and had to pay for a cab to get back to campus.</p>