<p>Local bank is advertising Free Checking accounts. Wondering whether S should open an account? Where do kids park and use their summer earnings/allowance when they are at school? Do they have checking accounts local to the school? savings accounts and use ATMs? Do they park all their savings local to the school or have infusions sent from home by some method?</p>
<p>S will be going to school quite a distance from our area.</p>
<p>Do you know where S is going to school yet? I would pick a bank that has a branch in school-town. That way he can use his ATM card without fees, deposit/withdraw more easily.
I would also welcome advice in this area.</p>
<p>Our kids have their accounts at our bank, and use ATM/credit cards/checks at schools. One has a free ATM on campus, the other has to pay $1.50 per transaction. We felt it was safer to have their accounts at the same bank as ours, so we could help them solve any problems that might arise...</p>
<p>Mine has a free savings & checking account at school, with free ATM. I believe it's free until he graduates. He uses his credit card for most purchases over $10. Money from his summer job was split between his account at home and the one at school. I can take money out of the home one if he needs it (which hasn't happened yet). It's worked out well so far.</p>
<p>We did what nmgmm did. We looked into accounts at banks in the city where my s. attends college, but their ATM's weren't very convenient. Consequently, we opened a free student account at our bank. It is easier for us to transfer money into our s's account on line, as it is linked to our account. Also, because we were loyal customers, they threw in a few extra "perks" (i.e. listed his year of graduation as one later than it is so he'll continue to get free checking on his student account, free checks, etc for a little longer..) Also, he can easily cash a check on campus at the Bursar's (cashier's) office-- once a week-- $50--no charge. I'll bet most schools offer this service.
Thirdly, a lot of supermarkets (Publix for one, I believe) have free ATM machines (and his student checking account assesses no transaction fees for the first 3 ATM charges made at a competitor's ATM ). Supermarkets also do cashback, so you can buy a pack of gum and get twenty bucks or more back-- no charge. we also felt that having our home address on our s's checks made better sense than a college address, which could change. By luck, our bank bought out another one, and will have branches in his college city very soon. that was a nice fluke.</p>
<p>Another thought-- if any of you belong to USAA (for military officers and their families) they offer a very good college checking deal, and will refund you up to $12/mo in ATM fees from other banks.</p>
<p>Lastly-- and most convenient-- our son got himself a credit card. Here's a list of several student offers. I've posted the correct URL link to <a href="http://www">www</a>. bankrate.com where they list the best student credit cards in a post below. I'd recommend these in place of the ones your s. or d. will be offered on campus. Those often come with hidden fees (as my s. discovered and quickly cancelled). We are fortunate-- my s. is very careful with money-- and will not run up any chargecard fees. He pays his bill in full every month (pays it on line-- free electronic banking and billpay with his student checking account at out bank), and gets 1% back on his credit card purchases. He's also building his own credit. So all in all, I's suggest you pick what is most convenient for you.</p>
<p>If you wait until school starts, most colleges will have bank reps on campus first few days to open student accounts. Pick a bank with an atm on campus if possible. We knew which bank did this at DD's school, and decided against opening an account there because they charged some fees for checking --- if we had known about their free offers and waited until school started, DD would have opened an account with them, but she had already decided to keep her money at our local credit union. The only drawback has been depositing the few checks she earned. Although she could deposit them at a consolidated or shared credit union facility near to her, she has no car, and that makes it difficult. She just endorses check and sends it home to me, and I deposit. All other banking she does online and uses Checkcard for almost everything. She has a credit card to charge books and airplane travel that she pays off in full each month - so she can build a credit history. HTH.</p>
<p>Try this URL for the link to the bankrate list of good student credit cards <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/cc_ratehome.asp?cc_online=0&hAboutType=C&product=cc&prodtype=cc&web=brm&R1=1&card_type=Student&card_class=All&cc_freq=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/cc_ratehome.asp?cc_online=0&hAboutType=C&product=cc&prodtype=cc&web=brm&R1=1&card_type=Student&card_class=All&cc_freq=1</a> Ironically, he chose a deal through Citibank, that isn't listed here. They offer a no-fee card with 1% cash back and higher on some other purchases. Check their website too (<a href="http://www.citicard.com%5B/url%5D">www.citicard.com</a>).</p>
<p>My kids all had checking accounts in local banks. 18 yr olds are perfectly capable of handling their own money. We would not send them too much at once, this encouraged communications!</p>
<p>Our S. is planning on opening an account at a local bank convenient to the college he'll attend...he's doing work study so he'll need to deposit paychecks every couple of weeks...plus when he was looking at colleges we always reminded him that the place would become his new "home" so we feel he needs to be connected to it in as many ways as possible... he'll keep his account he has in our home town so we can get money to him if needed...</p>
<p>Since we're following the money, about how much "pocket money" for personal expenses does a freshman living on campus need?</p>
<p>I wasn't sure if that was a rhetorical ? Frazzeleddad.We didn't give our daughter spending money. We did pay for her books and prescriptions until her work study job kicked in, although she also had some dollars left over from her summer job that wasn't needed right away for tuition. We also would ask if she needed money, but generally she didnt
She has checks deposited automatically to her account, something I would recommend as she may not have time to go to bank before she needs $</p>
<p>...no it's not a rhetorical question...</p>
<p>My S. will be doing work study and it seemed liked the expected work study was close to the personal expenses that the college fin aid office projected. So, we too plan for work study to provide the funds for the personal expenses. I was just curious if those figures for personal expenses used by most colleges were accurate...I can imagine students spending both far more and also a little less than the projected amounts.</p>
<p>Frazzleddad, </p>
<p>I have my own apartment and more bills than a college freshman, but this is how i spend my money.</p>
<p>I work part time and earn about 400/500 a month. It gets spent as follows:</p>
<p>$270 - car insurance and car payment (oh how i love my new car)
$50 (estimate) - gas
$50 (estimate) - groceries
$50 (estimate) - other expenses. this includes grabbing a bite to eat at some place not called my home, going to the movies, ordering a pizza, the bar, just random things like that. </p>
<p>It really depends what kind of money your son needs while at school. I'm a senior, so things are different than when I was a freshman. First off, i'm 22 and I go out with my roommates to kareoke at the bar once a week... having a drink and some dinner is part of my extra expenses category ;) I live in an on-campus apartment and I don't have a meal plan, so I cook meals at home. (and yes, that 50 dollars on food per month was not a misstype.. it is possible).. I have a car on campus, so i have to pay for my gas.. i just purchased said car about three months ago, so i have lovely car payments, as well as insurance (which went up a pretty penny when i got a car 10 years newer than the last!).. It all depends on the area of the place.. Is your son going to be going off campus to do things? Do on campus events require money? Stuff like that. My on-campus events are free, but i go to another college near by and see movies there - and it's like 3 dollars a movie. I would ask kids from the school he's going to what they spend on average per month.</p>
<p>fendergirl - to me, your budget is impressive. If I read it right,your expenses if you lived on campus would be $50/month for the "extras." When I was in college in the middle ages, my allowance was $50/month. If I recall correctly, that was for incidentals, books, clothes (excluding big ticket winter coat-for some reason that sticks in my mind), fun, local transport (MBTA)...</p>
<p>Which means either I was a spoiled brat (not possible!), or you are a very careful and responsible spender, which is what I'm concluding. I did do some temp/pt work to supplement my allowance. So, given how "reasonable" your expenses are, do you think you are representative?</p>
<p>My daughter probably spends $100 a month on public transportation, going out, groceries ( she has meal plan also) movies not on campus.
Portland has cheap entertainment- not only do students shop at the bins for clothing , but many oncampus events are free, and local entertainment can be very inexpensive as well. Nickel Arcade!
Spending time in the library is included with tuition!
Reed also has the Gray fund which sponsors speakers/trip/events . I thought that all schools probably have something similar?</p>
<p>She didn't really need much money. She had her work study job, she also had a charge account at the school bookstore and she is fairly thrifty anyway.
I have saved a lot of money having kids who as long as they have their north face jacket and boots are happy wearing jeans from Target & knitting their own sweaters. ( not that , that saves any money, yarn is expensive!)</p>
<p>There's so many free accounts and credit cards out there for students. Bank reps are all over campuses the first week. D has college checking/savings/VISA through a bank that has branches in our town as well as in her new state. Bank's ATM is in student center. No need for local bank there. Direct deposit of work study earnings. She is a miser, and will not withdraw anything once it's gone into the vault. Spends the $10-20 cash the grandmother's send occasionally for no special reason :). We send nothing except our portion of LAC's comprehensive fee (ouch), and $ for books, which covers all she's ever needed on campus so far. S's school was located in a state that did not have any banks in common with our location. He had free student checking/VISA through his local bank. Now at his grad school in another state, he has college credit union accounts without fees. The credit union also make available Stafford loans.</p>
<p>I use on-line bill paying system with big mega bank and have kids' accounts listed as payees just in case. I can transfer $$ without charge, just like paying a bill.</p>
<p>Jmmom.. i am a resonable spender.. i'm a bit weird when it comes to money...i used to make about 120/month my freshman year (barely ever worked), but i paid for my cell phone, car insurance(50/mo), and other expenses with that.. so yeah, 50 a month sounds right.</p>
<p>Oh i forgot to add 20/month for my cell phone to my list of expenses. can't forget that one..</p>
<p>Fendergirl...I'm still scratching my head over your $50 per month for groceries...Our family of 5 spends between $30 and $40 a day for groceries... you're only spending a little over $1.50 a day...perhaps your part time job is at a restaurant and you're getting free meals there???</p>
<p>haha no. how can you spend 30 and 40 a day on groceries?? </p>
<p>uh.. i don't eat breakfast, sometimes i get lunches or dinners at work (i work at my bestfriends house), and i eat some of my lunches on campus (sandwiches are $1). it really is about 50/month for my groceries :P i also "steal" some food out of my parents kitchen when i come home for weekends. ;)</p>
<p>We are a family of 4 and while I buy mostly organic/ and want the cows from which we get our milk to have all the best care, nice grass, a backrub once in a while... all that stuff costs!
But still we don't spend $30 day unless you add up vitamin supplements ( which are expensive) cleaning supplies ( ditto) and really nice bottles of wine :)
Nobody eats lunch at home however- and half the time the oldest child doesn't eat dinner here either. We eat vegetarian for half our meals- which can be cheaper and we do eat leftovers.
Breakfast is coffee for my husband and I, although I try to make hot breakfast for the girls. ( I know bad not to eat breakfast- sometimes I have cold pizza does that count? ;) )</p>
<p>I love your family, emeraldkity! My family also buys milk from "happy cows" (and eggs from happy chickens:)). And you are between being vegetarians and meat-eaters! Wow, the only thng to add would be having a S/D at an ubernifty college... and you have that too! :D</p>