<p>I have no idea of what to give monthly for allowance and what it is needed for besides gas, off campus necessities and food and weekend fun .. any tips? I realize some may not give much and your college kid may work - Mine will not be working and I've already told her it wasn't going to be alot and not to be comparing it to other's- can i have opinion's and what they use it for for those have upper classmen</p>
<p>There has been quite a few threads on this topic, try to do some search. It depends where your kid is going to school, NYC is going to be a lot more expensive than Ithaca. Do you give allowance to your kid I high school? We did and continued to give the same amount in college. We gave 200/mon, but she spent more than that on beauty products and going out with friends. She had on campus job to supplement her allowance.</p>
<p>I spent $100-125/month as a freshman, not counting books. I did not have or need a car, though, so gas was not an issue. I could have easily spent a bit less, but it was all my own money, so I didn’t feel obliged to cut back. I did, however, have housing and a full meal plan paid for me by my parents, and I don’t drink or party, so there was no paying for alcohol or getting into parties.</p>
<p>I maybe spend $90 a month, if that. I spend it primarily on coffee, a few meals, and gas. My parents also don’t give me an allowance and never have. I think that $200 a month is a little absurd to be quite honest (I actually think that parents shouldn’t give college students allowances at all). But if you do give an allowance, I would set it a lot lower than $200- your son/daughter may appreciate the money more.</p>
<p>Thanks, but D1 appreciates plenty.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to say that your daughter doesn’t appreciate the money. I apologize if that is how that came over. What I meant, but didn’t clarify was that if you give your son/daughter less money, he/she may spend less, or be more conscious of their spending. </p>
<p>And for me, when I had to spend my own money, I appreciated what money I did have much more.</p>
<p>I used to tap off during the freshman year for DD as she was not on a meal plan and we were not sure about the expenditures. After all said and done the first year monthly expenditure came to around $750/month for a 10 month period excluding the summer.
During the second year I started paying $550 per month and tapping off when the balance go too low. There was a slight decrease in overall expenses for the 10 months and it came to around $700/month.</p>
<p>So I’ll recommend paying a fixed amount and tapping off when the amount go too low.</p>
<p>And in the late 60’s my weekly allowance was $7!!!</p>
<p>^^^: $7 in 60s is equivalent to $50 today so your allowance was $200+ a month and would be considered quite generous if you were on a full meal plan.</p>
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<p>We send $200 a month. Kid can save up money and do something big (symphony tix, trip to NYC, etc.) if she wants to. We don’t pay for Spring Break trips, but pay for trips to school at the beginning of each year, trips home at the end of the year and a RT at Christmas time.</p>
<p>If she needs clothes, pencils, shampoo, whatever…it comes out of that money.</p>
<p>Yup, we’re generous. We can afford to be–our kids have never had a car.</p>
<p>This is one of the situations where a “smiley face beating a dead pony with a stick” emoticon would come in handy. 
Just kidding. There were several threads debating this exact issue last year, and the consensus was $50/week. YMMV.</p>
<p>We do what ellemenope does. D is on her school’s mandatory “all you can eat” meal plan, but she does not have a car, and her monthly public transit pass is not that cheap. She squirrels away what she can.</p>
<p>POIH is not being too generous. The meal plan at his D’s school is a joke, according to my D’s friends (said friends take full advantage of the guest meal passes at my D’s school).</p>
<p>A lot of the students at my D’s college have cars (and not old ones) as well as disposable incomes. For my D, who has no car, she receives $300 a month and it is barely enough. She has less money than most of her friends do. I wonder how some of these families afford to provide cars for their college students.</p>
<p>I am considering $100/week. possibly up to $150 or $200/week. $200/week would be tops and I would expect him to save for special outings. He has full room and board and freshman are not allowed cars.</p>
<p>Nothing, and she forks over most of her campus job earnings to help pay her tuition. I do send nice care packages and load her up on school supplies and toiletries at the beginning of the year. I also pay for her transportation to and from school for breaks. She also pays her summer earnings expectation towards tuition too. What she makes above that she is free to spend as she sees fit.</p>
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<p>In the town where I live, there are single mothers supporting families on not a whole lot more than that.</p>
<p>thanks- she gets $200/mo now and I was hoping to keep it at about that but she did mention that most don’t eat on campus on the weekends . She hopes to babysit some-but I doubt it’ll happen that often. she is not far from home at all- at a small LAC - I am sure it’ll be more than $200. She will soon learn how to budget her money!!</p>
<p>We won’t be sending our D any sort of an allowance. We may send a care package every few weeks with some personal hygiene items and such in it. There is a reason the school is giving her a large work study job (ie her family doesn’t have any money!). </p>
<p>We are paying her tuition and her books for this first semester and we will pay her cell phone bill as it is part of our family plan. She will be responsible for her spending money and second semester books.</p>
<p>Right now our plan is $200/month, not to cover books which we will cover separately. Both are going to school in the suburbs of a major city (Chicago and Boston). Both will have full meal plans that includes the weekend. I don’t want them touching their own savings that are currently in money market; let that sit and accumulate til they graduate.</p>
<p>annasdad
Member
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" $200/week</p>
<p>In the town where I live, there are single mothers supporting families on not a whole lot more than that.
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<p>I think that’s irrelevant. Does that mean no one should spend money on private schools or college tuition because some single mothers can’t afford it?</p>
<p>Will someone get to creating that dead horse emoticon? lol</p>
<p>It does vary from family to family–and school to school. People send what they can afford or want to send. We pay all expenses because DD chose the school that paid her tuition. When she had a dorm and a meal plan, she got the $200 a month. Last year, she lived on campus without a meal plan and she got $500 to $700 a month. This year, we willl be paying for an off-campus apartment, utilities, and food, which will be slightly less than last year (we paid for the room by semester).</p>
<p>Families do what they can.</p>