<p>I agree that $750 a month is A LOT - then again I only have sons who could care less what they wear…</p>
<p>$750 include the food, as there is no meal plan at her college. So I thought it was fair as it include some winter clothes shopping too.
What do you think is the reasonable amount? I don’t think DD is a big spender.</p>
<p>oldfort: It was too soon for me to jump on this. In the hind sight I think it will be applicable to my DD too.</p>
<p>There is NO meal plan? What college is this?</p>
<p>thumper1: MIT
The dorm enforce a dinning subsidy by adding $300 per semester to the dorm charges. She gets 50% off the dinning halls (any dinning hall) offering.
Other than that everyone is on their own.
She seems to enjoy 3/4 times a week dinner at dorm dinning. Rest of the times she eats out.</p>
<p>Well, here’s how we did it. We started the girls off with allowances of their own when they were in high school. They had bank accounts, that I can see the spending on, and ATM/visa cards. </p>
<p>By the time D1 got to college we pulled a years worth (the amount the school said it would cost for tuition/room/board/books and incidentals) out of her college account and put it in a her savings account. Every year we dump that amount in sometime in August. She gets to pay for everything out of it on her own. She’s now a junior. So far so good.</p>
<p>Our banker offered her a credit card, in her name. She said sure, and they sent it to her on her 18th birthday. I’ve talked her into using it occasionally, so she can build up credit. She is always amazed when the credit limit goes up. I am not a co-signer on her credit card. And I’m not sure I could be. When my husband, her father, died, I found my credit rating was a bit non-existent. It’s been 20 months, I have some credit cards in my name now, and have changed over about half the bills. Some utilities I have not changed over, as I don’t have a co-signer, and I don’t want to lose them. So I figure I’ll wait until I do have a decent credit rating.</p>
<p>She has picked up part time jobs along the way, and that just makes up for extra spending money, or the chance to do fun stuff/and or unpaid internships in the summer instead of coming home.</p>
<p>It’s going to cost her a fortune if she eats ALL but 3-4 meals a week out in Boston. I would hope she has a fridge and access to a microwave. At least she can make some meals herself if that is the case. Is it REALLY more economical for her to “eat out” than to eat in the dining hall? I would check into this…</p>
<p>I would think that the 50% off in the dining hall would be MUCH cheaper than eating in restaurants near MIT.</p>
<p>Now food, that’s another story! I just went over my son’s cc statement and it is all food! Also, it would appear that he is either generously buying other people dinner OR putting the whole thing on his card and pocketing the cash they give him…hmmm. Either way- there is no way it costs $23 for dinner @ Allegro’s in Philly!</p>
<p>thumper1: There is a kitchen on the floor with the Refrigerator and Microwave. I think she eats breakfast in room, lunch in the college/Student Center etc and dinner at Dinning Hall Monday- Thursday. She eats out for sure Fri-Sat. Sunday’s are toss up.
She puts $250 per month in College Dollars, which is totally food I think.
Her $40 on the weekend seems to reflect that she eats out in resturants not accepting College dollars or movies etc.</p>
<p>POIH…you might want to mention that eating out at LUNCH time is usually far less expensive than eating out at DINNER time…especially on the weekends. She may want to “alter” her meals out to take advantage of lunch specials instead of paying weekend dinner out prices. Just a thought.</p>
<p>$750 a month?!?! Thats what older s got when he lived off campus and it paid for rent, utilities,internet, food, transportation, books, EVERYTHING other than tuition costs. POIH, you want to adopt younger s?? He would LOVE that kind of an allowance. We give him $250/month to cover all his club sports expenses, ancillary necessities and fun spending/date money (if there is such a thing) and we though $250 was <em>extremely</em> generous.</p>
<p>POIH…I agree with Jym…and my kid went to school in the same “college town” as yours. $750 a month paid for off campus housing, all utilities including heat, electricity and cable, and food.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>When the child ACTS “entitled and spoiled,” of course. But if all you know about a given student is that he / she is full pay and doesn’t have a job, that tells you absolutely nothing about whether said student is “entitled and spoiled.” Where on earth are you all getting the idea that “entitled and spoiled” has anything to do with the amount of money someone has? It’s the attitude, not the amount. Kids whose parents make $50,000 a year can be entitled and spoiled, and kids whose parents make $500,000 a year can be nothing of the sort.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I see that as different. I see a difference between research internships and things of that nature – which is may-the-best-candidate-win – and things like “ordinary” work study jobs such as shelving books at the library and serving food in the cafeteria and what-not, or “ordinary” local jobs, such as working at the local fast-food restaurant or movie theater for some extra bucks. I don’t see anything wrong with doing those jobs, but I wouldn’t have felt right taking that opportunity away from someone who absolutely needed that job to stay on campus.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>How would you know???</p>
<p>And, like I wrote earlier…if this is the “correct and moral standard,” then every spouse who works to “buy the extras,” needs to immediately quit so an unemployed person who needs to feed his/her family can take that job.</p>
<p>I see that as splitting hair. My daughter could afford to be full pay because of how hard I have worked to provide that for her. She needs to work hard now herself to ensure a good future for herself. I would have been disappointed if she ended up doing nothing but go to school for 4 years. </p>
<p>As an employer, I would be very hesitant to hire any college student with absolutely no work experience, may it be flipping burgers or working in a lab. In my view, there is nothing “ordinary” about any job. They all require workers to show up on time, to work well with people and be trust worthy. Those are the qualities every employer looks for.</p>
<p>I already have an issue of some people paying more for the same education, but to say it is unfair for my child to compete equally for a job is going a bit too far. I probably could support both of kids way past college. Does that mean they should let other less fortunate people to get a job and have me continue to support them?</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>How would you know???>></p>
<p>Because they were my friends (and at the time, my former boyfriend) and I saw them working their butts off at multiple work-study jobs, staying up late at night, etc. while I was fortunate enough not to. That’s how I “knew.” It was obvious when it was my friends. In the bigger sense – no, of course I wouldn’t know.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t see any parallel whatsoever. I mean, I get the intellectual parallel you’re making, but I just don’t see it.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>The parallel is that if it’s immoral for a full-pay student to take a part-time job to pay for “fun stuff” because some unknown student may need that job for tuition, then it’s just as immoral for a parent to take an unneeded job to pay for family “fun stuff” since there are many desperate parents out there who need those jobs to feed their families.</p>
<p>There is the parallel.</p>
<p>And my question about “how would you know?” was concerning the situation that if a “full pay” student turns down a job opportunity, then he has no idea if that job will ultimately be given to a needy kid (it could end up going to another full-pay student). Therefore, he “wouldn’t know” if his taking the job had prevented a needy kid from getting that job.</p>
<p>Well, this is my own hang-up. Don’t worry about it, then! I don’t have any plans to make my kids get jobs when they go to school, unless they so desire. I hope they’ll have enough to keep them busy. If you (generic you) want to insist your full-pay kids have jobs, then go for it. Doesn’t affect me.</p>
<p>We decided that my son would not do work-study at school his first year to get used to college life and studying. For his own spending money (not to be used for books, etc.) we gave him $125 in cash and $250 in a bank account. We just came home from parents weekend and he still had about $20 in cash and has not even touched his bank account. He has been off campus a few times for pizza and the like but nothing much. His campus offers alot of activities on campus for the students which he has attended. So far, so good.</p>