Getting Kids to Save $$$ for College Spending

Parents Forum
1

<p>My brother is currently a junior, only two years away from going to college. He has started working as a pizza boy (making pizza and wings for now) this past summer and still working fair amount of hours during the week. </p>

<p>Right now he's really interested in going to a city school like Boston or Washington DC... would LOVE to go to NYC but Mom forbids him from considering NYU. I think part of it is the high cost of living in a city. </p>

<p>I have lived in DC for two summers and have gone both ways- extremely frugal in my first summer and a bit more generous to myself in the second summer- wow, what a difference in costs. I have told him upfront how much things have been costing me in DC- metro, food, movie tickets, etc (so grateful that there's no museum admissions fee!). I said to expect an upwards of $500 in spending money per month if he's interested in going out several times a week. So we could be looking at about $3,000 per year plus paying for his own books and $500/semester towards his tutition.</p>

<p>But he doesn't seem to believe it, nor does his bank account reflect any true savings. My mom doesn't really want him working in college if he's going to be challenged academically.</p>

<p>What have you all done to encourage your kids to save, especially if they want to go a school in a city?</p>

2

<p>This was a problem when my son was a rising senior. He could not understand that college was a short time away, and that he needed to bank his earnings. He really was not happy about it, but we convinced him that we were not spending his money, that it was his, but he needed to bank most of it. He did. He did bank graduation gifts, and most of his earnings the summer before college, and that summer he understood why he was putting it away. 2 years from college for high school student does seem like forever.</p>

3

<p>ticklemepink,
We explained pretty clearly to our S that we would foot the bill for his very expensive and excellent LAC, but that he would have to provide the spending money from his earnings. He also used his summer earnings (post junior and senior year) to buy a laptop for himself with exactly the configuration he wanted. No arguing with us and to what was/was not needed since he used his own money.</p>

4

<p>Similar arrangement here. We made it clear that S was going to be responsible for books and spending money, then showed him estimates from various colleges he was considering. This was a sobering and motivating influence!</p>

5

<p>Presumably, parents have been encouraging their kids to save from a very early age. We gave our S very teensy allowances from when he was very young (4 or 5), starting with 50 cents/wk and going up as he got older each year. We encouraged him to save part of it from the get-go. If you'd asked me how well it was working when he was 7 or 8, I would have said "not well." He seemed to need to spend it as soon as he got it, much of the time on Ninja Turtles, plastic swords, etc. But, so long as we didn't kill the "teachable moments" which came along, he began to get it. By this I mean that, if he saw something he wanted that required "two allowances", but he couldn't wait, we didn't get it for him. He learned that he had to save. We encouraged him to save gift money of any substance and he usually did.</p>

<p>By the time he was able to earn "real money" (summer jobs), he already had the motivation and the habit.</p>

<p>If a kid hasn't been encouraged to save from the early years, or has resisted the urge ;), I'm not sure you can "encourage" him into it. You just need to "real life" him into it, by setting down the financial parameters and sticking to them.</p>

<p>Like the other parents here have said, explain that while tuition, r&b, fees etc. are on the parents, spending money is up to the kid. Then stick to it. If he doesn't save much, he won't have much. He won't be the only one.</p>

<p>I know it is expensive to go to school in some cities. But he doesn't "need" $500/month if parents are covering a meal plan. He may "want" it, but he doesn't need it. My S is in a city, has a meal plan on us and spends about $125/month, sometimes less.</p>

<p>If your brother is "interested in going out several times a week," but chooses not to save, he'll have to develop other interests :).</p>

6

<p>My kid is one of the more frugal kids that i know, but we also explained that he needed to save b/c he would be responsible for his spending money and for his books. It was still a very remote concept as a rising junior. College was just not around the corner in his mind. He did follow our advice, but he was not thrilled about it.</p>

7

<p>DS is going to college in an expensive city. He has yet to spend $500 per month on just "spending money"...going out, or recreational spending. He has somehow averaged about $50 per week...some weeks he doesn't spend much of anything and other weeks he spends more. We pay his room and board costs...so any "food" he buys would fall under that recreational cost. DS had money from his summer job, and a small job (10 hours a week or less) at school that more than covered his spending money. We made it clear that we would not cover any of these types of expenses...and we haven't. I do know that some kids have to learn the "hard knock way". We know a couple of students who spent close to their entire summer earnings within a month or so of school beginning. They REALLY had to learn how to take advantage of the inexpensive or free things their colleges had to offer, rather than hitting the "retail market" in the major cities in which they lived.</p>

8

<p>Same as others; we made it clear that while we were happy to be able to cover tuition, room and board, we felt it was their responsibility to cover extra expenses and books, like we had ourselves, and that it was definitely do-able. </p>

<p>S is now confounding our expectations by making so much money playing poker that his expense savings are sitting in the bank, untouched.</p>

<p>But, since that's apparently his future career, it's good to know it's going so well, :rolleyes:</p>

9

<p>For the cost that we and son had to pay; Any spending money and possible workstudy was minor. Getting good grades and networking was more important than anytime spent in workstudy. </p>

<p>But every bit of savings does count.</p>

10

<p>My S is also going to school in a fairly expensive city (LA). He lives on campus (in the dorm) & has a meal plan that provides 10 meals/week + $510/semester in dining $$. All the $$ he got as gifts from graduation & for becoming an Eagle Scout + summer earnings has been banked. He has not asked us for any spending money, tho we did buy his laptop & plane tickets & set him up in his dorm & bought his student activity card & books for the term; we also pay for his phone on the family plan (he doesn't use very many minutes & doesn't text). He has not mentioned now much he has spent, but I don't believe it's much. He's always been quite frugal about spending but has been enjoying himself.</p>

11

<p>Ive been living on 50 bucks give or take for the past couple months and its pretty comfy. Granted there are some things I want to buy, but I don't need them.</p>

<p>Just watch out for recurring charges...those are *****in' and got me in some trouble last month.</p>

12

<p>Oddly enough I got better grades in college once I started working. (About 10 hours a week.)</p>

<p>My parents brought us up all the same - I was frugal, my older younger brother spent every penny he got (and still does), my youngest brother is somewhere between the two of us.</p>

13

<p>My parents are making me save cash for spending money. Last summer I worked at a camp, and with a grossly underpaid salary, earned $1,000. This summer I interned and got a grant that gave me 1,500. I'm aiming to make 2,500 between Febuary (apps done) and when college starts so I should have enough spending money. Anything extra gets put away just in case I need more and any I have left over after college should help me pay for some stuff when I start working if I am far from home. I also have to figure out how I am going to pay my share which may be 40-60k after 4 years. This stuff is expensive.</p>

14

<p>Actually, the adcoms claim that most kids who work about 10 hours/week DO get better grades (need to organize & have better time management). Our friend who played women's soccer for her college found that she got better grades during season than off season because of the time management issue as well.
We have tried to raise our kids the same--S is MUCH more frugal than D. In our extended family, the older kids are much more frugal than the younger ones (our folks had a bit more money by the time the younger ones were growing up--we had to make do with hand-me-down clothing & things we sewed ourselves while the younger ones were able to shop at stores).
Yeah, it's really important to watch out for recurring charges, finance charges, ATM charges, even those daily lattes really add up. </p>

<p>College is a great time to learn to economize with all the others around you that are hopefully also living frugally & enjoying free/discounted student entertainment on campus or nearby. It's much easier to spend money than figure out how to improvise & make do with fewer funds (something that is a valuable life skill).</p>

15

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<p>D goes to an expensive school in an expensive city and she makes do with $200 per month (which is very generous on our part, I think). Less money saved equals less going out--which isn't necessarily a bad thing for someone who needs to concentrate on studies.</p>

16

<p>They figure out how to budget their money when they run out of pizza $ in October of their freshman year...</p>

<p>$500 to go out several times a week?!!! You're kidding right?</p>

17

<p>work study money was plenty for our daughters personal expenses
an added bonus is that it doesn't count for financial aid income.
We set up an account in the bookstore for her books- and we committed to paying her medical expenses- but after we paid for room/board and tuition- every thing else was on her.
Worked fairly well- one of the perks of her school was that they had college funded activities- free or low cost. Living in a city with excellent public transportation was another draw.
I agree that the busier you are- the better use you make of your time.
( plus learning to say no- Im still working on that)</p>

18

<p>"one of the perks of her school was that they had college funded activities- free or low cost. Living in a city with excellent public transportation was another draw."</p>

<p>School son attends attends offers the same. This was one of the major postives about this school for me. Although, not in a city, and fairly rural, there is very good public transit in the area. Also, the school offers very reasonable on-campus entertainment. There are even steak dinners allowed in an on-campus restaurant 3 times/semester. Lots of things besides football and rec center activites. There are speakers, debates, $2 movies, concerts, etc.</p>

19

<p>I agree that if, as parents, we keep a "hands off" approach to their fun money, they'll figure it out pretty quickly and learn how to budget when they've spent it all by November 1st! (As long as we don't bail them out; which I think is crucial to the whole growing up to be a "real" adult process).</p>

<p>I put $150 in D's checking account each month to cover laundry and personal supplies. I do take note of her balance when I do this, but try not to look any further at WHAT she's spending her $$ on. I figure that since we're covering tuition, room & board, and books and she doesn't ask us for anything else, things are good. Actually, she's been pretty frugal and so have her friends, so everyone's happy.</p>

20

<p>I would think simply telling them to bank 50% in HS and sticking to it would do the trick. For mine I used the "beer and pizza" rationale. While they may get scholarships that pay for school, nobody (including us) gives them money for late night pizza or the "occasional" sixer. That's their responsibility. That's part of college life if they want to experience it. For those who really oppose "beer".. say "soda". NO lectures please. Fit it to your situation.</p>

<p>The other thing is by saving money in HS, your child will begin to build credit status and history. It shouldn't be very hard to get them to think this way. You have my permission to smack them in the head for being stupid.</p>