<p>My daughter lived in the dorms for her first two years at college. Now she's planning to live in an apartment near campus. We paid for her room and board her first two years and are happy to do the same this year, but are having trouble coming up with an appropriate amount to give her for food. She does NOT manage money well, so we don't want her to have a lot of "extra" money at her disposal, but we certainly want her to be able to eat properly. I would greatly appreciate input from other parents about how much money they provide their college kids for food. Btw, we're in the Midwest.</p>
<p>IMO a rising junior is old enough to begin learning how to budget money. I would use the “board” portion of the college’s room and board cost as a starting point. My S is a rising senior but he learned to budget a small monthly stipend last semester when he was studying abroad in London - he didn’t starve on $400 per month - which also had to be converted to pounds. Now this summer he is in NYC and lives on $200 per week for everything including metro card, food, other incidentals. He will move into an apartment in September instead of the dorm and I plan to give him a lump sum to cover rent, food, gas, incidentals at the beginning of each semester. It is up to him to figure it out.</p>
<p>Most colleges’ Board plan is relatively expensive - they average out to around $600+ per month. I would agree with Kennedy that $400 per month is closer to the right ballpark, perhaps even less since girls tend to eat less than boys, at least in my experience.</p>
<p>Since she struggles to manage money properly, you might also consider how you provide the money. Sending $4,000 with her in August and expecting it to last for the academic year sounds risky for any kid. Instead, I would just transfer $100 every week directly to her checking account. Transferring the money on Mondays would reduce the chances that it would all get blown at parties on weekends - although kids are remarkable at getting around any system.</p>
<p>One easy way to potentially save money, and make eating more fun, is to combine resources with roommates - one person cooks for a group of six one night every week.</p>
<p>We have always given our kids who lived off campus the amount of the equivalent board charge in a check at the beginning of the term. How they manage it is their responsibility. I think they usually save some money.</p>
<p>Hey, you guys can spoon feed your kids if you want. But then why do you expect them to suddenly become self-sufficient in a couple years when they graduate? IMO they need the experience of budgeting money before they get to the real world. I see nothing risky about sending my S away each semester with roughly $7500 to cover ALL his expenses. Plus I want him to set aside a small savings as well.</p>
<p>You can probably setup an auto transfer of $15 a day for food with your bank to her account. That way she has to apportion her spending and can’t blow it all at once. If she wants money to blow and learn with or enjoy…let her get a job to do so.</p>
<p>As for the apartment? Give her the exact amount each month the week her bill is due. She has no choice but to pay it or she’s screwed.</p>
<p>You might call it “spoon feeding”, but I would call it transitioning to adulthood. OP states that her daughter struggles with managing money - I have known too many kids like that who simply call home in November asking for more food money for the semester. Do you still insist that they be self-sufficient at that point?</p>
<p>I do not advocate giving kids grocery lists that tell them what to buy each week or asking for receipts to prove that money is being spent responsibly. I do suggest knowing your children’s strenghts and weaknesses, then helping them succeed. Giving them guidance with their budget in college is not a lifetime commitment.</p>
<p>I expect them to learn life skills while in college so that they will be truly self-sufficient when they graduate. (By the way, claiming kids are self-sufficient while giving them money for food is an odd statement.) I am glad Kennedy’s son did well with his budgeting, but not all kids will have the same success.</p>
<p>We give our kids the equivalent of the full meal plan … giving them the bucks at the start of a semester for any part not covered by a meal plan.</p>
<p>IMO this situation is a very good exercise in managing their money. Not a lot of money, no risk of debt, and no big risk … the worst case would have been if they run out of money then we bail them out on the mac& cheese and chinese noodle diet until the end of the semester (and take the bail out of the next semester food fund). Seems like the perfect budgeting lesson to me.</p>
<p>I think $100/month is too low, even for a student that always cooks at home. That is barely $1 per meal.</p>
<p>One idea is to start low and encourage student to save receipts for family review. Then you can revise the stipend. This method gives a chance for parents to see pricey trends and make suggestions.</p>
<p>most mature adults don’t have to manage and budget 4 months worth of money all at once, why should we expect 20 year old adults to do so? Especially ones that have proven to be weak and money management. Most working adults get paid every 2 weeks or monthly. Send your student some money that often and help her learn how to budget it. </p>
<p>Maybe get online and look at her local grocery store websites so that you can get a feel for the prices so that you can determine the best amount of food money for her. It does cost more per person to stock a kitchen for one person than it does for 2-4 people. It is a good idea if she could find someone to share basics with, she buy the 5 lbs of sugar, someone else buys 5 lbs of flour, then the split each half and half or something like that. There is less spoilage that way, too, especially if they can split the perishables.</p>
<p>D received an all expense paid research fellowship for 7 weeks over the summer. It included airfare, dorm, all research/lab activities, all special social events/outings. But the kicker was that the meal card was budgeted at $6 per day! Roughly $180 per month. That was a major struggle. She ended up buying breakfast bars, yogurt, etc to eat for breakfast and then used the meal card for lunch and dinner only. $100 per month is too low.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of your responses, and please keep them coming. It’s very educational for me to see how others manage this situation, not only in the amount they provide but in the way it is provided. Rmldad, you seem to “get” our situation/philosophy exactly. Sksbl88, I think I really like the idea of transferring a small amount of money to her on a daily basis. Money just burns a hole in her pocket – we set things up poorly last year (totally our fault) and she ended up spending $1500 of her <em>savings</em> over 15 months. Her savings, we have all agreed, is for major expenses like a down payment on a future home. We were paying for everything that could be considered a necessity, and she had a part-time job, and still this money just “went”. Very frustrating. Btw, this coming year we will again be paying for tuition, apartment and utilities, books, medical/dental, bus pass, and probably a few things I’m forgetting. She will again have a part-time job. She doesn’t eat very much, she just chooses the convenience of eating out over making something at home. Now I’m wondering how much to transfer every day – $15 seems like perhaps too much? She will have access to several meals’ worth of good, free food every week, as well. Again, further input greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>We, too, gave DD about what the room and board would have cost in the dorms. We have always been paid once a month, so I deposited money every month on the 1st. She paid for her rent, food, and other expenses out of that. I think it was a little tight some months, but she did not ask for money.</p>
This is a very good suggestion. If the grocery store is outside of walking distance, you need to factor in bus fares. Local convenience stores are also more important in that case, but the markup can be terrible.</p>
<p>Processed/prepared foods cost more. $120/month is more typical if I want to go out every weekend. YMMV.</p>
<p>That’s quite a lot unless “ALL” includes tuition. </p>
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<p>What did you eat for $3 a day? That won’t even cover PB&J (well, it might, but just barely). And that’s not including any other expenses at all. Did you mean $100/week? </p>
<p>I’d say $500/month is a pretty good amount where I live. You could definitely manage with less than that, but there a lot of value to that $100 from $400/month (which is roughly $100/week) to $500/month still. More than $650/month she’s probably not spending wisely if she’s not in an excessively expensive area (thinking NYC or SF). </p>
<p>And seriously, she’s what, 21 now? I think it’s a bit infantilizing to send her money every day. Once a month or once every few months should make sense.</p>