<p>My kids budget on about $250 a month not counting books, tuition, R&B. If they choose to live off campus, we fund the same amount as if they lived on campus, they can choose how to make it work. In Berkeley, though, with stupid expensive dorms, we used Greek housing as the guideline.</p>
<p>They pay their own cell bills from this, they had dorm food in the dorms and the dorm budget covered groceries when they were off campus. If one of them wanted a car at school it would be something they would need to work out from that budget.</p>
<p>One DD is a spender, one is a miser- the spender never had enough money; now in grad school she is on her own and she is making her choices, paying her rent and she does treat that money differently than ours.</p>
<p>Miser D on the same budget is managing to squirrel away money towards a student travel adventure. I think the spending/saving is largely personality driven.</p>