<p>My DS isn't home yet, but based on his spending thus far, I'm figuring that he's spent close to $5500 this year, including food, but not housing.</p>
<p>(he has a pay/go mealplan and he eats about half his meals off campus or in his dorm, so he doesn't "break out" a cost for the school mealplan, he just keeps a weekly budget for himself.)
most clothing/shoes that he's bought
transportation (excluding airfare to/from school)
all personal items, school supplies, entertainment, phone etc.</p>
<p>I'm curious if this is in line with what others have spent.</p>
<p>Some of this depends on where you are. The year that I had a job and had spending money, I spent a little less than half of that per year… which included food outside the meal plan, textbooks, clothing, incidentals, entertainment, things for my dorm, etc-- and a lot of my food was outside the meal plan because I had food allergies. I am not sure how I could have spent $5500 if I tried, but your S could be in a more expensive area than I was. Ann Arbor wasn’t cheap but it is compared to some places I’d imagine. I also never had to pay for airfare.</p>
<p>IIRC, I paid $75/week when D1 was cooking, ie not on any meal plan, $25/week with the sorority for weekend meals. But D1 went to college with her own savings, somewhere in the ballpark of less than $10K so it’s hard to tell. She did say she used some of that money to eat out.</p>
<p>If I use 8 months into $5500, that’s approx. $170/week, which at first blush seems high.
But I do not know the location and therefore transportation costs. And how much is the meal plan? Is your S a clothes horse? Is he on your cell plan?</p>
<p>I’d say probably around $4000. That includes car payment, does not include rent. Without my car payment, probably around $2.5k. I spend about $100/month in food. Just under $1k of that was fuel costs. I don’t shop except for necessities. I get my books super cheap, probably spent less than $200 after buying and selling old textbooks. I don’t really do many “fun” things as I don’t have the time.</p>
<p>He pays as he uses it - he adds 20-100 at a time to a card, and it’s deducted from his card as he swipes, so there is no set amount or minimum amount.</p>
<p>
kind of! not a whole lot, but he has definite tastes. lol</p>
<p>
no - that includes his phone.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that his expenses seem that out of line for food- at our local state U, meal-plans run from $3500(for 7 per week) to $4500 per year. (most of the LACs I’m looking at with DD have meal-plans between $4500 and $5500 per year.)</p>
<p>^ Because meal plans are grossly, grossly overpriced. I would NEVER be able to eat more than $2k worth of food in a year. I just don’t eat that much and I’m a vegetarian. That’s the main reason I moved out of the dorms. I was paying over triple what was necessary for food.</p>
<p>annie, I eat a lot of pasta and such. It’s very cheap and I only really eat one or two meals a day. I sometimes do get free lunch at work. I am a vegetarian and have always eaten pretty small meals.</p>
<p>Also, I get a lot of my fruits and veggies at a local farmer’s market. They’re very cheap and sometimes give great deals to students.</p>
<p>roman, maybe you can teach my son to cook! </p>
<p>He’s pretty limited because he is in a dorm, but I think he is trying to learn. He finally got a fridge for his room this semester so he is able to at least keep a few things.</p>
<p>OP, our S’s U has unlimited meal plan for $1600/semester (~$100/week). He lives off campus, so we give him that amount to use for food or whatever he chooses–there will be no more. </p>
<p>So…following this and doing simple math,
$5500 - 3200 for food = $2300, leaves approx. $72 a week (based on 8 months) for everything else. If he truly does pay for clothes, personal stuff, transportation, entertainment, phone, etc., that amount may not be out of line.</p>
<p>Will also add (now that S has been home for a few weeks), not sure how he gets by on $100/week for food! He’s been eating that much every 3 days! And I shudder to think what our water and electricity bill will be, after 1/2 hour showers twice a day, all forms of technology going 24/7 and all the laundry I’ve been doing. Starting to think it may be a bargain to have him at school…:)</p>
<p>Thanks, I’m hoping that next year will be a little less because he won’t have some of the bigger expenses (fridge, other stuff for his room etc. That includes his winter coat, a suit, etc.)</p>
<p>Thanks for the breakdowns and analyses, everyone. I was trying to figure out which meal plan for S for next year and the input has been very helpful. At S’s school the meal plan differential between unlimited and 10 meals a week is only $400/semester. With his appetite and the information above, I am leaning toward unlimited now.<br>
I am so looking forward to not having to feed a hungry growing teen boy next year, not to mention the money I will save on hot water! His favorite “snack” at the moment is the one pound Hungry Man, mid-day, and then he eats a full dinner at night. He is still whipcord skinny, I wonder how the freshman 15 will look on him.</p>
<p>Word…another thing to check out is when meal plans are available. At my S’s U, with the unlimited he could go in all day, anytime. With the more limited plans, for some silly reason, there were hour restrictions as to when meals could be gotten. For instance, not available between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.–about the time most students woke up.
FWIW…</p>
<p>My post disappeared so forgive me if it duplicates…Mine spent around $5500 (for a year). We pay rent - sophomore living in an apartment, so this covered groceries and meals out, sundries, repairs on his bike, walking around money, clothes he bought etc.</p>
<p>My one son pays for his own expenses but is meticulous in tracking them. His cost ran about %$5500 this year without including his room which we pay. His biggest single expense was coming home. He came home a lot and after one trip on a cheapie bus, diecided to fly thereafter. He came home just about every month, and we only paid for one of those trips. That cost will be reduced next year.</p>
<p>The older one spent about the same, but he has a car at school which took up a lot of cost. He came home only once this year, at Christmas, and we paid for that ticket. He says his living expenses, books and supplies hardly cost anything. Where he spent was for fun, road trips and just plain spending money. Bought nothing in the way of clothes or other things. Hates to shop so that was no sacrifcie. We gave him a certain amount each month which covered rent, utilities and a little extra.</p>
<p>" our S’s U has unlimited meal plan for $1600/semester" - Believe it or not, that’s a pretty good deal compared to other colleges. I’ve seen unlimited plans as high $3000/semester.</p>
</p>