<p>I actually always put money in myself – I would tell my dad how much I was putting in from the bursar’s account, but I did it myself each semester. But if it’s easiest to use the web form, you could ask your kid to put a certificate on the family computer. I put one on because I trusted my parents not to go poking through other certificate-requiring websites.</p>
<p>Techcash does roll over from semester to semester, so if you put too much on this semester, you can always use it in the future. And of course amount for food varies from person to person – I reliably spent $800 per semester on Techcash eating breakfast, lunch, the occasional dinner, and snacks on campus. But I’m a girl with a fairly light appetite. :)</p>
<p>And as a piece of unsolicited advice, I would not have a freshman buy all of his/her books at the Coop – books will be a lot less than $500 a semester if you buy from upperclassmen, or from one of the used book websites, or share books with a friend. There’s no reason to buy all new books from the Coop every semester, or even all used books from the Coop.</p>