<p>How do expense accounts work at the various schools? I assume that most of the schools have bookstores and facilities where students may go to buy a coffee or a pizza or ice cream between meals. Or maybe even toiletries (toothpaste, bar soap, shaving supplies.) Do students have debit cards, or do the schools set up an account that the parents then deposit money into? Will we be billed monthly or quarterly? How large an account can the students have? This is inarguably mundane, but the prep school sector of cc seems moribund these days!</p>
<p>I know that exeter has electronic cards that can be used for laundry, the bookstore, getting into their dorms, etc. Then the bill goes to your parents.</p>
<p>So the student accumulates a balance and then the parents pay the balance on the account at specific intervals? Is there a limit on the balance that the student may accumulate?</p>
<p>I don’t think so, but if the bill isn’t payed in a certain amount of time I think they prevent you from spending any more.</p>
<p>At my school we had a money account. Parents deposited money and then every month they would send out how much money you spent/what you bought/etc… If you went into the negatives, you weren’t allowed to get anything until your parents put your money in. Your parents could also put limits on how much money you took out a time or how much money you spent at the school store at a time.</p>
<p>Here’s how it works at Choate. You load up money in advance on a “choate card” for the kid. You can add to it anytime, by going online and using your credit card. The kid can use the card for anything at the school store, the student union snack bar, and can even take out cash from it. The only thing they’re allowed to “go negative” on the card is books. Then, if you don’t add to their card, say within a month, the parents receive a bill at home. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>At SPS, the parent can just get billed for whatever the child purchases (school store, Tuck, etc.) If you’re not comfortable with how your child might handle that freedom to buy, then there is another option, but I can’t remember how it works! One month last fall, well and truly sick of the school food, my daughter seemed to charge a lot at Tuck. I told her to quit doing that so much, and she did. But I like the freedom of her being to buy books, school supplies, etc. at the school store and charge it to me at home.</p>