<p>
</p>
<p>Agreed…but I thought there were student rates for these organizations…and student rates to attend conferences as well. Of course, this doesn’t include hotels and food. DS found that he had friends almost everywhere there was a conference he was attending who were excited to have a mob of friends visit. Worth pursuing. He also did this for some of his grad school auditions…stayed with friends. Of course, he returned the favor when asked!!</p>
<p>There are discounted membership rates for students for the professional organizations, but I don’t recall if any discounts applied to conference registration fees (although they do tend to have an early bird rate for early registration), and a list of nearby hotels with discounted rates for attendees. </p>
<p>Most of the instrument specific societies and other entities such as Chamber Music America also offer the student membership rates.</p>
<p>Oh good grief, and we all thought that getting through the admission/audition season was the rough part!</p>
<p>My D says her student MENC membership was around $50 or $75 if she recalls. Even $50 is a lot for a student to shell out after having just paid for books though. I think her conference registration was about $10 after a portion was paid for by her student MENC group.</p>
<p>There is no “easy part” to being a performer. The “stuff” never ends. Auditions are a continuing part of performance life from auditions for seatings every year at school for ensembles, to auditons for summer programs, grad schools and JOBS. Even after a job is found, there are still endless rehearsals, and the stress of having to be accurate 100% of the time (let’s face it…that ONE sour note will be the thing people remember!).</p>
<p>I think the admissions process for undergrad school was the tip of the iceberg. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.</p>
<p>The first time we met we met DD’s voice teacher she said “you do know that you have signed on for a money pit.” This summer is Middlebury language school. Others will follow. This is not for the feint of heart.</p>
<p>A concurrent similar thread in the Parents Forum <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/729949-estimate-spending-money-college-freshman.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/729949-estimate-spending-money-college-freshman.html</a></p>
<p>I know about the money pit, as I actually added up as many of the expenses for the past four year ((having to do with music/performing) and had palpatations! D’s voice teacher just bought a new car- I would have probably made out better if she’d just given me the payment book!</p>
<p>Key of H: Westminster vocalists and organists rule the town of Princeton in terms of gigs. </p>
<p>Suggestions eagerly accepted for how to do the two bank accounts. Until now, DS has a joint account linked to my main account with his own debit card and checkbook. He is definitely NOT winning student accountant of the year awards and I appreciate being able to monitor his balances and transfer funds if necessary, which is easy to do. However, our bank does not have a branch in New Haven, which means living with endless ATM charges or hassling with wire transfers, and that does make it tough in an emergency after banking hours.</p>
<p>DS has always earned his own spending money from his orchestra and string quartet gigs through HS, but recently acquired a girlfriend and saw his expenditures rocket out of earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, he won’t have those orchestra gigs when he gets to college and will have to start from scratch with chamber gigs as well, so I think an allowance is warranted. He’ll be commuting to NYC at least every other week for private lessons, so $50/week doesn’t seem unreasonable (although I remember managing on $50/month when I was in college in Boston, and hey, Violadad, I considered tuna IN my mac&cheese to be an extra treat!)</p>
<p>stringkeymom, we never combined the two. Felt it far too extravagant at the time. Come to think of it, I can recall a few tuna or mac & cheese dinners while we were paying s & d’s tuitions.</p>
<p>We have DS and DD’s account numbers here. Our accounts are at separate banks and not linked at all. When we need to, we just deposit money or a check into their accounts. They have bank accounts at a national bank that has a branch near here. I would suggest that your kids do the same…set up an account with one of the larger national banks that has a branch near you and a branch near their school (our kids used Bank of America…but I’m sure there are others).</p>
<p>stringkeymom, 2 accounts are not hard to manage these days with electronic transfers so easy. I do it with DD all the time. She opened a home account that is the one I use for deposits. You only need a deposit slip, not to own the account, too, to put money in. . She opened an account with the bank that had the ATM on campus. Unfortunately at her campus there was no bank that also had a branch near us. She went on line for both of her accounts and set up electronic access and transfers. She also does electronic bill pay and monitors account on line too. </p>
<p>I use electronic transfers between accounts all the time, too. I have an e-account savings bank that pays more than regular banks so I move money in and out of it all the time to the local checking account and into the investment accounts.</p>
<p>I’m planning on a steady diet of same for the coming year.</p>
<p>In my kids’ case, there were no mutually convenient banks with branches close enough to both school and home. We set them up with College Banking accounts at USAA. This is available to those who are in or have retired from military service or to those whose parents have held USAA accounts. My father, who was in the Army in WW2, had auto insurance through them, which allowed me to join, which allowed my kids to sign up.</p>
<p>They provide up to 10 free transactions per month from anybody’s ATM. Deposits are made by US Mail (they provide postage-paid envelopes) or by uploading a scan of the check to be deposited. Accounts can be accessed online or via cell phone and monitored by the parents if they know the login ID and password. The online access also includes bill paying and account transfers. They optionally provide a credit card with a low credit limit (I think it starts at $1000 freshman year and gets bumped up another $500 each year if the student has not been irresponsible with payments.)</p>
<p>With B of A (and believe me, I’m not trying to sell them), you don’t even need a deposit slip to make a deposit. All you need is the account number, name of the account holder and the address on the account.</p>
<p>would i be able to transfer between banks by telephone with no extra charges? I think my bank charges for wire transfers and also they are not automatic, but take time to clear? I don’t bank online, so it’s all new to me.</p>
<p>Are you really allowed to transfer between banks with a phone call? I have two banks and only one permits e-transfers and I am convinced that one has to have a degree in finance to figure out the darned procedure…!</p>
<p>Thumper…I believe it is that way at most banks…I have on more than one occasion run up to local branch of oldest DD bank and made a deposit so she could write rent check…(still have 2 on the payroll)…just need account number and name…pick up a counter deposit slip and I’m in business…they don’t care who puts the money in…they are a little more careful about who gets to take it back out. :)</p>
<p>stringkeymom>>>>just a thought…does local bank near DS have internet banking or is it too small…If it does perhaps you can set up the same sort of thing there that you have now…joint account with DS linked to "your"account- (small savings account with just enough funds in it to cover potential emergency)…If you have to use out of it then mail in a deposit to replenish it.</p>
<p>HMM…somehow my kid transfers money from his online account to his regular bank account but it takes several days for the transfer to take place…and the online account is ONLY online. We cannot transfer from our bank to his bank…they just don’t allow for that.</p>