<p>I'm sending off my eldest daughter to college in a couple weeks, and I want to know whats a reasonable monthly allowance to help her pay for miscellaneous. She has a meal plan with 200 meals per semester & 100 dinning dollars. This allowance will be to pay for her phone, clothes, transportation (she doesn't have a car and Austin has public transportation), dinning out and entertainment. I'm thinking about giving her $1,200 a month, but I've read that some people are giving their children about $200 a month, so it might seem like I'm giving her too much. Does anyone have any experience sending their kids allowance? I don't want her to get a job just yet but rather focus on her studies. What are reasonable budgets for a college freshman? </p>
<p>Wow! I pay for my DD’s phone. Other than that I give her $85 a month for laundry, clothes, eating out, everything. She’s in school in New Haven ct so walks everywhere… but $1200? Seriously? That seems way over the top. She’s a rising senior now, and so does have some work during the school year, but it’s mostly for her expensive ballroom dancing habit. </p>
<p>She’s not your phone plan? My Ds used their earnings from summer work and their work at college for their mad money. We were paying for tuition, room and board </p>
<p>I pay for my DS’s phone because he’s on my plan. My son has worked summers for his spending money. This summer he worked 2 days a week at his work/study job. So far he has saved $1200 which will go for his gas, movies, clothe etc. If I was giving him money, he would get enough for gas and a little extra-probably $200 a month.</p>
<p>$1200 should last the whole semester. We gave D $700 and told her we expected it to last at least 10 weeks. She made it last all semester. They really don’t have that much that they are spending $$$ on, unless you expect her to be hitting up Tiffany’s regularly ;).</p>
<p>Agree that $1200 would last a whole semester including a phone and transportation. I took care of the phone and their meal plan but I know they didn’t spend more than a couple hundred a month tops.</p>
<p>I’m paying for my D’s phone and some clothes (ie everything she needs but not everything she wants). She has an unlimited meal plan and car. Laundry is free. Her budget is $400 a month, which she is actually funding. That will go toward snacks, dining out, gas, toiletries, and entertainment. I’m guessing 200 meals is lunch and dinner 5 days a week? There is great cheap Mexican food in Austin, but otherwise, going out can get expensive. Even so, $1200/month sounds high unless she’s paying for books, dorm set-up, sorority dues and other expenditures out of that money. </p>
<p>Of course, everyone 's perspective is different so it may depend on the lifestyle to which your D is accustomed.</p>
<p>Why not work out with her what her likely monthly out of pocket expenses will be, and base the allowance on that?
Having too little spending money is no fun, but having too much spending money may not be a good idea either.</p>
<p>Ditto. Your kid doesn’t need $1,200/month!</p>
<p>We pay for D’s phone ( our plan) and I buy her the clothes and misc items that she needs. Anything extra she pays for. When she is away at school she does not spend much money. She eats on campus and orders in dinner or goes out maybe once every week or two. $1200 a month is a lot of money. I also want to add that there is not much to do where my D attends school; they spend most of their free time hanging out in the dorm, on campus, or at a friend’s house. It gets more expensive if the student attends school in a city where there is more going on, but even so I don’t think they need $1200 a month. As far as clothing etc goes, we go shopping for necessities when she is home. She does not go clothes shopping while at school. </p>
<p>$1200 a month is A LOT. That would mean that she is spending $300 every week. The phone bill will be much less than $100 if it is one person, so that still leaves a lot of money for unnecessary spending. College is a time to learn fiscal responsibility. No student needs more than $500 a month. And that includes restaurants, clothing, and nightlife.</p>
<p>I, as a working “adult,” spend about $1800-$1900 a month, which includes rent, health insurance, and all my food. So $1200 is probably quite a bit more than necessary for someone who’s not paying rent and has most of their food paid for outside that. But if you’ve got the money why not I guess. Everyone’s got a different financial situation so if the additional 58K over 4 years (yes, that’s literally how much that is) isn’t anything important to you, go for it. I’m sure she can find some way to use the money if you have no use for it. </p>
<p>As for what might be reasonable, if her dining hall is open dinner and weekends, maybe $250 a month? You might vary a bit. If her dining hall is closed dinner and/or weekends then increase that. </p>
<p>I give my daughter maybe $200 a month (max) but it is spread out - I give her cash when I see her, put money on her school card (which she can use on campus for food etc. and also at many local stores) and then she has a credit card that I pay for (uses it mostly for dining out). I also pay her phone bill and her subway card. She also has a limited meal plan.</p>
<p>Don’t forget she will have to buy her own toiletries - shampoo, toothpaste, etc. (unless you plan on sending her that stuff). </p>
<p>Adopt me. I would love 1200 dollars a month allowance! 
Yes, that’s a high number for a student. If she’s paying for her phone and bus pass and there are only 200 dining dollars (and 14 meals a week provided) she may actually need more than 200 a month… especially if you are including clothes and she’s moving to a drastic change of climate.If I were you, I’d price out the phone and bus pass with her and go from there. Start small as you can always increase if there is real need. Personally, if you have the budget for 1500 a month, 400 would be uber generous enough I’d think. My D is looking at 200 a month but then, there are a lot of “freebies” at her school that are included in the tuition (like free public transit, free washing machines, unlimited meal plan and like 45 dollars a week in dining dollars that can also be used at bookstore and campus market, ect.) </p>
<p>I don’t think you should base on what people tell you what’s too much or too little as monthly allowance for your kid. Some families never eat out and others do. Some parents buy clothes for their children and others don’t. Some parents expect their kid to buy school books and some don’t. So, every family is different. What I would do is to go through your kid’s expenses at home and derive your number based on that. You can then adjust the number after she has started school. </p>
<p>There are students who do not order any take out but pizza, but there are students who think having sushi nightly is normal. You need to figure out what kind of student you have and what you are willing to support. I will say in college your student will encounter people from a wide spectrum. </p>
<p>We pay for our college student’s books, travel, clothing, insurance, phone, computer, everything which is required for her to go to school and live. On top of that, we give her monthly allowance for entertainment. The allowance is the same amount as she was living at home with me.</p>
<p>Well, if she has $1200 in spending money per month she will have no shortage of new school friends.</p>
<p>I agree it is up to you, but you don’t want your daughter to have so much money she becomes the bank for everyone, always treating everyone else. Money can also pay for things that aren’t legal, and you don’t want her spending money on drugs, liquor, cigarettes.</p>
<p>That really is a lot of money, even for a fashionista who is spending a lot of money on clothes. And shopping takes a lot of time away from studying.</p>
<p>I pay for DS’s phone. He was on the unlimited meal plan this last year as a freshman. He spent about $100 a month on laundry,HBA products, going out with friends and incidental school supplies. This summer he is on the 14 meal a week plan and he gets $130 a month. Although honestly I think it’s a pretty tight budget since he has a GF. He will be in an apartment this fall with no meal plan and I am thinking about $400 a month for food,HBA,laundry and going out. The difference is I have a son and he doesn’t buy clothes. How much does your Daughter currently spend on clothes a month? Also would my DS like more money to spend than what I currently give him? Of course. </p>
<p>I work all summer and seldomly ask for money for money from my parents so my answer is a bit biased but 1200 is a lot. I have my own car and monthly i spend anywhere between 30 and 50 in gas, 20-40 on transportation and 50-70 on food so even calculating at the highest amounts that’s only 160. With the exception of the first month each semester I rarely spend that. More than not I spend less than 100 a month, all of my freshman year I only spent 2000. I suggest an allowance of 200-400 max, this will also teacher to budget and decide what she truly does and does not need </p>
<p>My kids have wealthy and not so wealthy friends. Rarely have they seen their wealthy friends bank rolling other students. They usually end up hanging out with friends with similar means.</p>