Reasonable monthly allowance?

Parents Forum
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<p>Some of this probably has to do with the COL in an area. </p>

<p>We gave/give a certain amount of spending money and a credit card. We found when oldest moved off campus she wouldn’t spend on food and would spend on shoes or a new bag unless we earmarked certain money for food. Otherwise she was just Ramen, the weekly splurge on sushi, and the rest went to Nordstrom. hahaha. </p>

<p>Youngest spends on food. She’s a foodie. </p>

<p>But, we just suggested to them that they not lead with the money. Let the friends take the lead, and figure out what people can spend and then just go with that amount. I’m not going to lie, the kids do tend to separate out into those who can afford martinis downtown and those who want to have beer and pizza at home, but I’m glad my kids choose mainly based on shared interests.</p>

<p>What I’m trying to say, badly, is my kids had as much as they needed or wanted, but if this is going to be the case with your kid, you have to sit them down and discuss the issue of sensitivity and being aware of other people’s budgets. My oldest’s best friend was in the arts with her and dead broke. Oldest never suggested expensive outings. youngest seems to have mainly friends who can go where she can go, but going these places is her main interest so… not surprising.</p>

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<p>will you adopt my kids?</p>

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<p>D is entering her Freshman year this fall. We pay for tuition and her room and board. Her phone is on our plan. We cover her basic needs including any medicines,clothing, transportation with some extra’s. She is on her own for her spending money while at school. She is working this summer. </p>

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<p>People should read OP’s post instead of making all kinds of assumptions. Thumper1 just quoted it for anyone who missed it from page one.</p>

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<p>I give my daughter 800 for the semester (about 50 a week) and we pay for meal plan, clothes,r ent, phone, air fare, books etc. She has never run out of money but would have to dip into own savings if she did run out. If she goes out with friends at school and buys herself a shirt or a meal, etc, she pays. If she had a car, I guess I would make a gas allowance but we would save on some airfare. If the student has too much spending money, they may start spending it in ways you wish they had not. </p>

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<p>Is the OP for real? </p>

<p>what allowance was she getting in high school? </p>

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<p>I would give her 400 a month for the first semester and then tell her to get a part-time job after that. if the part-time job gives her 200 a month, then give her an add’l 200. (earning 200 a month wont hurt her studies)</p>

<p>exception is the phone plan…why isnt she on your plan? if you have no-contract plans, then just pay for her cell phone or give her $50 a month towards that.</p>

<p>as for clothes, take her shopping before she goes to college to get a wardrobe…1000-1500 should buy a pretty nice wardrobe if budget shopping for clothes, undergarments, shoes, boots, nighties, etc. she doesnt need to keep buying a bunch of clothes once she is in school. </p>

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<p>We gave our kids an additional card on one of our credit card accounts, so we see what they actually spent, aside from a small amount of case. It was more than $200 a month, but nowhere near $1200. It’s especially handy if it’s a card that will break out the bill by each of the cardholders on the account.</p>

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<p>My daughter isn’t in college yet but $1200/month for a kid whose housing and most meals are paid for seems way over the top to me. I would suggest paying for her books at the beginning of the semester and, since you are evidently able to afford it, $400/month.</p>

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<p>Typical rent here, for a run down apartment the size of a closet with 4 or 5 people squashed together is about $600-700 a month per person. One- or Two- people apartments are very hard to come by, and fetch between $850 and $1400 a month per person. So I can see where rent is variable depending on where you are and whether your university feels it has a responsibility to house students – at least some of them – or whether they turn them loose on the economy and damn the consequences. (Ima looking at you, PSU)</p>

<p>Anyway. We don’t/didn’t give our students a penny beyond tuition, room/board and medical care/prescriptions. All other expenses they pay for themselves, from whatever job they get over the summer. </p>

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<p>We used the same approach as Tmknies. We covered all the bills that came directly from the university (tuition, room, board, fees). We covered phone, transportation between home and college, computer equipment, dorm room basics (sheets, towels, curtains; cooking equipment when she went off meal plan in later years), some clothing (we go shopping together), medical bills. My husband would sometimes slip her $20. But everything else was her money, including books, dining outside meal plan, entertainment. Of course, we were footing the full college bill – no FA, no merit. </p>

<p>She worked summers. No job freshman year; in later years she picked up some work during the year. (We did cover housing and meal costs during a 6-week unpaid summer internship, but she worked the remaining weeks.) She never complained. She never had problems having a social life. </p>

<p>The result, BTW, was that she learned how to live within a budget. She graduated a few years ago, is very frugal and has saved a lot of money on a modest salary. I have no regrets, and am quite pleased with the outcome.</p>

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<p>One thing @Mom2Collegekids is that girls go shopping the way men go to bars and watch a football game together. If possible, girls would like a little bit of shopping money, I think. It doesn’t have to be a ton. D1 frequently went to the consignment and thrifts with friends on a weekend afternoon. Just my 2 cents.</p>

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<p>I don’t know why people chime in with the “I don’t give them a penny beyond tuition/room/board.” That’s irrelevant to someone asking what an allowance should be. The OP is already going to give his daughter an allowance and no amount of sanctimony over that is going to change, so better to help him focus on strategies for figuring it out.</p>

<p>So with that …
OP, think about what your expectation is in terms of how your daughter “should” be living, and then start from there, instead of starting from $1,200/ month.</p>

<p>You mentioned clothes. Most people who pay for their kids’ clothing do so in “swoops” and the kid might occasionally buy a t-shirt, dress. throughout the year as she sees fit or as situations emerge (suppose she goes to a formal event and needs a dress). Does your daughter not have a mostly-filled-in wardrobe at this point? What would you anticipate she spend per month on buying new clothing?&lt;/p>

<p>If her food is covered through a dorm plan, what would you anticipate would be reasonable / how you want your daughter to live? Would you want her going out once a week, twice a week, several times a week? Would you factor in getting a latte and a scone at Starbucks (and if so – at the level of an occasional treat, or at the level of an everyday routine)?</p>

<p>If she doesn’t have a car but would rely on public transportation, have you investigated what the cost of a monthly pass is – or would her trips be “one offs” and a monthly pass wouldn’t be worth it?</p>

<p>For entertaining. Would you want to fund her to the tune of, say, one movie a week? One theatre ticket a week? </p>

<p>There are no right answers, but I think you need to start from the bottom up and go from there.</p>

<p>FWIW, my kids get $200/month. Both live on campus, we pay for tuition/room/board, all books, other expenses that would be necessary for school (copying, etc.). We pay for clothing, but that’s typically done over the summer / when we are with them, so they really don’t have need to purchase clothing during the year. Neither has a car; they use public transportation to get around their cities and they pay for that. We wanted them to have money to enjoy movies with friends, casual dinners, and be able to fill in small purchases like toiletries and so forth, and we found that amount to be more than sufficient for both of mine, though neither are big spenders. YMMV of course. </p>

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<p>A “little” shopping money would NOT necessitate a $1200 a month college allowance. </p>

<p>Are you suggesting that a guy needs $1200 a month allowance so they can go bar hopping?</p>

<p>I still don’t believe this is for real. That is $15,000 a year in fun money. There are many college grads who don’t have that much in discretionary spending money (after they pay rent, utilities, food, necessities, car, gas, etc). </p>

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<p>Watch out for coffee drinks. That can eat up a lot of spending money.</p>

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<p>Coffee is a budget killer! No lie.</p>

<p>@thumper1 I agree with you about a “little” shopping money.</p>

<p>I’m not really taking the amount seriously, just this is always a good conversation to have this time of year, anyway. @Pizzagirl makes some really great practical suggestions.</p>

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<p>We pay tuition, dorm room, minimum meal plan (S2’s choice) and $125/mo for groceries because he cooks most of his meals. Also pay for phone, transportation home, most clothes (think Kohl’s, Costco, no-name jeans), prescriptions, copays. He has an on-campus job that gets him about $275/mo, which he uses for going out, books, extra groceries (he likes gourmet cooking) and books. He also takes out Stafford loans, which go to tuition. Spring Break trips don’t happen here, but neither kid has never asked to go on one, either. S2 has learned to shop consignment and sales. Has come up with some pretty nice stuff for very little $$. Also dumpster-dived a bunch of cooking gear at the end of the school year as folks were cleaning out their dorms. He has quite the kitchen setup.</p>

<p>S1 never asked for spending money. He had a couple of campus jobs early on but then got well-paying gigs during the last two summers so he didn’t need to work during the year. Graduated with a very nice nest egg.</p>

<p>$1200/mo. boggles my mind. Too much cash in hand is a dangerous thing for an 18 yo. </p>

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<p>I don’t think OP is for real. No one that can afford to dole out $1200 a month for discretionary spending is creating an account just to ask someone else’s opinion on their spending. </p>

<p>“Watch out for coffee drinks. That can eat up a lot of spending money” LOL. </p>

<p>And that is exactly why I don’t plan on providing spending money when S15 leaves for college. He has not assimilated any of my thrifty ways and I cringe at the money he blows at Starbucks, etc. Fortunately he has been working since he was 14 and supports his own habits.</p>

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<p>Don’t be so sure of that. If this is a parent who doesn’t have to worry about money, then she/he may well be asking. For real.</p>

<p>Also, if this is the case, then he/she is getting an idea of some realities they might want to discuss with their kids, like, “hey, not everyone, or mostly anyone, is going to have a lot of cash. Be respectful and be careful not to be offensive.” etc…</p>

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<p>D1’s best friend was buying Chanel online, but charging it to her mom’s account. I let my kids put their purchases on my credit card, but anything over $100 they had to give me heads up. D2 told me that her friend had to do the same thing with her mom, except her benchmark was $500. So every family is different.</p>

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<p>I never had to ask my parents for a yes or no on buying anything over $500…I already knew the answer.</p>