<p>My S (MIT) has never written a check. Never. My D (Reed) has only written checks to her food coop. MIT uses the student ID as a cash card, to which I add money from his acct, for books, etc. Reed sends a bookstore bill to whomever you want; my agreement with D is I pay for books, so that's fine. They both have joint BofA accounts with me, associated with our family account, so it's all free. Nice thing about that has been the ability to transfer funds from our account to theirs instantly when needed; I also have it set up so their monthly allowance gets paid automatically.</p>
<p>BofA acquired Fleet this past summer, so we no longer have to pay out-of-area ATM fees, which previously cost us a whole $1.50/month.</p>
<p>All statements come here.</p>
<p>We are currently contemplating allowing the kids to have actual credit cards, not just debit cards, so they can begin to establish a credit rating. </p>
<p>Yes, my children are spoiled: I pay books and an allowance. They also are not on the board plans at their schools and cook most of their own food. In the end, it works out.</p>
<p>I agree with DMD. Most colleges have some kind of card that can hold money for a variety of things. In Boston, where DS has been his card can actually be used at many retail establishments near his school. It can be used at the bookstore, for laundry, in the vending machines, etc. and at all Campus Convenience stores too...even for pizza delivery. We put money in that account (both DS's and ours) at the beginning of each semester. This actually minimizes the amount of cash he really needs. I think he has only written a few checks (for application fees for summer programs), and has only used his credit card twice (once for a Christmas gift, and once for his subway pass for the semester). Still, we also have the B of A accounts here (and that means there too) which is convenient for all.</p>
<p>No one writes checks any more - so you really don't need a local account. My son kept his home account, with debit card, when he went to college; he was taking care of his own spending money, but I had him set up a PayPal account, which I used to transfer money to him when needed.</p>
<p>I worked out an even better arrangement with my daughter, who has been living overseas for 4 months - but this involves a little loss of privacy for her. I set up a joint checking account with her, with Bank of America, where we both already had other accounts. This account shows up on BOTH of our ATM screens and online banking, and I can easily see the balance and transfer more money into that account -- in fact, I have set it up for an automated transfer from my account to hers on the 1st of each month for her spending money. I really love this arrangement -- again, the account came with a debit card as well as checks. It works out perfectly for me, and I think that the account is also free because of the linkage to MY accounts (with the requisite minimum balance) -- neither of us has access to each other's separate accounts with this arrangement, it is just the joint account that shows up for both of us. The privacy concern is simply that I can see my daughter's account activity any time.</p>
<p>Anyway, I really don't see the need for a local account with this arrangement. With new banking regs, even out of town checks will clear electronically, almost automatically - and you could always order a set of checks on the local account that are PRINTED with the college address, even if the bank is out of town.</p>