<p>disclaimer: I know it depends on the school, but I'm a senior and am waiting for April so for now I'm just curious in general.</p>
<p>First, ballpark, how much money do most college guys (my guess is girls spend more) spend each year? I'm hoping to get into Penn, so for the sake of having an example, how much do you think the average Penn student spends?</p>
<p>My second question depends largely on the first, of course. Do most kids have jobs in college? I'm not going to be getting any financial aid so I wont have to, but the extra money would be nice. I'm thinking for freshman year I'll have enough money from working over the summer, but later on in junior and senior year I think I'll want to get summer internships. So for those years I wont have revenue from the summer - will that be a problem?</p>
<p>Lastly, what are frat dues usually like? Is that a big financial consideration?</p>
<p>Thanks parents! You've helped with every step of the process.</p>
<p>There have ben many threads on this in the past, in my recollection, it seemed like $200-$250 per month was a common amount for parents to provide OR kids to budget for spending money from their summer easrnings. If you search archives, you will find a gresat deal of commentary as to whether parents should give anything, kids should work at all, etc. There are opinions from btoh sides of the spectrum, a great discussion.</p>
<p>Frat/Soror dues depend on which one at which school, my DD's are $300/Q plus whatever waste of money expenses they contstantly throw at her (ok, she's having fun and making friends, but they still come up with some lame spending requirements!) :p</p>
<p>It makes a difference whether or not one is on the meal plan of course. Assuming your meals are covered, and not including books, I'd say $200-250 a month is ample. That's $50 a week for incidentals, shampoo, a gift here or there, the odd article of clothing, a movie.</p>
<p>I earned all my own spending money in college and I picked my jobs for the perqs-- such as cheap clothes when I worked at the clothing store; free meals when I was a waitress. If you want to earn $50/week you could easily get this working once a week as a waiter or babysitter.</p>
<p>Besides having money to spend, working for pay in college means you leave college with a resume and references. I loved working in college also because I met non-college people in the community.</p>
<p>Don't know about Frats/fees.</p>
<p>My D is planning to use her savings for ist semester and then pick up employment in 2nd semester when she's got her 'sea legs.'</p>
<p>DS spent about $50 a week on average (some weeks less, some weeks more). His freshman year he did NOT work during school, but he did earn all of his spending money during the summer prior to his freshman year. This year, as a sophomore, he is working about 12 hours a week (his job is an evening job). He is earning enough to supplement his spending money for some extras like his spring break trip. We pay tuition, room, board, and all other college fees, and for his cell phone. He pays for everything else (books, entertainment, supplies, misc).</p>
<p>The answer is they spend wahtever they have :-)</p>
<p>In general I think they should be responsible for their own spending money - after all you are an adult. On the other hand if you can avoid working during you first semester or first year I think it is probably advisable because you are going to have some adapting to do. Od course a lot of kids don't have that option.</p>
<p>The $200 - $250 number is probably about right - se get a summer job. Its a little tough the summer before freshman year because there aren't many weeks between graduation and start of classes. So since you probably have senioritis anyway you might want to try looking for part-time work right now:-)</p>
<p>BTW my son has discovered the virtues of the Salvation Army Thrift Store and frankly he is better dressed now than he ever was. I now wear his second-hand hand-me-downs.</p>
<p>i spend 400 or so a month, but that includes my car payments, my car insurance, and my cell phone.. as well as groceries and gas.. Although I just spent about 120 dollars in florida :X .. but that's because I brought home things for my family.</p>
<p>My S spends more than $200 per month in a major metropolitan area. </p>
<p>What do you like to do for entertainment? Are you a picky eater? Will your cell phone bill come out of that budget? Do you plan to go for ski weekends? Spring Break? Weekends in NYC? Will your friends and family adjust to handmade Christmas gifts?</p>
<p>In any event, the trick is to earn maximum dollars in the summer. Landscape/factory jobs pay $12 to $15 per hour. Your net weekly pay @ $12 per hour (if you lived in Illinois) would be $357.58. If you work for ten weeks you could save $3000. If you worked another two weeks at Christmas, you could save another $600. That's $3600 per year or $300 per month spending money.</p>
<p>I think Cheers estimate is a good one for a city like Phil. where Penn is. My college soph daughter otoh, is a real thrifty girl. She's at a rural college and does work at college, but just 10 hours a week. That pays for her spending money. She's a camp counselor during the summer and that pays pretty poorly but for an el ed major, it's THE job to have for experience. So, as usual, one can't generalize about anything!</p>
<p>one thing that helps is jobs that come with a christmas bonus. I got about $650 (after taxes) for a christmas bonus.. from a job that i worked at for about 6 months over the summer.. That REALLY helped out at Christmas time.. I was pretty generous with my gifts this year (mom got a digital camera, dad got a PS2 game.. etc)...</p>