<p>Hello
My d is a freshman at a small liberal arts college on the west coast. She lives in the dorm, and does not have a car. All food and basic entertainment is covered. I established a monthly allowance for her, but now am rethinking the amount. We are an average family in terms of income. Would love to hear thoughts about what parents establish as a monthly amount for spending at this stage of their college career.</p>
<p>We don't have one. We told our kids that they were responsible for books and spending money, though we did allow them to use small scholarships they won. The rest came out of their summer earnings. They have to then budget themselves.</p>
<p>Ditto that in our family.</p>
<p>ditto garland. That's what summer jobs are for. My daughter has two small on-campus jobs that pay her enough spending money (about $50 a week) to get by, besides the money she put by from summer job. Each family and college experience is different though. My daughter is by upbringing a spendthift and goes to a semi-rural college. While she and her friends go to concerts probably once a month, she also likes to do stuff like rock climbing and camping.</p>
<p>I gave my D $1000 for the semester. She also has a credit card that can be used for textbooks, medical expenses & the all important ticket home. Speaking of which, has anyone booked a flight for T'giving. I'm in severe sticker shock there.</p>
<p>kriket, we did book the ticket home for T'giving, and I think pricing depends on airline and cities involved. In our case the price wasn't bad and we were able to use credit card miles so it became even better. Check with your credit card company and see if they have any arrangements of this nature; apparently there are not blackout dates involved in this system to the exent there are when you use airline miles.</p>
<p>My son has jobs on campus for spending money as well as the savings from the summer job.</p>
<p>I am living off my savings for the first year (but I think I can stretch it to two or even three); then my parents are going to help me out with a little bit, but the longer I use my own money, they more money my parents put into tuition and stuff.</p>
<p>In regards to sticker shock for T'giving, you might want to check out X-fares on Airtran; it's for college students and the tickets are cheap--however, I think you have to fly on certain days. I don't really know the details, but it's supposed to be a really good deal.</p>
<p>We did the same as Garland, though son is also responsible for tuition but thats another matter. I think he brought home about $1800 from his summer job and spent about $1000 on books leaving him about $800 or $25/week. That amount seems to be okay for him and allowed him to take "roadtrips" to Providence, NYC, Senaca Lake, Boston, Amherst, Ithaca and Montreal twice.</p>
<p>His dining plan also included $150 MAD money for use in the on campus market and the 6 cafes about the campus for things like pizza, snacks, that Starbucks coffee or Ben and Jerrys ice cream.</p>
<p>So he was in the $30/week range which seemed entirely adequate.</p>
<p>next year, i will try to get 2 jobs on campus. hopefully making $100+ a week. that money will go to entertainment, savings, books, etc...i will work over the summer in this wine cultivating place in europe and hopefully make $400+. i have saved up from my last 2 summer jobs...i should have tota; 1200$ and my parents said they would pay the rest.....for a car.</p>
<p>our S is budgeted $200 month for non-campus expenses (he is in an urban environment and has used the money for ocassional cabs, rare dinners off campus and some entertainment). We will evaluate as he goes, but this seems more than enough. My informal survey of other parents from our area found similar amounts (whether alloted monthly, by semester etc. and whether parents were providing the spending money or the kids were using their earnings.)</p>
<p>Ditto, kathie,achat, garland , little mother and I did take a tip from originaloog this year as daugher is also responsible for purchasing books from her summer earnings as well as havingher own pocket money. She has a job on campus which she will use to pay for her day to day entertainment, shopping, etc. She recently told me that she is going to rush so she is also responsible for any fees associated with being in a sorority. I have found that since has learned to control her own finances she gives much more thought regarding what she wants and what she needs.</p>
<p>wornoutmom,</p>
<p>trust us, your daughter will develop a different philosophy about money once she is spending her money and you have given up your station in life as being the ATM.</p>
<p>My son (sophomore) had a summer job, and that is his spending money for this year. He has learned to budget his money carefully.</p>
<p>Not sure yet if he can come home for Thanksgiving. (I am hoping)</p>
<p>spending $1000 on books is ridiculous. You can find quality condition used textbooks on amazon.com and half.com which are just fine, and then sell them for what you bought them for at the end of the year (assuming you aren't a highlighter junkie).</p>
<p>We have a bit of a different twist...S has become immersed in a huge EC (which he has enhanced w/course credit) located on the opposite side of campus from his dorm...as a result, many days he skips eating because he lacks the time to get back to the dorm dining hall and he's budgeting his spending money...this is not a result I want...so we will adjust spending money this semester, and are considering not signing up for a meal plan (or perhaps a smaller one, or perhaps a move to a different residence--altho he really likes where he currently lives) to accommodate the fact that he generally eats at the dorm less than once per day (that sounds funny--he's actually getting to the dorm to eat about 5 times per week)...there's enough savings in reducing or eliminating the meal plan that I could substantially boost his allowance...and he's proving himself to be extremely responsible w/money...</p>
<p>Kriket, re sticker shock...uh-oh. My D hasn't booked her flight yet, either.</p>
<p>Re spending money, D has an on-campus job that takes care of that. She had summer earnings and scarfed up some parentally paid for clothing when home. One of the pleasing non-academic parts of her education is that she has really learned the value of a dollar.</p>
<p>Mine is allocated $1700 per year, which is what she earns from her research assistantship. We pay for two flights home and back. Books and etc. all come out of the $1700, as do trips to New York, Thanksgiving Break, clothes, etc. Last year she ran a slight surplus. We'll restock the kitty if needed; the $1700 just helps us keep track.</p>
<p>Ditto many others. I'm paying for tuition and room, then contributing $200 monthly for food (there is no dorm food service available for him, he has to cook or purchase out), and $300 for books for the semester. I bought his plane ticket to/from, and will throw in a train ticket to visit his uncle over Thanksgiving. The rest is up to him, and I told him that last spring when he was pondering summer activities (including possible paying job). He's looking at getting a paid research grunt position possibly as soon as next semester to keep the cash flow somewhat manageable throughout the year.</p>
<p>We will consider phasing out the book subsidy, and possibly modifying the food budget, depending how things go. We figured since we're paying full-freight for his tuition, he ought to work hard enough to provide his own entertainment. So far, he hasn't complained about this. </p>
<p>Now, the original poster asked about spending money for her D who did not have the requirement previously to fund her own spending money, so changing the game after-the-fact isn't very realistic for this year (although I agree that you might want to talk with her this year if you want to change the equation for next fall). A monthly budget for "miscellaneous expenses" would vary greatly depending what you were expecting to cover (CDs/music downloads? Cell phone service? Meals out? Clothing?). If she was getting an allowance at home, perhaps start there and ramp up a bit if appropriate.</p>
<p>I think the spending money issue may depend on what kind of entertainment is available locally. </p>
<p>We send D $200 a month for miscellaneous expenses (shampoo, school supplies, entertainment, etc.). She is located near Boston and I want her to feel comfortable spending money to experience some of what Boston has to offer. What's the point of being in Boston for 4 years and never having gone to hear the Boston Pops or seen the Red Sox play at Fenway?!</p>
<p>I'd decrease the amount if she were going to a school in a small town where the best local entertainment is found at the bowling alley (actually, bowling is A LOT more expensive than it was in my day).</p>
<p>I appreciate all of the input. We are putting in $100 a month and she is using her own summer earnings for anything beyond that. It sounds like for most of you ,the kids have to budget their summer earnings and if they run out of money, they are much more careful the next year.</p>
<p>Re:Thanksgiving--I made the reservations early in the summer, although I noticed the rates actually came down by late summer, so not sure if it was a good idea. I found kayak.com to be the best site for comparing fares.
I was surprised to find that all of the "frequent flyer" seats were already sold out for the winter break--I thought since the college kids came home 10 days before Christmas, that there would be plenty of seats. Not true--at least on American.</p>