<p>Wornoutmom - we have a frosh daughter and struggling with many of the same issues. Our daughter is frugal, and she is using summer earnings like many others. She has to buy an entire winter wardrobe, though, so our plan is to actually set her budget over the Xmas break, because she will have bought most of her winter clothes by then, and know what her day to day expenses are. Only 1/3rd of her year will be over at Christmas.</p>
<p>Another thing we may well do is allow her to use a portion of her summer earnings to fund an IRA, and replenish her spending money for that amount - we are hoping that that money will have a greater impact on her future than giving her little extras along the road. We are buying tuition and airfare X2, we will cover any significant shortfall on books, particularly if she continues managing her money well - she has to cover the bulk of book and any spring break airfare.</p>
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Another thing we may well do is allow her to use a portion of her summer earnings to fund an IRA, and replenish her spending money for that amount
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Great idea ... we're in the camp of paying tuition, room, board, and books and the kids can pay for all the extra stuff themselves ... but we should make sure they can start their IRAs as soon as possible (I need to think how to make this work in HS never mind college)</p>
<p>It seems like we have had this conversation many times. Whether the student or the parent is funding the $, it seems like around $200-$250 monthly is a common amount to budget for "spending money." Obviously, NYC has different costs than rural and isolated, but this amount has really been pretty consistent.</p>
<p>We are also members of the "earn your own spending money" club. We pay tuition and transportation to & from college (but not to & from visiting Boyfriend.) She has a small loan from the church that she uses for books. And she has one of our credit cards with her name on it for trips to Wal-Mart for shampoo, real juice, and such. She also uses it for on-line purchases such as more dance tights, etc. Meal program dollars are available for trips to Subway, Starbucks and pizza delivery. The rest of it is up to her, her summer job and campus job. </p>
<p>ellemenope: I like the theory that she should have enough money to be able to experience a city like Bosten. And if Decatur, IL had anything to offer, I can see us doing the same thing.</p>
<p>The financial aid web site of all our CA schools (UC & State) include a basic budget which covers all expenses and that is what I give my D. She uses her own money to pay for her car and other things. As an example here is what it costs for UCSD this year.</p>
<p>2005 2006 ESTIMATED UCSD Undergraduate Basic Budgets
Resident Fees $ 6,681.30
Room and Board $ 9,421.00 - includes $1800 meal dollars
Books and Supplies $ 1,436.00
Transportation $ 1,047.00
Personal Expenses $ 1,526.70 </p>
<p>I would be surprised if your school does not have this info.</p>
<p>Just to give a different approach (and there have been many threads on this; you can search - for those who give allowance, I found $200 seemed to be the "modal" amount).</p>
<p>We originally planned that S would use summer earnings/savings for all beyond room/board/tuition/books/plane fare home for Tgiving/Xmas. We changed our own thinking, as we are in a position to allow him to try to bank his summer earnings in a Roth IRA, which he has started. He "earned" substantial merit $ and we were willing to provide reasonable/minimal spending money to give him a leg up on saving for his own future.</p>
<p>Thus, we decided on $125/month to cover: laundry, extra food beyond meal plan, entertainment, misc. toiletries, local transportation (no car), misc. school supplies/stationery, printing, clothes he doesn't really need (eg, the umpteenth baseball cap, replacing a lost fleece jacket). If you add it up, $125 is not "generous" for these things. Above the $125, he uses his summer earnings but to the extent he doesn't, he saves it in his tax-deferred Roth IRA.</p>
<p>I am in total agreement with those who have the kids use their own earnings for these type expenses. The fact that we give him this allowance does not mean he is at liberty to omit summer earnings from his docket - we are just fortunate to allow him to save for the future.</p>
<p>When he runs out of his (skimpy) savings he'll have to get a job. This year we bought his books and clothes, but we told him that we'd like to save for that stuff himself. I also buy his airplane tickets to come home for holidays. (I want him home!!!)</p>
<p>I asked him the other day how much money he's spent so far, and he told me he thought about $25! So his pitiful savings may last longer than I think.</p>
<p>Son's bank statement comes to the house. The agreement was that I get to look at it. Looks like he uses an average of $20 a week for spending on extras. He has meal plan and we pay all school and car related expenses. Hope this post doesn't jinx anything. He has been frugal so far. He earned money in the summer but he didn't seem to spend it.</p>
<p>I was very poor in college and it is a joy for me to see my son not have to worry about money for school. </p>
<p>I find this thread fascinating. Most families seem to be reporting frugal kids. I believe mine goes to extreme--he doesn't want to spend on clothes, haircuts, food, furnishings.
Other friends report that their child goes thru all the money they give them rapidly--ordering in pizza, chinese, clothes, nails, etc.
finding that center point seems like part of the learning process</p>
<p>Re T'giving travel.
I found a great site for flights - <a href="http://www.kayak.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.kayak.com/</a>. Just booked D's flights there. Found a fare $200 cheaper than on the airline site or any of the other popular travel sites. Interesting, the itinerary they found wasn't even listed on the airline site, so I called the airline, gave the specific flights from Kayak and voila, out came the price quoted. It might not always work this well, but its worth a try.</p>
<p>Re spending money, D's financial aid package specifically stated that the summer and campus jobs were intended to cover the student's living expenses. So that's how we play it. No allowance given.</p>
<p>I observed that most of the people who said their kids are thrifty are parents of boys! I have one of each, and my son who is 15 insists on paying for everything himself. He is a minimalist who basicallly doesn't ask for anything. My d, on the other hand, has already gone through a semester's worth of spending money--all on clothes apparently. She thought it didn't matter how much she spent a month as long as she had enough to get her through the semester! I think we will have to switch to a deposit once a month! It is a learning process.</p>
<p>Both mine tend toward frugal, but my D is definitely the better at it. She can definitely make a nickel cry she pinches it so hard. My S has the added challenge of living in NYC, where everything seems to cost more and there are more temptations. We don't, however, feel that this means he should get more money than she did.</p>
<p>I have no idea what my son spends per month. He has to earn that money himself. We cover tuition, room, board, transportation home and his cell phone. We figure it's up to him to earn enough money to cover his books and entertainment expenses. He earned more than enough to do so in the summer. He did not work his freshman year, but did work about 10 hours per week during his sophomore year.</p>
<p>i know i posted this before, but this thread seems to keep reappearing.. i spent about 400/500 a month when i lived on campus.</p>
<p>160-car payment
110-car insurance
20-cell phone
and then the rest was spent on gas, entertainment, and food (i lived in an apartment and had to purchase my own food)</p>
<p>books were paid for by myself and as for tuition and room and board, my parents and i split that - i owe about 20k in student loans.</p>
<p>My kids are the opposite - daughter is the penny pincher, but her younger brother, if he doesn't change, will not be as frugal.</p>
<p>I hope she can get into a routine and set a budget after this first quarter - when you move to NH and all the winter clothes you own are 2 sweatshirts, 2 sweaters, one long sleeved T-shirt and a fleece AND you are a girl - you will spend some money.</p>
<p>Our D is a freshman at William and Mary. W&M sent out a parents handbook that indicated that most students (freshmen have to be on a meal plan) spend about $20-$40 per week. We went with the $40 dollar figure. She is staying well under that amount of money. This sort of surprised us considering how much money she went through (albeit she had a job) when she was at home. She is even somewhat surprised herself that she is spending so little. There appears to be a lot of activities on campus---perhaps this is the reason.</p>
<p>My son has two jobs, one fun & the other catering which I encouraged since it teaches wonderful organization skills and speed. He earns all his own spending money. I will pay for plane fare and emergencies if they arise and I have access to his account and know how it is going. Son loves the idea of earning his own money and he is a penny pincher with it.</p>
<p>we have a family plan for the cell phone- so phone is covered
Also a bookstore account- although she very rarely purchases anything besides textbooks there- and she doesn't even buy all her text from them.
Work study job pays for everything else.
Summer job goes towards EFC.</p>
<p>Regarding FF trips: we got ours (on American, BTW) in June; our son has to come home the 23rd, same as all the non-students. It's erroneous to assume they're coming home earlier than the general travelers!</p>