spending money for freshman in college

<p>My daughter spends around $400/month in NYC. She is no longer on the meal plan so that covers all food, a $76.00 unlimited Metrocard and incidentals. She uses her summer earnings and we chip in when her earnings run out.</p>

<p>TOT, but when my D IM'd me last night she asked what we had eaten for dinner. I told her burgers and corn-on-the-cob. Pretty basic fare considering that her reply was that her suitemate had prepared rainbow swiss chard, a roast chicken and homemade cookies. Not too shabby.</p>

<p>My parents are paying for tuition, books, airfare, dorm decorations, food, etc. - basically everything, with ski trips and salon visits, etc. thrown in. I thought they were being less than generous with another $100 a month for incidentals, in comparison to my friends here who get anywhere from $50 a week to unlimited money, until reading some of these posts here. Basically what I'm trying to say is that you all have inspired me to send them off a card Monday thanking them for everything. </p>

<p>Out of curiosity, is there anyone on this board who is not allowing their son/daughter to get a job?</p>

<p>(FYI: I attend a fairly rural college.)</p>

<p>Gracilisae,</p>

<p>A card to the parentals would be nice. I know that they would appreciate it.</p>

<p>I have nothing but respect for the kids that can pull it off but considering that my daughter's course load is pretty heavy and that she is involved in a number of EC's I would not be thrilled if she took on a "real" job. She earns what she can during the summer and she picks up some extra cash during the school year with the occasional one shot job.....she has worked as a dresser at the runway shows at Fashion Week, baby sat, set up home computer systems and passed around food at cocktail parties. The pay is quite good so if you do this sort of thing as little as once a month in NYC you can make decent pocket money.</p>

<p>gracilisae - that card you're planning to send will make your parents' day! week! month!</p>

<p>RE "not" allowing S/D to get a job. We require that S work during summers or - if not - have a productive alternate activity (community service, unpaid internship...). So far it has been a job most summers (advanced math class one summer). During term time, we do not want him to hold a job. He is in engineering, which is a heavy credit hour load and we have always told him that being a student is his job. We are in a financial position to take this view. However, he is nearly 19 and we are beyond "not allowing." In turn, I guess you could say we are beyond "requiring" him to spend his summers a certain way. Of course, his choices might affect our choices re his budget :rolleyes:.</p>

<p>jmmom,</p>

<p>I like that....."productive alternate activity"....that is exactly what my husband and I accept as a good reason not to be earning significant $$. May I steal that phrase from you?</p>

<p>Elleneast</p>

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<p>We did not allow our son to work during his freshman year, and we will not allow our daughter to work during her freshman year either. BUT still...we gave them nada nada towards their spending money. DS earned plenty in the summer (and on school breaks), and DD will do the same. DS did work his sophomore year, and will do so second semester also (when he returns from study abroad...where he is NOT working...oh and we gave him NO spending money...he earned it all before he left).</p>

<p>Elleneast - I do not have royalty rights to that phrase. Necessity was the mother of its invention, in response to S' idea that a good summer activity would be a combination of hanging out with his friends, going to the beach, and fine-tuning his computer gaming skills. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>Both of our kiddos had jobs during their freshman year and all years - as in high school - they both had fairly full time after school committments for multi years - AND also had jobs - nothing changed as they entered college - DS had work-study as part of his financial aid - DD has self-help job - works for the school itself/not work-study. They worked during the summer and did/have utilized those funds as well. The $$ earned during school we have always called their ''pizza $$".</p>

<p>Their time management skills just followed right thru to college and continues now - we feel it has helped both of them to realize a bit more the value of what they have - several doors have opened as a result of this as well - and neither have complained about their need to have jobs. If anything - DD has complained about the numbers of kids who have too much time on their hands at school - and not being very productive with that time - with a credit card at their disposal for what ever they want for.</p>

<p>Both have learned well from that old adage - the struggling college student certainly fit/fits them well - but in very positive ways.</p>

<p>My parents give me $30 a week, and take care of all education expenses, travel, and my phone, which is on a family plan /w no fancy stuff (like text messages). I go some weeks without spending any money. Stuff on campus hardly ever costs much. Of course, I'm also not in a city; there aren't that many places to go. When I'm home in the spring, I do referee soccer ($50-$300 a weekend, depending on how much).</p>

<p>dvan - hope the D is enjoying herself =)</p>

<p>I asked my D not to work freshman year. This year she works 10 hours a week. Over the summer she worked for 2 months and had an interesting "productive alternate activity", volunteering on a Heifer Project farm, for a month.</p>

<p>We give our D 100 a month spending money. That covers her laundry, toiletries and whatever else that comes up. Anything over that she covers out of her own money that she has saved by working the last 2 yrs of high school. I know right now she has gone over our money and dipped into her own. She will have to learn to budget better. What she is finding is that they are spending the majority of their spending money on eating out and buying food to have in their room. (she has a kitchen). I don't feel sorry for her since she has a meal plan that she is choosing not to use as often as she should.
We pay for books, tuition, cell phone, prescription medications. 2 flights home a year. We also paid for a basic starter wardrobe (sitting in the dorm in NO).We also paid for the suit she needed for one of her classes. I felt to guilty making her pay for that. Any extra clothing she pays for herself. If she ends up staying at her present school we will spring for a few basic winter items jacket and shoes. If she ends up deciding to take up skiing or snowboarding we might give her a little extra based on the fact that she earned a large merit aid from this school and it saves us in tuition.
Having a job was the best thing my D did. It made her aware of how much one has to work to buy something. It made her think about her wants and purchases regardless if it was my money or hers.
I remember being the one in college who was not able to participate fully as I had a very limited amount of spending money. I want my D to be able to do somethings but also to not spend money as my Mom used to say like "money grows on trees".</p>

<p>Gracili - DD is at the same rural school you attend. We are encouraging her to get a job or "substantial" volunteer or internship position, as soon as next term, but not this term. We would be OK if she does not work at all this year, as long as she has a job or "productive alternative activity" next summer.</p>

<p>Our son gets no allowance from us and never has. He is using his summer earnings for haircuts, cultural event tickets and occasional meals out. He will make it through the year and is very careful about money and doesn't mind being different from the segment of kids with limitless cash access. However, he is far from self-supporting and we have received no note of thanks for the rather wonderful situation he is now in. The fact that he is articulate about being extremely happy is a big plus, but for those of you out there...a note of appreciation goes a long way when parents sit down each month and write big checks. I am sure he will come out of freshman fog soon and that he will be assuming more and more adult-like responsibilities while there. We will ask him to work some hours from sophomore year on for spending money in some on campus job, although we don't plan to ask for that the first half of freshman year. One mom I know found a note of thanks on her couch in just the spot where she sits from her son after he left for college --assuring her he would be alright and expressing his appreciation for everything she is doing for him. I know two other parents who have received these sorts of notes from college, thanking parents for supporting them in choosing paths that were often the opposite of least expensive. I am impressed with any 18 year old who stops for a moment in the whir of all the fun and work and sends such a note home to his parent units/payees.</p>

<p>I'm another one in no allowance club. D is required to save $1000/summer for incidental expenses during school year (we pay tuition, room and board, books, prescriptions, necessities). I particularly balk at paying for food - I figure I've already paid it in the form of R & B and if she chooses not to eat in the union, then she can pay for it! </p>

<p>I don't really want her working during the school year but if she wanted to, I'd go along.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, D has discovered e-bay - probably out of necessity since she loves to shop and literally the only place to shop in her rural college town is Wal-Mart. She tends to run low on her $1000 in first semester but always works over xmas break and picks up a few hundred more dollars which goes pretty far in her school town.</p>

<p>I guess I'm the lone voice on this: my son seems to be a spendthrift, and given the incredibly rural location of his college, I'm stumped where it's all going. I know he eats a lot, but it's hard to spend that much in a town with a pizza place and a deli and not much else. I just finished sending off an email suggesting that he figure out a way to rein in the spending, and look into picking up an oncampus job a few hours a week.</p>

<p>
[quote]
given the incredibly rural location of his college, I'm stumped where it's all going.

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I don't know anything about your son and his habits, but I would make a general guess that it is going towards alcohol - some my friends have racked upwards of $300 in alcohol in just the first three weeks of school alone.</p>

<p>Also, re: Cangel - is your daughter thinking on-campus or off-campus? I perused the shifts out of curiosity for some on-campus jobs and they seemed really limiting, i.e. you were working during the day and clubs, friends, etc. would be impacted or you were working until like 2 a.m.... After coming here I have been exposed to so much more of a wide financial spectrum and I guess I am finally realizing how lucky I am, and how lucky I am not to have to work due to an aid package.</p>

<p>I have never ever had a job and don't really know where to start with that.... next summer I am trying to justify taking off to France but I might be working at a camp. It'll be interesting how it shakes out.</p>

<p>Gracilisae, that was my guess too. But the campus beer of choice is also cheap. He must be treating most of the freshman class.</p>