We had planned on S19 getting a part time job on campus. Lots of kids have them. But since he’s now going to be running on the XC and track teams, we think that’s going to take up some time and want him to also be able to join other things on campus. So no job for now. His answer was to work more hours this summer than originally planned. Freshman year is always a bit of an experiment so we will see what happens.
“Top companies don’t care one bit about campus job experience”
Horse pucky. Any job experience is good experience. Hiring managers like to see that hires have job experience. I’d rather hire someone with prior work experience than none. Plus, many campus jobs can be related to one’s career interests - work in a research lab for a science major, working in the on campus museum for an art history major for just two examples.
After reading this thread, I was curious how much my daughter spent last year: $500. She is at a LAC with a full meal plan and we purchase books. Definitely frugal!
So dependent on where they go to school. If they go to a rural LAC, they won’t need much. College in a city…quite a bit more. Where there is more to do off campus they will find more things to spend money on. Meals out, concerts, sight seeing and the associated Uber expense adds up quickly. Ours is responsible for her own spending money so she can learn budgeting, making choices around spending her own earned money, etc. She is hustling hard in her summer job to build up her account to afford herself more opportunities for fun next school year. She’ll appreciate her options that much more knowing that she provided them through her own hard work and effort.
We paid for tuition, room and board, books, travel home. Any other spending money was on them. What we did was to give them access to their savings account…all the birthday/etc money they had gotten over the years. I told them after that they were on their own to replenish it with summer jobs.
Someone posted that they allow their children unlimited access to their money, because the kids won’t take advantage. I don’t allow unlimited access to funds because I want my kids to do without, to want something but not have the money to pay, because I think this is important, especially with the credit card crisis so many adults find themselves in. My kids know that if the find themselves in a financial crisis, we are here to help. However, if your friends are going out to eat, and you don’t have the money, you don’t go, or go have a glass of water. They will survive, and maybe think twice about that $10 açaí bowl.
My husband and I have different thoughts about this. Our daughter will be in NYC, so costs can be high and temptations many. I plan to start her local bank account with $300 and then add $125/month in the beginning. My husband wants to deposit $200/month. I manage most of our money and tend to be more frugal. Also, I paid my way through college with no family support, so I am coming from a different place. I believe our daughter needs to be motivated to get that work study job to supplement her spending. Then she will begin to recognize the value of each dollar and how to economize.
@mjkacmom That was probably me. Had you started with your second sentence, I wouldn’t have responded but you didn’t. I agree with what you said in terms of doing without, wanting something but not having the money to pay. But my kids learned those lessons long before college. They may have had an edge though in that they were born frugal. Its in their DNA. Family trait. And their upbringing only enhanced/confirmed that.
I think $100 a week is a tremendous amount of spending money for college students living on camps with a meal plan, and items such as toiletries, prescriptions, and clothing are paid for. In high school I gave my kids $15 a week for lunch money, but they could make lunch and spend the $15 as they wished. Most had part time jobs starting at 14.
Who is talking about $100/week?
We make a $100 monthly deposit into my not-particularly extravagant son’s checking account to cover toiletries, hair cuts, pizza, snacks. He has a campus job to cover his “wishes,” like specific clothes, taking someone out on a date, and, now that he’s 21, picking up beer etc .
We told our kids we pay for needs (you need toothpaste, shampoo,etc) and the kid pays for wants (you want pizza with your friends, to see a movie, that cute shirt at Nordstrom). They had a credit card on our account for needs, and whatever they had in their own bank account from gifts or jobs for the wants. If there was a question they could ask us. It worked very well with the first two. They are now independent, frugal adults and manage their money well. The third one starts college this fall and we are planning the same for him. It’s easy to see who is spending what on the credit card statement because they go to school in other cities.
A timely question and something I’ve been wondering about too. Up until now DS19 has been pretty frugal and I’ve covered whatever limited food/entertainment costs he’s had as we’ve never given him an allowance. In terms of expenses we will cover the cost of his books and his school fees include printing and a bus pass. He also has a full meal plan. His only real expenses that I can see him having are laundry, toiletries, and entertainment/meals out.
Dh and I have been trying to encourage him to get a part-time job for the last year or so without luck so he will be going with whatever funds he has saved up from birthdays and Christmases. I don’t expect him to work while at school this first year at least. Most on-campus jobs are reserved for students on work-study anyway so he won’t qualify for any of those. I’ve been debating whether or not to give him the equivalent of the small admissions award he received. It’s only $1,000 (Ontario universities are cheap with merit awards) and really he earned it working so hard at school that I’m inclined to think of it as money earned that he should be able to keep. It’s not going to make much of a difference to his COA. If we do that then with the money he has saved he should have around $200/mo to play with which should be more than enough. Next summer though he needs to be working, not just for the money, but for experience to put on his resume.
My response was to this post, who was proud her kids had the discipline not to spend $500 a week, almost implying that other kids would. I could be wrong, but I think the majority of college kids do no spend $100 a week on extras, I know mine never did.
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We did not give our kids any sort of budget. Just told them to buy whatever they felt was appropriate. I guess some kids can’t handle this sort of thing. Ours could. We wanted them to participate in anything they wanted. Their average was about $75-100 a week (not including UBER or LYFT which we happily piad for on our cc anytime they wanted) when they lived in dorms with meal plans. This included things like going to concerts, eating out with friends on Sundays when there was no dinner in dorm and also for friends’ birthday dinners/brunches, coffees and occasional gift or clothing purchases. What kept them from spending say $500 or more a week? Well when a friend asked my daughter said “I would never do that to my parents. I know what they in general are willing for me to spend on and that’s what I do.”
"Who is talking about $100/week? "
I did and I also said it depends on where in the U.S. the kid goes to college. In Boston, NYC, or New Orleans, I could see a student going through $400/month when you factor in needing money for going out on the weekends, occasional clubs, shows, concerts, Uber/Lyft, laundry, hairstylist, yes even alcohol, small gifts for family members and friends on their birthdays, some new clothes, make-up, other toiletries, co-pays for health insurance, medications, additional school supplies, etc.
Also, did anyone think about monthly cell phone charges and usage costs? It all adds up over the month and school year. $3000-4000 over 9 months seems very average for a college student in a big city.
In my case, I’m not counting cellphone charges, (most) toiletries and medications, (most) school supplies, (most) haircuts, and health copays. My husband and I plan to cover these expenses.
The reality is that each family has different expectations for what parents will automatically cover and what the student will cover from their own bank accounts. When put into this perspective, socaldad2002, I can see where your totals are coming from.
Both of my kids went to Cornell in Ithaca, a small college town. They spent about 400-500/month on “stuff.” I gave them 200-250/mon and they earned the rest. I paid for their books, clothes, transportation home, sorority dues, etc. I started giving them about the same amount of allowance in high school. The money was deposited in their checking account the first of every month, just like a paycheck. They had to budget how much to spend, for big items and savings. If they ran out of money that month it meant they couldn’t go out. In speaking with other parents, I think I actually gave less than them because their kids would hit them up for $20 or $50 whenever they were going out at night. My sister would see $50+ dinner bill on her credit card from my niece regularly. It was a good way to teach my kids to budget their money in high school.
My D gets $500 per month. She is not even remotely on the high end. Some of her friends have no budget at all. She rarely spends the entire thing, but she has on occasion. I cover Uber rides, her car insurance, gas, cell phone, medical expenses, and clothing separately.
Wow I’m still not understanding how there could be such a swing in expenses. I figure S19 won’t spend any more at school than he spends here. We pay for him to eat at home (via groceries of course) and if he eats out it’s on him. This will be the same at school. I can’t see him spending more than $30/week extra on food if that. Toiletries? He can charge those to us. Haircuts? School supplies? Same. So I guess that leaves concerts, movies, beer, etc. I know Bowdoin’s nightlife is pretty much on campus and activities are included in tuition. I’ve had a couple of people PM me and say that their kids at LACs in remote areas spend about $150/month. I don’t plan on him buying his own clothes either. Maybe it’s different with boys. He just doesn’t have a lot of wants.
250 per month plus her summer savings. Medicines, toiletries, specialty coffee on campus, laundry occasional offsite dinner, going out, museums and other weekend fun stuff. Including clothes at the mall, I am sure too.
Uber is an Amex tied to my account. I really like to have an idea where they are going and can see when they get home. It posts to my mobile app. With all the fake lyft issues etc it makes me feel better. This has a limit and they all split the rides.
She earns a couple of thousand a summer. This is for pro sports or concerts. Skiing etc. clothes and any non school travel. Train to nyc etc.