<p>I am about to talk to my parents about spending money/allowance, what is a standard amount parents give their kids? Also, do most parents make the student pay for textbooks and supplies usually?</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a standard amount. Some parents provide as much money as a child asks for, and others provide none. Some parents pay for books, others don’t. It is certainly reasonable for a parent to expect a child to provide his or her own spending money.</p>
<p>You could search on threads that have already been posted on this topic.</p>
<p>In our case we pay for room, board, tuition and books…alot of money in the grand scheme of things. The kids are expected to earn their spending money during the summers or on-going. One of mine works 10 hours a week in town and my second just arrived in his college job and is currently looking for a job.</p>
<p>Look on your school’s Financial Aid website for information about how the school estimates costs for textbooks and supplies. Many schools (if not all) also report the average amount of “spending money” required to get by in one year.</p>
<p>We all sat down with this data when my daughter went to MIT as a freshman several years ago, and we did it again with our son just before he headed off to Willamette.</p>
<p>Every family is different, but ours followed the recommendations of MIT’s FA Office. The school states that it expects all students to pay for a portion of their own education. In our daughter’s case, this was around $1,700 per year when she entered as a freshman. We told her we’d expect this contribution, but that anything she earned above and beyond this, she could keep. As a result, she’s been both hardworking and frugal and will probably graduate with a nice cushion of savings, thanks to her own earnings. </p>
<p>Our son has already lined up a part-time paying position for the spring semester of his freshman year.</p>
<p>The benefit to you, the student, is not only savings that you may or not be able to keep (depending on your family’s finances), but also the fact that by working, you will accumulate a range of job experience on your resume. It can be very helpful four years from now.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Allowance in college? Mine was $0.</p>
<p>You are going to have a wide range of responses. I know some kids that get a couple hundred a month beyond tuition, room and board, food, and textbooks. I also know kids that pay for food and textbooks.</p>
<p>Your parents will probably give you whatever money they can afford. There is really no standard amount parents give to their kids.</p>
<p>My daughter is leaving for college Tuesday. She worked as a camp counselor last summer, and this summer. This money she earned is for her spending while at school.</p>
<p>We’ve currently agreed that she should limit her spending to $50 per week, so her money will last, but she will be in a city, and it is likely she may have other spending that she might not have had in a remote environment. </p>
<p>But, we’ll see. She has to manage it, but everything is being deposited onto a debit card and we will be notified when its used.</p>
<p>Hopefully, everyone will learn something in the process.</p>
<p>I’m not sure you’ll find a standard amount. We saved money in a college fund for our son over the years. That fund pays for tuition, fees, textbooks, and room and board. I’m sure I will still help with needed clothing, haircuts or any necessary dorm items we forgot. He will use money he has saved for any other entertainment/activities. We are not giving him a weekly/monthly allowance.</p>
<p>This is how the poor people do it. ;)</p>
<p>Ds is responsible for everything that’s not tuition/fees/room/board. That means books, travel and spending money. He applied for and was accepted into a program that greatly reduces book costs so he’s in great shape there. He thought he’d only need $50/month, but I told him to budget for $60. 
He had a great job this summer and has several thousand saved up between the job and his graduation money, some of which will be spent on setting up his dorm room. Before we leave, I’ll run around town and get him some gift cards at local stores/restaurants to surprise him/help him out.</p>
<p>He’s tight with his money, so I’m not worried about that. Also he’s at a LAC that’s rural so I’m not worried about spending lots of money on concerts in the city and stuff. Compared to some on here, I’m sure $60/month sounds barbaric, but, aside from gas, he spends much less than that a month now. And he won’t have his car in college, so no worry there. He has the full meal plan, so he doesn’t need to eat out ever, but I hope that he will occasionally.</p>
<p>I worked full time and went to school full time my last 18 months in college, so I’m from the stock of having lots of skin in the game. OP, you probably don’t want to let your parents see my post, lol!</p>
<p>We do not provide a personal allowance. Our family’s FA contribution doesn’t include a car, either. We made this clear to our sons in late middle school – we’ll do what we have to get you where you want to be, but you will have significant skin in the game, too. </p>
<p>We expect our kids to make the college’s expected student contribution plus take out the max subsidized Stafford (i.e., 3500 freshman year, not 5500). This is enough to cover books and personal expenses, and the Stafford gets thrown directly at tuition/room/board. Money earned above that amount can be used to cover expenses for an unpaid internship, extra travel during study abroad, a trip to see GF, stuffed under a mattress, etc. </p>
<p>S1 has done this by working 10 hrs/week during the school year and a FT job in the summer. He is lucky to have bankable job skills that have enabled him to pay rent in a different city over the summer plus sock away $$ in the bank. (He gives new meaning to “frugal.”) S2 had a job this summer which unfortunately did not give him nearly as many hours as he hoped. He will be ■■■■■■■■ campus the day he arrives looking for a job.</p>
<p>$200 a month for sundries, supplies, entertainment, clothing, etc. and we pay for books in addition to that. But I will say that we are very generous parents (kids will be choosing our nursing home…).</p>
<p>We are giving son a $200 a month allowance and will pay for books and other expenses separately. Honestly, most of the parents in our social circle give more than that. Our son is not a big spender and is fine when we say ‘no’. He did work at my husband’s business every week for years and was paid for it, so he has some of his own money saved.</p>
<p>We do, however, expect he will be working starting next summer and contributing toward his living expenses but freshman year is on us.</p>
<p>My parents pay tuition, room, and board, and I’m very grateful for that. I pay for textbooks and everything else, though my parents probably provide $100/yr worth of supplies that are much easier for them to get at home (ink cartridges for my specific printer, for instance).</p>
<p>My mom’s name is on my checking account so she can transfer money to me should she feel like it. I get no regular spending money and pay all of my own school expenses, but once every few months she gets lonely and sends me $20 for pizza or something.</p>
<p>If I were to keep some sort of regular social life g oing, I feel like I would need a minimum of $20 every other week. That is what I would ask for if my parents were the type to give me spending money.</p>
<p>My D earned a very generous merit scholarship which has made me rethink this question. She has a decent amount of money saved for spending from her p/t HS job along with graduation gifts. We have told her that we’d prefer that she wait a semester before getting an on-campus job so so can get acclimated; we expect her to have a 10 hr/week job starting in January, plus she will work at her old job during Winter break. </p>
<p>We did buy her textbooks & bought her initial personal supplies (including a run to the grocery during move-in.) I am planning on depositing $100/month in her account although it doesn’t really look like she’s spending that much right now. </p>
<p>If she hadn’t gotten the scholarship and our contribution would have been in the area that I originally expected then she would have been completely on the hook for her own spending money. and books too.</p>
<p>We expect our kids to fund their own spending money beyond a small amount we slip them at dropoff and the occasional $20 sent in a letter. Pretty much everything else we cover, however - tuition, room & board, books etc.</p>
<p>We provide our college-student daughter with $0 allowance. As others have posted, we are paying tuition/room/board which is a HUGE chunk of the expense. She is responsible for all books, supplies and personal spending money.</p>
<p>It has given her a good chance to see that stuff costs MONEY…money that has to come out of HER bank account. She has learned to be a thrifty shopper and make her dollars stretch. She has the incentive to work hard during her breaks (she’s been working 40hrs/week this summer to fatten up the account) because she knows that without sufficient funds, there’s no extra for movies or dinner/snacks out once in a while.</p>
<p>We do make a soda/popcorn/cereal run when we are driving the guys to school. For first year, I went through our Official School Supply Cabinet and used that stuff, then bought whatever else they needed. I have also been known to slip and extra $20 from time to time. So has DH. I strongly suspect we have both done it to the same kid at the same time, too. :)</p>
<p>RobD, if my kids had taken the generous flagship merit $$, we would likely have a different take on a (used) car or funding other activities. They knew that was an option when they decided where to go, and they appreciated that we did not pressure them one way or the other.</p>
<p>S1 may not work this school year so he can focus on doing well in his major courses and research. Fortunately, his summer jobs give him this flexibility. </p>
<p>I am thankful my kids inherited the frugal gene.</p>
<p>my dad gave me $150 per month last year.</p>
<p>I pay for my tuition/room&board, normally my loan would cover my books as well, but i had to ask for help this semester. Its a good thing my school decided to start a retal service.</p>
<p>I am very thankful for whatever i can get be it $0 or whatever.</p>
<p>My S had a summer job to pay for personal expenses. I had also wanted him to pay for books, but as a rising freshman in an iffy economy, the job he had was close to minimum wage, and he didn’t get the number of hours he’d hoped for.</p>
<p>He may also get something on campus; at this point I am mainly concerned with him adjusting to college and getting off to a good start with his classes.</p>
<p>D is responsible for all her own spending money. We cover tuition, room and board and books (with generous scholarship and Stafford loans). D has summer nanny job and when that money runs out, she will probably get a campus job. I think she has budgeted $100-$150 per month.</p>