<p>You will find numerous divisions as to who pays for what- tuition, R&B, books, spending money, cell phones, clothes, health insurance, etc.</p>
<p>Regardless, the average seems to be $200-250 monthly for spending money. A frugal boy in a rural college may spend way less, a $200 jeans wearing girl in NYC may spend way more, but that seems to be a common amount for the student to budget, whether that comes from mom & dad or comes from summer earnings</p>
<p>I'm a student, but my parents expect me to pay for any spending money by working over the summer.</p>
<p>We actually started with the allowance in HS. It was a family decision to give D1 an allowance rather than require her to work due to her ballet schedule. D1 was given a fixed amount(200) every month for personal spend. It covered for extra meals when she was at ballet (or she could bring a lunch), birthday presents for her friends/family, going out with friends. We also talked about saving part of her allowance, and she often put $50 to $100 away a month. By doing this we avoided her asking us for money whenever she wanted to go out (in the long run we probably gave her less money), and she felt like she was in control on how she wanted to spend the money. As an example, she saved for a few months to go out to a nice dinner in NYC with a good friend, who was also a foodie. By the time she went away to college, she was very used to manage her money. I have to admit, every once in a while I'll see a line item on her school bursar bill for some school events (hockey ticket).:)</p>
<p>Before his freshman year, we told son he needed to make enough $$ to cover his spending money at college. He managed to stretch it the first year, although I think he only had about $20 when he got home for the summer! This year he is working an on campus job about 7 hrs a week, that he uses for spending money as well as what he saved from the summer. He has his own account so we don't see what he spends, but we have not gotten any calls for $$ either year.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is a financial planner that strongly suggests that students be responsible for earning their own spending money. I guess she has seen enough situations where the kids never learn to be responsible with money and the parents are still helping them out years later.</p>
<p>Sister posting for parents.</p>
<p>My parents pay my sister's tuition. They'll also pay for things like her rugby gear or other stuff associated with some extracurriculars. But if she wants to have dinner with her friends, she pays. If she wants to buy a "Nerdwestern" T-shirt, she pays.</p>
<p>We have always considered kids' spending money to be paid for from summer jobs - that way there was never a conflict over how they chose to allocate it. No "You paid WHAT for concert tickets!!!????"<br>
This summer we're worried about that. D isn't going to be able to go back to the job she worked here through high school and freshman vacations. She's working left and right for summer internships that pay, but not getting much response. If she has to go for an unpaid one, we'll probably give her some spending money next year.<br>
This year may be very different for a lot of kids...</p>