<p>My son is a freshman college student, responsible, and has done well so far this year to maintain a 3.0 GPA while playing a club sport as well as rushing a frat. He is a very independent and confident kid (attended boarding school). He worked last summer landscaping and made 5-6 K, paid for his school laptop and books and saved and spent 2500 over this freshman year to date. Although he seems to have managed his money well during the year (also paid for his spring break trip) I am trying to make him realize that if he gets a minimum wage job this summer and lives away, has to pay rent, food, gas, and his social expenses that he will not be able to save anything and therefore be without spending money the next school year. He is convinced he can make this work and seems determined that he can pay his living expenses and save for school. Based on the economics my wife and I know that his plan might not work out and are trying to save him the pain of being broke when he leaves for school next fall. He was just offered his summer job back (needs to reply within 2 weeks) and can make a 5-6 K again. He could also visit and stay with his buddys each weekend and have the best of both. He still refuses and confirmed that he has made his mind up to go. My wife and I are very frustrated with the situation. Should we put our foot down, or just relent and let him experience the potential pitfalls ??</p>
<p>I don’t know that you can really achieve much by “putting your foot down.” Are you going to threaten to not pay for his next semester of college unless he does as you say? </p>
<p>I think the best thing is probably to just let your son do what he’s determined to do and let him make his own mistakes. Be clear that you’re not going to make up the difference in his earnings and you’re not going to give him spending money next year. Let him figure it out, and let him learn from his own choices.</p>
<p>How foolish to give up such an excellent summer job! Few kids hope to make that much over the summer, and many have no prospects of summer employment at all. I agree that he needs to make his own mistakes–just be sure he understands that you won’t be rescuing him when he runs out of spending money.</p>
<p>Does he already have a definite job for the summer with set or a guaranteed number of hours? Does he need money to pay for tuition/room/board, or just for his personal expenses? How about books? If it’s just his personal expenses and his sophomore year expenses are likely to be similar to his freshman year expenses, I’d let him know that he’s on his own for those and then I’d stick to it. He knows what he spent and should be able to figure out on his own whether his summer job will leave him with enough money for next year. If his expenses are likely to increase (say because of the fraternity expenses) or he has to pay for books or part of his tuition, I’d probably ask him to go through his budget with you so all of you can make sure he’ll have enough - especially if you might have to fill out a FAFSA form you otherwise wouldn’t because he’ll need to take out a student loan if he doesn’t earn enough. But ultimately, unless you’re going to withhold financial support unless he does what you want, I don’t see how you put your foot down on this. Sometimes they just have to learn from their mistakes (and sometimes they surprise us, too!).</p>