For those of you who have had freshmen at Pitt…how much did you find they spent weekly - and what did they spend it on - food, entertainment, travel…?
We are trying to be realistic about how much our son needs to save up over the summer, or whether he will need to get a part-time job, and have no idea what he should expect to spend.
Thanks for your input and experience!
Our kid had a mid range food plan freshman year (he’s got a full ride scholarship there, so it’s whatever fit into the confines of that.)
We provided him with $200/month for spending money. He’d charge an occasional haircut to his credit card (linked to my account so I pay the bill.)
He seemed to manage just fine on that. He went out with friends, ate probably most meals at the Perch since he was in Sutherland. There are a lot of activities that kids can do for super cheap, and some stuff even involves free food.
As an aside, your child will probably get a postcard offering 7 or so Pitt home football games for a total of $25. My kid doesn’t like football but he learned it was more of a social outing than anything. So I recommend springing for those this summer.
Depends on your kid - I have had 3 at Pitt and one struggled to understand how a bank account worked and the concept of overdraft (and overdraft FEES!), the other one was clipping coupons, getting groceries at Aldi and penny pinching and the last one, from what it looks like on snapchat, would spend every penny available on concerts and food exploration!
Lots of free food at club events. Bus pass and museums are free. But sticking to the meal plan is dull - lots of interesting options around. I would bet $200/mo would more than suffice if a kid had some fun but did not go crazy. Also you will need to put some money onto “Panther Funds” for laundry - you can do that online - but that is one surprise I got in Sept when my son was sitting on top a washing machine and needed funds right then and there.
Mine went to Pitt with a savings account from summer earnings and also we auto drafted about $30 a week. Some weeks she used none, other weeks she used it all but it was enough and we never had to increase it. She used those funds also for occasional groceries.
Carachel2 - do you mean your child only spent $30/week, or that they spent $30/week plus whatever was in the savings acocunt? if the latter, how much did they spend weekly from the savings account in addition to the $30?
You seem to be looking for an exact number and there really isn’t one. It depends a lot on the kid and who your kid is hanging around with. My D just finished her sophomore year so she’s had two years of dorm living. Each year I put about $400 onto her panther card. In addition. Freshman year I think she spent another $100 or so per month of her own money. Sophomore year she ended up hanging around a much more frugal crowd and I think she went through only about $500 of her own money for the entire year. Again, it depends on the kid and who they are hanging out with.
OP, I like seeing that your kid is going to cover his own spending money! It does depend on your kid. If he is going to want to eat out a lot beyond his food plan, take Uber around town, get concert tickets with friends, etc, he will spend more than a kid who mostly uses the meal plan, goes to a lot of free events on campus, and thinks going to the campus athletic facilities for pick up basketball is a great way to hang out with his buddies. His friend group may affect this is well. A wealthy roommate who thinks nothing of getting take out or hitting the bars several nights a week can impact your kid’s spending. If he wants to go to Florida for spring break, that obviously adds up,
I’d take a guess at a spending money based on what he spends now. Maybe add a little to that. He can always get a job 2nd semester if he needs one, too. What he decides now can change later. But I’d mostly let him sort it. He can adjust his spending or get a job of needed. It is a good experience for him to figure it out.
Sometimes she says she spent $0.00 of the the $30.00 and sometimes she dipped a bit into her savings $10-20 If she went out more or bought a few groceries for the dorm. She’s a pretty frugal kid and tended to do free or low cost stuff available to her.
Check out pittsource.com for jobs. There are a lot of on campus jobs. My daughter worked 10 hrs per week and liked it. She is not an engineer or pre-med, so a little easier course losd than some.