My son will be a attending a FL state school in the fall (which one TBD). He will live on campus and have an unlimited meal plan. We’re not letting him take his car, at least not for freshman year.
What is a reasonable amount of spending money to provide him with every week? We don’t want him to miss out on anything he might need and be able to go out on weekends, but at the same time we don’t want him to live like a Kardashian.
My wife and I were thinking roughly $200-$250 a month on top of meal plan should cover snacks/going out/sundries, etc. We’ll give him what he needs for books. Is this a reasonable estimate? Too low?
That’s a good amount and very generous. Approximately $50/week with the understanding that it covers everything he might want to do, food, transportation, etc. Some parents find that if their student lives in an expensive area and they can do it, they may give a little more. Others find that if their child’s college is in the middle of nowhere and all they really need to spend is the cost of a few pizzas/tacos/wing orders a week, they really don’t need that much.
Thanks for the response. Looks like it will be either Tallahassee (FSU), Orlando(UCF) or Gainesville (UF). He was accepted at the first 2 and is awaiting word on UF. I would imagine Tallahassee and Gainesville are relatively cheap (never been there), I know Orlando not as much.
I thought $250 a month should cover it, sounds like that was a good guess. If it’s more than that, he could always (gasp) get a job.
My daughter is in her 2nd year at UF. If he’s living in the dorms, $200 a month should be fine. If an expanse pops up that’s not covered by the $200, he can always ask for more $$.
If he has the meal plan, he really doesn’t need a car (or dealing with the parking nightmare that’s UF).
