<p>We also pay the billed college expenses plus books. We also pay for the toiletries from Target or Walmart. All spending money is on kids from their summer jobs.</p>
<p>I’m not there yet, but I can see funding a certain amount of “luxury” spending (meals not on the food plan, movies, etc.). I also don’t feel that my kids have to bend over backwards to find their books the very-cheapest. Sometimes time is money, too, and if buying them at the college bookstore gets it in their hands faster than something online, I’m ok with that.</p>
<p>When S2’s friend (who seems to have an endless supply of $$) joined a fraternity first sem. freshman yr, I detected a little interest in S2’s voice saying he had been asked to pledge also. Right away I let him know that we would not be paying an extra $1000 for a frat. He would have to come up w/ the money if that was something he really wanted to pursue. He stopped talking about it pretty quickly after that. Funny thing, the friend’s Dad paid the ($500) semester fee for his S who promptly de-pledged a few weeks later.</p>
<p>We order books ahead of time whenever possible and buy most from online booksellers. If we can’t find the course texts, then we have to use the bookstore.</p>
<p>Are frats more expensive than dorms? It seems to me that it could go one way or another on overall costs.</p>
<p>My mother is a single mother sending me to school in the fall so there will be no monthly allowance. For the past 4 years I have not gotten money to go out or for random food purchaces whenever I wanted. I had to get the money through jobs, babysitting, dogsitting and gifts. I have learned to be very careful with my money. But seeing as this summer my boss has not been giving me the hours that I need, and the fact that I am required to purchase a laptop that is over $2000 and various other supplies that total over $500 at the beginning of the term, I know that I will be asking my mother for some money, but not on a regular basis. She has already said that money she will be giving me is only for school related expenses, which actually includes some clothes, and toiletries expenses, nothing more.</p>
<p>I will hopefully get a work study job and an on campus job that is not work study, seeing as first years in their first and second terms are not allowed to work off campus at my school, so I have been told.</p>
<p>"My kids bought their own toiletries…primarily because my daughter preferred “salon” hair products (and a lot of them) which I was NOT willing to finance. And I would have purchased bar soap, not body wash. "</p>
<p>Excellent point, thumper. I too will not purchase ‘luxury’ necessities; I’m willing to part with $2 for a bottle of Suave but not $7 for a bottle of Pantene.</p>
<p>Would I deny my daughter a bottle of shampoo if she asks? No…but she’s going in to this situation knowing that she has to budget for it. Its a great real-life test, albeit with a bit of a safety net because her food and shelter is already paid for. She SHOULD have to choose between shampoo and a Starbucks latte. She can sacrifice a trip to the pizza place one week because she needs money to buy laundry detergent. Better to learn these lessons now than later.</p>
<p>Or your kids can do as MY daughter has done. She has a (well paying) job at her university and works about 10 hours a week. Her income more than adequately funds her hair product, body wash, pedicures/manicures, hair (she has frosted hair…pricey to keep up…but hey…it’s not MY money), and shopping trips to the mall. She hasn’t asked me for a nickel and I haven’t asked her how much she spends. If I were footing the bill…I WOULD be inquiring about the costs and like others…the Suave would have to be the shampoo of choice (even though <em>I</em> use Pantene…but hey…I’m working full time).</p>
<p>I have two part-time jobs and pay for everything. (I also pay for 80-90% of room, board, and tuition with a combination of loans and grants; I’ll be close to $80,000 in debt when I graduate, but at least I’ll have work ethic…) Occasionally my parents will send me $50-200 if I’m short on cash and need to pay for books or other essentials, but that only happens a few times a year, otherwise I’m on my own. </p>
<p>I’m lucky that one of my jobs pays very well and that the other one always has more for me to do if I need hours on my timesheet; as a result, I’m reasonably comfortable. On the other hand, I’ve noticed that when I work 15-20 hours/week I don’t have much spare energy for academics, so I’m trying to keep it closer to 10 for now.</p>
<p>I pledged a sorority this term and expect to pay for that, too, which is mildly terrifying.</p>
<p>Re: the time is money issue, Pizzagirl…it takes a LOT less time to order books online than it does shlepping to the bookstore. DD is an engineering major. Her books one term would have cost $900 in the bookstore. They cost $300 online…well worth a few minutes at the computer (which college students are MUCH better at doing than spending pouring through books trying to find used ones at the bookstore). My only advice…pay the extra to get the books shipped faster…do NOT use book rate.</p>
<p>Also, both of my kids DID get their first semester freshman books at the bookstore because they registered so close to the start of classes (both attended the last orientation). BUT after that, they knew about 1/2 way through the previous term what courses they were taking and the books. PLENTY of time to order online and save money. My kids also got very good at meeting others who took the same class and buying books from them. Another way to save big bucks.</p>
<p>Im earning about 80-100 a week in my work study job and spending about 50 a week. M&D would send me 100 every so often for textbooks and such.</p>
<p>We pay tuition and room&board (what’s left of it after financial aid), and also books and transportation home for winter and summer breaks. That’s it. All pocket money, laundry, toiletries, meals outside of the dining hall, movies, other travel, copying, cell phone… is all paid by my son with his work study job. He doesn’t have a car, so no expenses there.</p>
<p>Summer earnings almost all go for his share of the tuition as calculated by the college – which is pretty high so there’s not much left.</p>
<p>About every two years I do buy him a new pair of sneakers and a couple pairs of jeans – that will tend to happen when he’s home on breaks.</p>
<p>My daughter will be leaving home this year, too, with the same deal, except that she also will pay for her own books.</p>
<p>'rentof2,
I’m curious, how did you decide to pay for books for one but not the other?</p>
<p>Well, my son has to commit almost all his summer earnings towards his share of his tuition, but my daughter’s FA is structured differently so not such an overwhelming percentage of her summer earnings is already committed to her college costs. Since I look at <em>our</em> money (as parents) as a pooled fund that helps them both equitably, it seems only fair that she picks up some other expenses to help make their respective responsiblities to pay their share a little more fair. Otherwise, he’s working his tail off just to pay tuition bills, and she’s working her tail off for more money that she can spend on whatever she wants.</p>
<p>This year she has to purchase a very expensive musical instrument, so that’s where most of her money is going. Next summer we’ll figure out a percentage of her income that will go toward her college bill that is in proportion to what my son has to pay out of his summer earnings.</p>
<p>Not sure if all that makes sense… but it makes sense to us. ;)</p>
<p>Agreed with Rentof2…our DD is paying for her own food this summer. She’s earning quite a bit of money so it’s not unreasonable to ask her to pay the $200 a month for food that we send her when she is not working full time (and YES…she is very able to buy a month’s worth of food for $200).</p>
<p>'rentof2,
Thank you, it does make sense.
Our approach was to cover the same items for our kids, but we have paid differences in dollar amounts due to local housing costs and major (required textbooks versus softcover readings).</p>
<p>S has a job, which he’s had since spring semester his freshman year. He works year round 30-40 hours/week at something he’d do for free (actually, he kind of was … that’s how he got the job; they asked if he wanted to get paid), depending upon his work week w/ school as he’s also a fulltime student. This job has HUGE flexibility in that he works from his dorm room (or wherever he has computer access). Anyway, we pay room/board. Tuition’s covered under bright futures, and he received a scholarship his first year, which he’s used as a book scholarship. That will be used up in Dec (mid way through jr year), and we will pick up books after that. His salary goes towards misc. items beyond the “board” amount he gets: movies, extra meals out, gas, fun stuff w/ friends, etc. The rest of his salary, which is most of it as he’s a frugal bugger (figured out how to eat at chik-fil-a for 19 cents (toasted cheese sandwich they’ll make for him), he socks away into savings. He’s planning law school and this money will go towards living expenses while he’s there as he won’t be working as much, if at all, while he attends.</p>
<p>D’s starting as a freshman this year. She’s not had the employment opportunity, so far, as her great job tutoring/babysitting for a local family ended at the end of the school year. However, she’s gotten the merit scholarships for a lot of hard work in high school. So, her tuition will be covered under bright futures. She has her books covered. We’ll pay room/board just like her brother and the scholarship money she has remaining after paying tuitional differential, lab fees, books, supplies etc, she will count as “her salary,” and that will be her living expenses past the minimum board we cover. Knowing her she’ll pick up tutoring jobs at school and supplement. </p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>We told our kids early on that we would fund 90% of mandatory costs (tuition, room, board, books) and they pay 100% of discretionary items. That way they had a built-in equalizer if one chose a more expensive school than the other (thinking public versus private although in the end both went public and S2 found a very inexpensive deal). Textbooks are bought on-line at a discount because even 10% share is a lot of money (both in engineering). </p>
<p>When the older one moved off-campus his third year, we figured our 90% based on room and board as if he were still in the same on-campus dorm apartment (but at current rates). He had to dip into his savings for his pricey off-campus apartment but learned some good lessons and it was nice not to have those lessons cost us anything.</p>
<p>He is currently in a language immersion program abroad. We pay summer school tuition, room, board rates. He got a scholarship for this program (which will keep him overseas until after Christmas) and wrangled a very cheap apartment sublet. He works a lot of hours during the school year in a restaurant, which is good money, and has found odd jobs whenever home on brief breaks. Before leaving this year, he got in six weeks of washing table cloths & napkins for some restaurant laundry service–left the house at 5:30 am and hated it but great money. His last email mentioned that he thinks he has a job offer wating table in a restaurant while overseas. He isn’t sure how good the tips will be, but thinks the free food makes it worthwhile.</p>
<p>We pay for room and board and tuition during the school year. Son pays for incidentals out of summer earnings. He’s being well paid on a summer internship - so he’s covering his rent and food costs - though we had to give him some money upfront for apartment deposits.</p>
<p>We are struggling with this now. S has had a great spring and summer job, plus he has dog sat a number of times. He is turning that money over to us for tuition. My one issue with work study - he will be getting $1100 per semester - since he will need to buy books before hand, he should not need that much pocket money Aug. - Dec. So we are going to hopefully do two direct deposits -one in his bank at school and one in his saving here at home for second semester. His account here at home has a higher interest (for what it is worth) and I just feel too much money at school is never going to be a good thing.</p>
<p>“What is the amount you are offering your student as pocket money to cover anything like meals out…supplies…etc. I am thinking of $40 a week. Does that sound reasonable…? D will be in SC…”</p>
<p>0 - I’m paying for tuition, room & board. Its my kid’s responsibility to come up with extra spending money by working.</p>