Creating a spending budget for college freshmen

[Chelley00]

She is going to school in Indiana. I am hoping to stock her with toiletries but yes, it would cover everyday needs if needed.

DS is going to IU in the fall. He'll get $25 a week. Obviously if he runs into an emergency I can transfer money into his bank account ASAP, but with the meal plan and housing paid, he really shouldn't need that much, I'm not paying for him to party

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

My son is working his way though A & M. We buy him groceries sometimes & clothes when needed & fill his gas tank everytime he comes home. He earns all his spending $ & asks us for $ only if he can't make ends meet.
His first year he had a meal plan but now lives off campus which is much cheaper & he cooks. It might be tacos & hamburger helpers & waffles but it works well for him. The guys he shares the house with are also working their way though so it works out great this way as they all have a tight budget.

 

[MeekoB]

I'd take a look at the estimated student budgets for the school. Often they give you some idea of what the school expects is reasonable. I think they are often low, but at least it is an estimate based on the actual experience of the students at that school.

 

[collegejunkie]

it depends on your DD and what she plans on doing. i have a meal plan, but sometimes i'm in my research lab beyond dinner hours and i end up having to order food. sometimes there are exams that run through dinner hours as well, so then i need to order that also. it also depends on how much flexibility you plan on giving your kid. i go leave campus every other weekend, sometimes a few weekends in a row, just to get away from the stress of being at school. it depends on the kid and what the parents are willing to do. if you're not into any of that, then i guess $50ish is fine for little things like deodorant, missed meals, etc.

 

[csmommy]

One of my clients give his daughter $500 & his son $750 per month. Wish he would adopt me!

 

[luvs2cruise]

My son is a freshman this year and he lives in the dorms and has a meal plan. We give him $40 every other week. We also will put gas money in his account when he is planning on driving home for the weekend.

 

[crisi]

I'd start with what she needs.

When I was in college - back in the dark ages - I did movies at the student union - not first run theatre movies - and I volunteered to get in free. That one meal that the dorm didn't cover was a Dominos pizza split between at least three people. I only had the clothes I brought with me, didn't get snacks outside the dorm - and existed on about $10 per week - that WAS a long time ago. But not everyone can live that cheap.

 

[NewCrew42]

I just noticed something interesting at Wal-Mart yesterday. It is sort of a two card gift card system. I was thinking I might use something like this when DS goes to college.

One card is a load card, you (mom) swipe it to load money on it. The other card is a spend card that son/daughter would have. That would be the card you would use when buying something. Mom can add money at hometown Wal-mart using the load card and son can spend it at college town Wal-Mart.

Hope this helps someone!!

 

[brymolmom]

$50 a week sounds very generous unless the incidentals you're referring to are very $$$$.

I just chatted with my sister on the phone about this and we thought that $50 a week now would be about the same as $40 when we were in college. That would have been a LOT! But, things have changed quite a bit. Sounds to me like all your dd's needs will be met already, without this 'extra' spending cash. Back when I was in college- this was the most important and sometimes only factor - did I NEED it? So what I'm saying is that I would guess that whatever your dd ends up earning at her summer job likely should cover whatever expenses that turn up. If she needs to eat a few meals that aren't included on the dining card - lots of us back in my day got by with Ramen noodles in the cup warmer in the room. For cents a meal - it lasted us awhile. If she needs new deodorant....that's when I tried all the cheapest brands or made due without something else. Back when my needs were all met - I would maybe get a slice of pizza a week, for 'entertainment' we would all get together in the dorm TV lounge and play games, gossip, laugh and watch TV. Sometimes we would go to campus parties (maybe $5 at the door), but that would only be once a week at best. I would say that she likely could get by easily on $20 a week.

Plus back then many of us had to pay phone bills with long distance...and most college kids I know their parents pay for that. So that's one expense we had that many don't today.

 

[Crystal824]

My sister gives my niece $100 a month. That covers all incidentals. She goes to UofA in Tucson and comes home frequently--she only lives about 100 miles away. When she is home her mom stocks her up on groceries and snacks and stuff. She just got a job, so don't know if the allowance will continue.

This is excalty what my mom did when I was in college. I graduated 10 year ago so it isn't excatly what it used to be. I was fine. I did babysit and a couple semesters, I had a p/t job too.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

DD is a senior and gets $50 a week. That covers her groceries and incidentals. I pay for her to share a house with some of her sorority sisters, and a municipal transportation pass to get around. She works and saves that money for clothes and entertainment and sorority dues and spending money for a trip she's taking to Israel this summer.

 

[MrsPete]

My DD18 lives in a dorm and gets 3 meals per day. I do not provide her with any spending money. If she wants anything extra (like movies and parties and whatever) she has to pay for it.

This is my plan exactly.

We're going to pay for tuition, fees, dorm and meal plan. She'll have a phone on our plan throughout college. With those things covered, she won't be cold, hungry, or unsafe -- she might wish she could go out, and her clothes might stink, but she won't be without her needs met. I expect her to pay for her books, her parking sticker (probably won't be an issue freshman year), and her entertainment expenses.

Before she goes to college, we'll make sure she has everything she needs for her room: Refrigerator, printer ink, etc. And when she comes home /we visit, I'd make sure she went back with a big bag of snacks, sodas, laundry detergent, etc.

To make that happen, I see her working full-time during the summer and part-time during the school year. Summer should be enough to cover books (plus a cushion for the occasional splurge) and part-time during the school year should be enough for movies and meals with friends, an occasional item of clothing, and laundry.

I think freshman year I'd ask her to give me X amount of dollars from her summer paycheck to hold for spring semester books. She's the kind of kid who'd appreciate that kind of weaning-into-my-own-budget help.

 

[jsmith]

just an observation for those of you with children who will be incoming freshmen who think i summer job will cover books and incidentals for a semester-textbooks are ungodly expensive. My son who is currently a senior in an engineering curriculum spends in excess of 1000.00 per semester on books,lab fees and supplies-and thats purchasing used books or purchasing them from sources other than the univeristy bookstore when possible.

 

[drinkme]

So, I guess the college days of eating ramon noodle and condiment sandwiches is a thing of the past? Also, for entertainment, we went to the student union for free movies and cheap entertainment.

I would never think of asking my parents for spending money when I was in college! That's just how I am. Not saying it's right or wrong.

 

[powellrj]

I have 2 kids in colleges in Indiana right now. One DS is in a fraturnity and he has monthly dues, and needs nicer clothes than the other DS. I don't think either of them has been to a movie in years except when at home and mom is paying!

I know at DS #2 school, the city bus system is free to students, so they are pretty mobile. DS#1 is an older married student so he just drives himself.

 

[DisneyCrazy2]

Thank you everyone for your comments! These have been very helpful. I agree that there are a lot of cheap things to do on campus for entertainment. I think that $50/week may be too much. I was including laundry and a couple of meals (depending on which meal plan she choses).

 

[amywhite11]

My parents sent me $100 a month and that was more than enough.

My biggest budget buster was the phone. In 1998 no one at school had cell phones and the College's phone plan was very expensive. I was 7 hours away and called home alot. Make sure you include the phone (probably a cell phone now) in her budget.

 

[Jax1023]

My parents gave me $500 a semester. I graduated in 2004. This was to pay for things like coffee at a group meeting at an off campus coffee place, dinner out. movies (we like the 2 dollar college student matinee at 1 pm).

I was also in the pep band and marching band so I travelled of campus alot. I payed for food on the trips, as we took bus rides of 5-8 hours. So dinner at rest stops, late night pizza at the hotel etc.

I also had money from my part time summer job for other "fun" needs. And to pay my cell phone.

My parents payed for toiletries, etc. Basically they would buy that stuff for me at the beggining of the semester and when they came up.

 

[FINFAN]

our DD is in her 2nd semester Junior year. She lives in an on campus apartment and has yet to go over spending $500 per semester, including books and supplies. That is not including her computer lab/equipment fees however, but those are paid for in a lump sum along with tuition. Her last semester she only spent $340. She buys her own food, not on a dining plan, and her utilities are included in rent, all but cable and phone, they do not have a tv hooked to cable only use it as a monitor for game systems. she uses her cell phone, no land line. For now, we pay it $10 a month on our family plan. She worked to save and had $3800 alloted for costs. She is just over $2000 so far in total at the start of this month , so she should easily come in under budget. She does not go out to movies but maybe once a semester, she catches them on hulu or the kids get together and watch each others DVD's. She does not have a car, so not sure if parking has a fee ar if you will need to consider gas. Laundry runs my DD about $10 a month, she uses a drying rack a lot to save on costs. She shops for groceries at Walmart, Targetm Winn Dixie and Publix, and Goodwill is her store of choice for just about anything else. For each Christmas she has received gift cards, I aould say totalling maybe $150 since she began college, for Burger King, Subway, Walmart, Target, so I should add that in there as well. Our DD decided that she would give up pop from the vending machines if she had something she wanted to do , like the movies...pop is $1.50...not getting it for a week would pay for her ticket. Our DD kept $500 in her debit account each semester, kind of as a guide so she knew to stay within a reasonable budget and also if her card was stolen or compromised only that money would disappear, not all of her savings. the amount you are thinking should be plenty.