When I was in college ten years ago, I paid for my own out of the collected savings from all my high school summer jobs. With room, board, and clothes covered by my parents, I found that I was quite happy with $400-500 a semester, especially on a larger state university campus where free everything (movies, food, dance lessons, whatever) abound.
Why don’t you try it for the first two months and see what happens? And, arrive at an amount that works for freshman year, then the next year and every year after that, have him get a job if he requires funds over and above those which you have supplied.
Man, I had to work while going to college (I graduated in 05). I commuted to my campus and my job paid for my car insurance, my gas to be able to drive to school, caffeine 
and an occasional purchased meal. That was it.
Granted, that meant I didn’t really do much since I didn’t have money (I also never got a credit card in college, which I am really happy about). But if I hadn’t worked, I literally would not have been able to go to college.
Depending on the person. I’m in school now, without any help from my parents (I don’t think they even know where I’m going to school) and I was able to pull off three jobs at a time and still get As in nearly all my classes (grumble: stupid B in English. Aced Latin though. Weird, huh?).
And yeah, I could spend every weekend partying, but do you really want to be paying for your kid to party?
Not to harp on you either, but, I have NEVER had one of the neighborhood high school kids or college kids, whose parents complain about lack of jobs for that age, ask if they could mow my lawn for $25 a week or offer to take my kids on field trips for the summer in exchange for cash. I’m sure jobs are difficult to find. I’m also sure that there are unexplored opportunities available and unless you send around a few hundred fliers for “college student looking to mow lawns this summer to help with tuition” you won’t know.
Humph. I went to school half time, worked full time plus, and had two small kids and a husband working sixty hour weeks and graduated with a 3.97 when I went back to school. Oh, and both my sisters had health issues the last few years and lived out of state, so I was doing some family crisis related support and traveling as well. Somehow I managed to work, study, sleep, parent, keep house, do laundry and cooking for four, be a supportive sibling, and still see my friends. Are young adults really such wimps?
I’m going to say yes. I knew this one guy last year who complained how his mom stopped paying his truck insurance and they’re only giving him 60 a week. Yeah, that guy was failing his classes and being a general jackass. No reason for him to be doing poorly.
I told him, “Hey, if you want, you can tell your parents that they can sponsor my college education, and when I graduate and become successful, I will give them all the credit.”
Most college success stories I know come from people who worked through college.
-My best fried worked full-time throughout college, got his degree, and went on to become a VP for the world’s largest electronics retailer.
-My nephew worked part-time throughout college and graduated top of his class with a civil engineering degree.
-I worked part-time throughout college and graduated in a class of 30 whittled down over 4 years from a class of over 300.
We all lived at home, commuted a hour a day, and payed our own tuition.
On the other hand my niece didn’t have to work, daddy paid for tution, got her her own apartment across the street from the student union, car and a gas card, and she dropped out before finishing her freshmen year.
My parents gave me about $1,000 / semester (for books, phone service, entertainment, and incidental expenses) in 1994-98. I’d probably bump that up to $1,500 or so if I had a kid in college today, since textbook costs have gone way up.
My son gets zero dollars spending money. We pay for all of the necessities, like tuition, room and board. The rest is up to him. Students have 3 months off in the summer and a huge break at Christmas with absolutely nothing to do in which to earn whatever spending money they want. Most schools have means to earn extra cash during school as well. I worked in the math lab for a few hours a week in my college days- just enough money to cover beer for the weekend. It was not a hardship and probaly helped my grades.
I know a lot of young students and all too many of them have too much money to spend and, oddly, too little time to make decent grades.
My parents gave me $0. My spending money was from my summer job, and then student loans. I had work study my sophomore and senior years. (I did my junior year abroad. Not being legal to work, I busked on the street.)
Once, in my senior year, I fucked up my budget and had to ask my dad for money. He helped me out. My parents are cool. I was an adult, and I never felt like my parents had an obligation to pay for my college education.
ETA: My parents also paid for my airfare and some travelling costs when I studied abroad. They wanted me to have those experiences, which my student loans wouldn’t have covered.
I’m starting to think so.
How do kids learn to value things that they are just given, that they don’t have to work for? Kids aren’t born with a sense of entitlement; well, they kind of are, but it’s up to the parents to straighten them out on that score, that the world wasn’t put here for their gratification. When I was a young adult living in my parents’ house, the deal was you got a free place to live while you were in school; that’s as far as they paid our way (if you quit school, you got to start paying rent). The concept of parents paying every single cent for their 18-22 year old kids to get an education still strikes me as extremely generous.
Dinsdale, I think your kids learn more things they really need to know to make it in life from the demands you place on them than they do in school.
Hmm, I see I haven’t really answered the OP question - I would suggest that paying his tuition, books and food is enough. Time for him to ease into the adult world of money doesn’t come from nowhere.
For what it is worth, I did not work through college, just over the summers. I worked quite hard during the summer and picked up as many hours as I could, but I didn’t work during the school year*. This enabled me to graduate in 4 years, whereas many of my peers were taking 5 – even 6 – to get their degree. I was able to add courseload because I had more free time. There are just so many hours in the day, you know?
My parents covered tuition and a meal plan or a basic amount for groceries, as well as books. My mom would take me grocery shopping to set me up for awhile when dropping me off (it was a long way, so this was usually twice a semester). The rest I covered out of savings. I never really had a lot of money but enough to get by, I guess.
- I did get a job during my senior year but this was because my parents had started a painful divorce and my father was playing financial games with me in order to try to get my mom to give me money, e.g. telling me he’d pay for books only if I sent the receipt, but then deciding if I had enough money (my savings for the whole year) to front for books, he didn’t need to pay. I didn’t tell him about the job. My grades did suffer that year but that may not have been entirely job-related; a close friend died that summer so I was pretty distracted.
My parents covered most of my tuition and room and board, and I was responsible for any spending money I wanted.
I had a part time job, which probably netted about $120-$150 a month. I’m going to say it was easy, but it was certainly doable.
For one I lived in the dorms all four years, so I had no rent or monthly bills to take care of. I didn’t have a cell phone (this was in the late 90s and early 2000s, before they became ubiquitous). I used the computers in the library and labs to type and print out assignments. And for three years I didn’t have a car on campus, so I didn’t have to worry about gas or insurance.
As for social life, there was always a lot going on or near campus and if I wanted to party I just had to find out where the nearest house party was taking place, pay three bucks for a cup and drink my fill. The only things I really spent money on were school supplies and the occasional movie theater outing, pizza and CD.
My first year, my parents paid for everything on the bill the school sent them, plus my cell phone. That left me to cover everything else, including books, pizza and beer, and entertainment. I worked about seven hours a week to cover that, along with about $800 of my summer savings left after I turned the rest of my savings over to my parents (about $7000 that first year, I think, because it was several years of savings). I finished up my freshman and sophomore years with more money in the bank than I had coming in, though I’m a pretty cheap person. Your kid should angle for an on-campus job; they have lots of desk jobs where you’re greeting people who come in, or checking IDs at the gym, or other things that you can do as you do your homework.
Wait… college kids are provided with allowances on top of having their tuition+food+board paid for?
Can you adopt me? I’m not going to school, but I wouldn’t mind an extra $150 merely for being your kid.
Sadly, I know a couple people whose parents saw no reason for their pwecious to get a job in college, and gave them upwards of $50/week. Having graduated last year or the year before, those of us who actually had to deal with being broke seem to be doing a lot better than those who mooched off mommy and daddy. What they learned was how to be dependent on their parents, not how to be an adult.
My parents paid for tuition, board, and the minimal meal plan. If I had an emergency, I had a credit card linked to their account. If I absolutely needed something I couldn’t afford, my parents would help me out (eg, “Mom, my homework for this class is taking me twice as long because I don’t have this $50 reference book, can you help me out?”). I didn’t have a car, either.
I still had a great time. Also, I learned how to budget my money and began to learn how to get by on a teeny-tiny part-time paycheck. I’d wager that unless you want to continue supporting your kids for the rest of their adult life, it’s time to start to gradually cut them loose.
I got about $600 a month (I started college in '99), after tuition, books and medical expenses, if I recall correctly. I’ll check with my mother tomorrow.
From that I paid for rent, running expenses for my car, fraternity dues, food, clothing and so on. I did need a car - it was a commuter campus, and on-campus housing was extremely limited.
I also worked about 20 hours a week most of the time I was in school.
Looking back, it was way too much; my mother felt that a generous stipend would make sure I didn’t feel pressured to work, and therefore would be better able to concentrate on school. However, due to various factors (not incidentally, the fact that we were relatively poor up to shortly prior to me leaving for college, and the notion that I had money and could spend it was a bizarre and exciting new concept) it had the opposite effect - with lots and lots of discretionary income I always had money to go drinking, clubbing, buying video games, whatever - anything but study. I established some habits which have been remarkably hard to break (I eat out- mostly fast food- about 90% of the time).
I would say shiftless probably has it about right, although finding on-campus jobs is extremely hard at the moment (fewer off-campus jobs means a lot more competition for on-campus ones). I’d also cover medical expenses - college health centers offer reduced-cost but not free care. Obviously, if your kid is covered under your health insurance, this is a non-issue.
A minimum-wage job at 20 hours a week pays $145 a week before taxes; an on-campus job may pay less, because kids get tuition discounts or reduced dorm rent or whatever.
Either way, that should be more than enough discretionary income for most kids. If he can get a job, great. If he can’t, give him an extra $100 a week.
I’m not trying to be snarky or anything but aren’t you unemployed and mooching off mom and dad right now?
Actual jobs are hard to find, but college campuses have job openings just for students. Finding an on-campus job isn’t as hard as it would be to find one elsewhere, even if the kid doesn’t qualify for work-study jobs.
And on the school as well. Undergrad was a lot harder for me than getting a Ph.D in chemistry.