More Discussion of Spending MoneyQUESTION FROM A CONCERNED MOM (Jacksonville, FL): Since debit cards weren’t around when I was in college, I am torn as to what the best way is to give my son spending money for college. Should we give him a credit card for emergencies and a debit card, a preloaded credit card or just put an amount in his account each week? If he has a meal plan what is a good formula to figure out how much he should be spending per week?
ANSWER: I would say yes to the credit card only for emergencies, plus a debit card for everyday use (I get confused with all the names for these new products, but some sort of card that has a finite and re-loadable amount of money in it to prevent over-spending). You should know, though, that whatever you put "on" the card, he's likely to spend - so start low and add more cash if necessary. Spending money is a difficult subject. And I think he should be responsible for much of it - I'm talking about walking around money like for Latte's, date money, movie tickets, a college logo t-shirt, a new album or renting movies. If you're referring to things like toothpaste, snack food, gasoline (to a certain extent), printer cartridges, etc. that may be handled another way. You could look into store cards to handle toiletries, groceries, etc. The amount that's right for your family is something only you can figure out. Unfortunately, there's no real way to figure it out before he gets to school. Once he's there, he'll have to see what he spends. Have him keep receipts for EVERYTHING he spends, at least for the first couple of weeks, and you can both go through them and see where the money goes. Then you can divide out whose responsibility which expenses are. If you're looking for an overall figure to use, you might check with the financial aid office at his school. They'll have a figure called "cost of education" or "cost of attendance", or something like that, that will include room, board, books, tuition and fees, and some estimate of additional costs/spending. Often schools do quite a bit of research to come up with this figure. You could then subtract out the fixed costs like housing, tuition, etc. and have a figure to work with. Simply divide that figure by the number of months he's in school, and you'll have a number. And as long as you know his basic needs are covered, you can not worry about him, and then fine tune the amount later. I know it seems like I'm not giving you a straight answer, but to some people a stop at Starbucks on the way to work/class is required to start the day, while for others it's a luxury. Each family has to have direct conversations about spending that answer many of these questions. Back to Articles List |
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