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We’re reaching a milestone. Our oldest is going off to college and I’m curious how much parents provide their young adults on a monthly basis for food and incidentals. My son has worked consistently since age 15 but is only now finally getting the importance of saving. As such he doesn’t have much to show for his efforts except a bunch of Uber Eats receipts, shoes and clothing that he purchased. He’ll be staying on campus, has a meal plan and a car that I’m allowing him to take to college with him so he’ll need gas money. If I’m handling insurance and repairs for the car, what’s a reasonable amount of spending money? He’ll be in GA where the cost of living is relatively reasonable. Whatever amount, I know I’d like to distribute it weekly to throttles spending and prevent him for blowing his monthly allowance in the first week. Your thoughts, suggestions and feedback are much appreciated. Thanks!
My thoughts about this are derived from my own college years, sending our two kids to college, and having been a professor.
With regard to the latter, my observation was that it’s not ideal for students to work too much—maybe 15-20 hours/week max—or it will start to harm their studies and cause mental and physical stress. This guideline may vary according to family budget or if the student is an athlete or in a very academically demanding school or major. However, working part-time also helps students learn to manage time and money.
We paid for our kids’ tuition, room, board, and books/supplies. Beyond that, we expected them to earn extra spending money. Our younger daughter was not living on campus and needed a car to get around, so we paid those expenses, too.
As a student myself, I had to get by on very little money. My parents paid for tuition and books, and I received $200/month (this was a long time ago) for rent, utilities, food, and anything else. I shared an apartment with three other girls, and we pooled our groceries and took turns cooking dinner for everyone. This turned out to be pretty good life experience, but I’d usually run out of money near the end of a quarter. I learned to eat very, very cheaply and was rail-thin in college. I almost never ate out, went to a movie theater, etc. In hindsight, I would characterize some of that time as a period of food insecurity. I didn’t want my own kids to have to get by on such a tight budget.
I also went to a university that is on the quarter system, and that moves very, very quickly. It is challenging to keep up with a full load of courses and also work, so I usually didn’t. (My father also made it clear that we were to graduate in four years, period. No dillydallying, changing majors, studying abroad.) I did work every summer to earn spending money for the coming year, but that wasn’t always easy, either—summer jobs for college students were pretty scarce where my parents lived. (I also had to live at home during the summers, as my parents wouldn’t pay extra living expenses for me to stay in my college town.)
We were not in the same financial situation as you when our kids were in college. Their books and spending money came from their summer jobs and on campus jobs. They did not have cars to take to school until they were seniors. For your situation, I think Mark Crothers had a good reply. Good luck. Chris
My humble take is we have 2 kids in college and provide them with very little financial support other than tuition, books and housing. One who will not eat the campus food gets $100- per week ($150 lately with inflation) in this last semester. It turns out to be a wash instead of purchasing a food plan. For the other, he is on the food plan so he gets zero.
They are expected to work (in the summer or at college) and or save their dollars to supplement their lifestyle. College shouldn’t be comfortable living lavishly on the parents. They should understand the opportunity and earn it with good grades and work. It is part of the “figure it out” that I believe is part of this life learning experience.
My daughter went to college straight out of high school and her spending money was what she made via work study. No car. We were providing a big chunk of money for tuition etc so lifestyle funds had to be earned by her working.
My son went to a local community college for three semesters as back then you had to be a full time student to stay on our health insurance. During this time he stayed at home rent free and worked part time for gas etc as we had given him our old Camry. He then dropped out of school much to our chagrin. Six months later when his cousin, who was more like a brother, graduated from college, and another buddy was discharged from the military so we told him it was time to move out of our house and into a rental with his buddies and face the real world consequences of life style that a minimum wage income supported.
There he met his future wife and year and a half later was in Delaware for her to attend PA school. He applied to UD and was accepted. We agreed to pay off his prior school loans so he could start with a clean financial slate. To pay for his expenses he worked two part time jobs and still was on the Dean’s list each semester. Since we spent the balance of his college funds on a long awaited kitchen renovation there was no longer a kitty to help pay for his final 2+ years of college. He had been told when he dropped out previously those funds would no longer be available for if/when he retuned to college. We agreed to pay for his books only as we were saving heavily for our retirement by then. The only additional cost we paid for was a brake job for the old Camry, which was solely for safety purposes.
My advice is have him work to pay for his own non school expenses and start learning how to be self sufficient.
The first half of my academic career was at a state university that was mostly a commuter campus. Many of the students were like your son—weren’t ready to commit during the traditional 18-22 years old college year but figured out later that they wanted more and went back to school, usually on their own dime (jobs, loans, etc.). I found them to be mature, focused, committed students—they were doing this because they now wanted to, not because it was expected.
Our daughter doesn’t get an allowance, per se, but she has one of our credit cards and uses it as needed.
She has a meal plan that covers some of her food requirements, and she makes the rest of her meals at her dorm room.
She has always had at least three jobs while at college. One as a researcher for two professors, one with a catering company, and she currently works 20 hours a week for an engineering company using her major.
We agreed that most of her earnings would go to her Roth IRA while we’re covering most of her bills, and she covers entertainment, clothes, etc.
This is a typical month’s charges.
3/1/2026 $77.35 Shoprite
3/1/2026 $15.05 Gas
3/8/2026 $33.86 Aldi
3/9/2026 $20.77 Gas
3/11/2026 $17.74 Gas
3/19/2026 $44.81 Trader Joe’s
3/26/2026 $29.17 Gas
3/29/2026 $33.43 Lidl
Total $272.18
This seems less like a math problem and more a question of your own affluence and willingness to pay. Since his essentials (housing, meal plan, insurance) are covered, any allowance is purely for lifestyle. If he hasn’t saved anything since age 15 despite working, providing a generous ‘throttle’ might just subsidize the Uber Eats habit. Perhaps the ‘reasonable amount’ is the bare minimum for gas, leaving him to fund his own incidentals from his own earnings so he finally learns the value of a dollar. It’s a very personal decision and I feel any answers you receive will be personal to the commenter.
This sounds reasonable to me. Chris
Chris, congratulations on the milestone! Our daughter is finishing up her second year at a Georgia college, so I understand the thoughts behind your question. I think the answer is highly personal. Still, here are some thoughts:
Perhaps you could start with comparing the income from his job to the lifestyle it supported. Are you willing to bankroll the same lifestyle? Or, do you think study and the opportunities of campus life can provide him plenty to do with his time, at no extra cost?
You might also divide the money into two buckets, one for fun and the other necessities. Give him the fun money with no strings, but agree ahead of time to pick up the tab for the inevitable unexpected expenses that crop up. The no-strings money is also an excellent life lesson. If he does blow a month’s money the first week, he may be inclined to plan more wisely the following month