There are several conversations that you are going to want to have with your children before they leave for college. This is a scary time and for many students, this is the first time they will be away from home, and away from you. It is important that they are prepared. Here is how you can help:
Budgeting
Talk to your children about how to create a budget. Go over what funds they are bringing to college and figure out how they are going to budget that over the 29 weeks that they will be going to class. Look over the school meal plan and show them how much each individual meal costs vs eating out. Discuss how much a coffee every day costs, and things of that nature.
Class Expense
When looking at the overall cost of college, it is easy to be intimidated by the scary number. It is usually the most money that these students have ever had to deal with. Because this number is so large though, it almost doesn’t seem real. It is important for these students to realize that this number is very real, and they need to understand where all of this money is going. Break down the cost of each individual class with your student so they can really understand the value of their education. When they realize that the class that they’ll feel like skipping at 8am on Mondays costs $1500, they may be more inclined to attend. There is nothing worse than having to pay to retake a course because it was failed the first time.
Emergencies and Financial Responsibility
It is important to talk to your child about unforeseen expenses and who is going to be responsible for paying for these incidents when they come up. This can be discussed when talking about budgeting with your child, but it is also something that you may want to address specifically. Providing your child with a prepaid credit card, or a similar product, may help your child in their time of need. Help your child to build good credit and learn responsible spending. It is important as a student to start building credit for after graduation. This can be a great way to do that.
It is also important to talk about financial expectations with your child before they leave for college. It is critical that your student understands what they will be responsible for paying for once they leave for school. It may be necessary that your child get a job on campus as a work study to help with expenses or even a job off campus to provide spending money. These jobs often fill up within the first few weeks and it is crucial that these decisions are made prior to arriving on campus.
