How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: 7 Tips That Will Help!
I (Mel) have had 3 sons in college, and the second and third time around were much easier because we knew what to expect! The biggest concern for us, and many others are all of the college expenses. Here are some things that we learned the first (and second) time around, as we planned a budget for college.
Make sure that you and your teen are on the same page about all expenses -this means lots of conversations!
There are the expenses that you know about. There will always also be some things that come up unexpectedly; those can be dealt with as they occur. Check out the awesome NPP college prep planner!
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# 1 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Living Expenses
Living expenses are a big deal.
Where will your student live? There will be choices for housing from the actual dorms to the types of rooms. Will they have a roommate? Will you pay for the items that they decorate their room with or will they be expected to pay for some? Is there a set amount you are willing to spend for this? Another type of living expense is the meal plan.
Look at all of the choices and let your student know which of these is the one you are willing to pay for. There are usually tiered levels of dorms and meal plans which include different levels of amenities etc. These types of expenses can be crazy expensive even when you set limits.
My suggestion is to start with one of the least expensive, and see how that goes. If you teen needs more, you can add. But, remember that they will eat off of campus some, and probably snack in their rooms as well.
Know that the Cost of Attendance is so much more than the information below. Here is my YouTube video discussing what actual COA is for attending college, and the things to consider. Read on below for more details.
# 2 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Tuition and books
Tuition and books are the other biggie.
Tuition costs are set per hour. So, the cost is determined by the number of classes your teen takes. One option to look into is getting some of the gen. ed. classes taken care of at a local community college-these will cost so much less! Online is another option. Work with the school counselor to look into different possibilities.
Your student will need books. These can be rented or shared to save on the cost. Another way to save is to check out the library- many schools have their textbooks available there for students to use.
There are many websites, including Amazon, which worked well for purchasing with my oldest son (sadly, rental is no longer available!). We would sit down before each semester with both our computers open. He logs into his school bookstore, and I log into Amazon. In most cases the cheapest option is to purchase from Amazon.
There are a few exceptions, but know that the return policy for Amazon is super easy and user-friendly. (All of these links to Amazon in these paragraphs will take you straight to the textbook portal.)
Here are some books that helped us so much! (I am adding their newest version)
How to Write a Winning Scholarship Essay
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Shop Amazon Textbooks– Save up to 50%
#3 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Day-to-day expenses
These expenses are for things like a meal off of campus, personal grooming items or school supplies that run out, and new clothing or shoes. What will you be willing to spend on these types of items? What will you expect your student to spend of their own money, if any?
Be as detailed as possible to plan the best budget for college for your teen. A great tool to use for this is a college prep planner.
#4 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Start the conversation about budgeting
What do you spend now on your kid for day-to-day expenses? Does your child have a job? Should they get one? Are you planning on them working in college for their extra expenses? Either way, you need to figure out what the budget will be.
There are many ways of working this out with your kids. For our boys, we pay for school, housing with a meal plan or a budget for food, and books. Anything, else is on them such as: meals off of campus, fraternity, and clothes. This means that they have worked since they were 15 during summer breaks, and part time during school each year for their spending money.
Our oldest son was able to get a great scholarship package for his grades, ACT score, BSA Eagle, and Boy’s State. We didn’t really spending much on him at all.
**Back when I was still writing at Parenting High Schoolers, I wrote this post for Monica about what I wished I knew before the whole college prep thing mostly about our oldest… What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Scholarships
Our second son had a different situation, but we talked with him at length about things, and he knew what the budgeted amount was. He also had his BSA Eagle, but not the other accolades. He utilized the A+ program in community college.
Our third son had a completely different story as well.
He was recruited to play lacrosse at the beginning of his senior year in high school. His grades weren’t great, but having just come through the pandemic, they were looking for improvement throughout high school. His grades were awful his freshman year through covid, but then he was on an upward trajectory to almost all As by his senior year. He plays for an NAIA school which did give him an athletic scholarship, he gets money for A+, and he even got academic money! (He also had his BSA Eagle and went to Boy’s State as well.)
#5 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: A+ or other state sponsored program
Our state (Missouri) has a great program called the A+ Program. If a student shows good citizenship, has the required attendance, the required GPA, and with teacher supervision tutors a peer for at least 50 hours, then they graduate with A+ requirements on their record. (There are a few other items on the list, but these are the main ones.)
This is a great help for getting community college, and hopefully an Associate’s Degree, basically for free-except for books! The specifics are in the link above. You should check with your school (and state) to see about any type of program such as this for a student who does not excel in school or on standardized tests.
#6 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Fees
Look at the college websites that your teen is interested in. Open all tabs on the website pertaining to costs and scholarships. (Look for all of the fees! There are things like parking fees, technology fees, health insurance fees…) Be open about what you as parents are thinking is a reasonable budget.
Listen to and encourage questions from your child. One thing that we have learned after going through this three times is that our kids don’t know what they don’t know. Spell everything out as clearly as possible.
Don’t wait until they are headed to college**. Neither side should have to assume anything! You know what your budget is, so tell your child up front. Your child may have some expectations as well. This is the time to lay it all out on the table. I wrote another blog post on paying for college. Check it out here.
**However if your teen is in their senior year, start the conversation now because you don’t have time to waste!
Some sample expenses for freshman year could be: car payment and insurance, gas, cell phone, fun money for going out, groceries (for dorm room, also toiletries as they run out), clothing, student loan payments, credit card…
What is your child responsible for now? Will it be the same when they are gone at college? If you would like it to be different than what it is now, then now is the time to change things!
#7 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Future finances
Are you wondering what you should be teaching your teen about money? Saving? Investing? This knowledge is so important for our kids as they leave for college and/or beyond. I so wish that I had know all of this when I was their age!
The best gift that we can give our teens is financial knowledge and know-how!
Check out these books!
Teen Money Mindset: 8 Essential Money Skills They Don’t Teach You In School
#8 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Need a plan?
Check out our college prep planner for you and your soon-to-be college student to fill out together.
As you and your teen plan for the big event of college, be sure that you have a plan for their next four years. What I mean is, do you all know what the ultimate goal is besides graduating? With a good plan in place, a couple of things can happen.
First, your child can graduate in four years, which can be a huge savings! That extra semester or two can be an enormous expense.
Second, by having a good plan in place, you and your child can be sure that the degree they have chosen is marketable, and that the chances of getting a job at graduation are greater.
Here are some things to think about –The Opportunity Cost Of College. This post will help your family with some of these choices.
There are a few other choices in case college is something you all decide is not the right route which will really help you all as you make plans.
#9 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Apply for scholarships
One thing that I wish I had known with my oldest son, is that this whole process could be started in middle school. Many scholarships are available starting for students when they are 13 or even younger sometimes! These are good ones to try for, because who knows this? No one that I have spoken with about this process has known.
As a parent, you need to set up a specific email just for scholarships, and so should your child–even if you are the only one checking them. Sign up for scholarship websites, and fill out the profiles. (These can be edited down the road as your child learns more about themselves and their likes and dislikes.)
These websites will start to send lots of emails about different scholarships that are available. They will be organized in many ways. Stay up with them and create a list of ones to try for. Many can and should be deleted. Don’t go crazy with this. Maybe try for one scholarship a month, more during the summer or over holidays.
Another way to have your teen approach it is to have them dedicate 15 minutes a day to this process. You might be surprised that sometimes they will get hooked into it and keep working on it when they have the extra time.
How 2 Win Scholarships
Monica Matthews is a former teacher and a stay-at-home mom of three boys. She’s a mom who worked with her son to earn enough scholarships to attend college for free. I’ve signed up for her newsletters and she’ll let you know when to apply for scholarships. She always has up to date information on her blog. She has a parent guide and student guide as well as a really great online tool for keeping track of scholarship opportunities!
I came across The Scholarship System when my oldest was in high school. My husband and I watched the free webinar -which is full of great info, and then we took the plunge and purchased the full access program she had available at the time -this was over 10 years ago, so it has changed and improved tons since then.
#10 How to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen: Final Thoughts
All things considered, start these discussions SOONER THAN LATER. This can be a fun time to figure things out together, and to make decisions as a team. In fact, if you are reading this, and your teen is not a senior yet, all the better. Start now however old your teen is!
Good luck to you all!
Related posts to Plan a Budget for College-Bound Teen
Top 8 Senior Year Expenses to Prepare For and How to Make them Affordable
Conversations To Have As Your Family Considers College
College Terms You Need to Know!
The Opportunity Cost Of College
NPP Review of Mama Bear Legal Forms -if you have kids over the age of 18, please read!
Fill Out the FAFSA: 5 Tips To Know!
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