Preparing your child for success in college means many things. Not only must your child learn to live on their own, but they must also know how to handle their finances. In the first part of this series, we talked about setting your child up with a student checking account. In this post, we’ll talk about student financial success and teaching your child how to budget. This is one of the most important things you can teach your college student, and the spend, save, give method is the easiest way to teach them.

 What your Child Must Know About Budgeting

 Don’t make budgeting complicated for your college student. They have enough to think about as they move out on their own, navigate classes and learn to manage money too. It’s a lot to take in, so the easiest way to teach your child to budget is the spend, save, give method. This breaks down the money your child earns into three pretty self-explanatory categories, but we’ll go into a little more detail.

 Spend

 The spend category is the money your child needs to spend for the daily cost of living and ‘fun.’ For example, if your child is in charge of paying the rent, utilities, and internet bill, they should set aside the money needed to pay those bills each month. Next, make sure your child budgets money for ‘fun spending.’ This could be shopping, eating out, or entertainment. Everyone needs a little fun money to do what they want with, rather than just paying the bills.

 Save

 Next, you should teach your child to save money. If you’re lucky enough to find a student checking account with a free savings account linked to it, they can easily save. They only need to transfer money from their checking to their savings account each time they get paid. Your child may not have much money to save but aim for a $500 emergency fund to cover any emergencies your child might have. Even if you cover the expenses, it’s good for them to have the money set aside.

 Give

 Now is the perfect time to help your child think outside of themself. Yes, they should be able to cover their necessities and have money to save, but there’s nothing better than giving. Even if they can only give a few dollars a month, it helps instill the habit in them, and hopefully, as they earn more money, they will continue giving to those less fortunate.

 Student financial success is a big part of the learning curve when going to college. Even if you cover most of the expenses, having your child learn how to manage the money is a good idea. Paying your child and letting them pay the bills and figure out how to budget their funds, so they have enough money for food, fun, and the necessities is a great way to learn!