Wednesday, January 13, 2010

When should a parent discontinue paying for college graduates cell phone?

My daughter just got her Bachelors degree and is planning to go to graduate school. How much should I provide for her financially?When should a parent discontinue paying for college graduates cell phone?
What are you comfortable paying for?





When I went to college my parents set a strict deadline of four years that they would pay for and anything after that was my responsibility and it stuck even when a couple courses were needed after the four year mark. Same thing happened with the cell phone too.





Whatever you do, make sure that you make your intentions and expectations clear from the onset. If your going to stop upon entering grad school make sure that everyone is on the same page.When should a parent discontinue paying for college graduates cell phone?
Graduate school can be very expensive, even if your tuition is covered and you're getting a stipend. The stipends are usually on the order of 16k a year or less - but most grad students make do on that, or that and a loan from the bank once in a while. Your daughter should be paying her own way by now - she's been an adult for a while. If she wants a cell phone, a car, internet, clothes, food - she needs to start relying on herself.
I don't know that there's really an answer for all cases. If she'd decided to go out and get a job. . . then, yes, she'd need to be taking care of her own cell phone. Grad school. . . I think it really depends.





Does she use it a lot? How much is it usually costing? I'm still on my parents' plan, but I barely use the thing at all most weeks. People from my school life who want to find me often just wander to my office, e-mail me, or find me on the web, and I don't know that I've actually sent a text message in my life. It's costing a heck of a lot less to have me pulling minutes from the family pool than having my own plan, and the pool never seems to run out of minutes for the month even with me in it as well.





However, I am apparently odd. I'd just look at what she's been using, and make a decision from there. You generally do have a little money to live off of as a grad student, so it's probably not too unreasonable to expect her to pay for her own phone if she's using it like the normal college student does.
If you think that she's serious about studying and is doing this to have a greater opportunity for a better future then I think you can support her financially as much as you can, after all, it's for a good cause and it won't be a waste of money. But after graduate school, she should be able to support herself financially.
Graduate school is a privelege, not a right. She needs to start living as an adult and being an adult means paying for your own things, especially unnecessary items like cell phones. I think if you help her out, it should be a loan for her to pay you back.
u should only help her with what she needs and cant afford to provide for herself a cell phone is a privledge also and if she wants one she should pay for it ive paid for mine since i turned 18 pretty much a few months after but i wanted it it was my responsibility
None. She should have gone through college without your help. Now she's ready to go into the real world, but is used to having everything handed to her. After she gets her Masters, she may find alot of work, but will still be back home in no time. Congratulations!
You should start letting her find ways to make money for herself, that way she could be independent. But for major expenses which regards school, your financial help would be in need.

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