Study abroad question

jt'smom

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 20, 2008
This is primarily aimed for parents whose college students have either studied abroad for a semester, or done a 3-4 week trip abroad through their colleges. My son is doing his spring semester this year in London, which was well planned for 2 years and budgeted for, by both him and us. Now he has the opportunity to basically come home, and then head back out on a completely separate 3-4 week packaged cultural trip, through his college, to either Greece or Iceland. These trips are done by professors and they are themed depending on the country, AND he gets 2 credits for it. They are all inclusive, in terms of international flight, in country transportation, lodging, meals and activity fees, so any extra money is purely personal spending, plus there is no opportunity to travel on side trips outside the group.

That said, my kid is using his own savings to pay for this extra trip abroad, but my husband and I are thinking about giving him a chunk of cash for his spending money, and calling that his college graduation gift since he'll be a senior next year anyway. So, my question is if you've had a student go abroad, what is your experience in how much they typically spend in "fun" money. We aren't fabulously wealthy, so I'm not going to put him on my Visa as an authorized user and say, "go forth and enjoy". I'm just trying to get a since of what would be a nice amount. I know personal spending is an individual kind of thing depending on if you're a shopper, drinker and so forth, but I'm hoping to see some sort of average here. We've told him to enjoy this opportunity to travel, because real life starts May of 2019, and when you've got rent and bills to pay, you officially enter the "welcome to adulthood, mom and dad are done era" :teeth:
 
I'd start by thinking about how much money I'd have spent on a college graduation gift, and use that as a starting point.
 
Regardless of the amount, use a prepaid card that can be used both for purchases and at ATMs for cash. Make sure you can refill it in the event there is an emergency
 


Regardless of the amount, use a prepaid card that can be used both for purchases and at ATMs for cash. Make sure you can refill it in the event there is an emergency
 
We did $500 a week. So 3 weeks - 1500, 4 weeks - 2000. It also depends on exchange rate.
 
We gave ds $1000 before he left for his 30 days. He could do with it what he wanted. Whether spending money or applying to fees for the trip. We did not ask for anything left over as it was his 21st birthday gift, too.
 
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when I started studying broads is when my grades dropped ( booo, Im even embarrassed for myself with that bad joke )
 

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