Books and Grades

I’m finding it very difficult to manage my budget with a child in college. One more year to go! His financial aid came up $1,000 short this semester, of which I just paid $500. I’ll pay the other $500 next month. Didn’t count on that! After the first class day I always insist he call me with his textbook list so I can shop around. Textbooks are a big “hidden” cost of college that is very hard to budget for. One way to bring that cost down is to shop around. Currently Amazon is offering a one month free trial to their Amazon Prime service, which allows you to upgrade to two-day shipping at no additional charge. Their prices, especially when you take into account their partners selling used books, can be very competitive. It will make no difference to my son if his books come dog-eared and have some underlining. The bookstore at the University of Mississippi, where my son attends, is a Barnes and Noble. The total price for his books at Barnes & Noble, excluding postage, handling, tax, etc., was $532.11. I got the whole batch, including all those fees, for $265.95! I bought 4 books new from Amazon and all the rest used. Now we’ll see if they all get there promptly and are the correct editions. Although I still hate having to spend that big chunk of money on a bunch of books with a useful life of roughly four months, I’m pretty happy with the deal.

Speaking of deals, I recently made him one. My son made some pretty poor grades last semester and this summer. I was hugely disappointed in him and let him know it. I gave him the whole “I’m scrimping and saving and you’re playing” speech. I don’t know how impressed he was. As a result of his poor grades last semester I insisted he get a job and that he pay half his rent this summer. I would pay the other half less $50 a month against a debt he owes me for some parking tickets he got over there. He took nine hours this summer and got a bad grade in one of his classes. Clearly my speech had little effect. So, I offered him the following deal:

This Fall I will continue to pay ½ of his rent less $50 a month against his debt, if he makes any grades lower than a C I will not pay any of his rent this Spring; if he makes all A’s & B’s I will pay all of his rent in the Spring less $50 a month against his debt; if he makes straight A’s I will pay all his rent and forgive his debt and if he makes C’s but nothing lower I will continue to pay ½ of his rent less $50 a month.

We’ll see what happens. Financially I’m hoping he’ll make A’s, B’s & C’s but if he makes all A’s or A’s & B’s I’ll be very happy and will find a way to pay his full rent. If he makes any D’s I’ll worry about his ability to pay his rent. Worst case scenario though is that he’ll be evicted and spend the semester on a friend’s couch, and maybe learn a valuable lesson. I think I can live with that! What do you think? What have you done or would you do in a similar circumstance?