Student banking

[Innisfree]

Dd's going to be living in a college town which doesn't seem to have any of the same banks we have at home, or any banks immediately adjacent to campus. There are a few within walking distance, but maybe not convenient for quick access. On the college website I see information about student accounts for college billing purposes, but nothing about general student banking needs.

What has been your experience: do colleges send out information about the local banks most students use? Or are students managing without local banks, just using debit or credit cards? I'd think a source of cash would be needed.

How have you all handled this?

[regentrude]

You don't need a local bank - you can get cash back at the grocery store.
Almost all transactions are now cashless. Students reimburse one another for their share of pizza or rent using Venmo.

[Innisfree]

Okay, I will look into Venmo, thanks.

[Tree Frog]

Our kids have done what regentrude says. They have kept a local to us bank so we can transfer money in when needed, but they pay for things with Venmo or debit cards. If htey need cash, they get it when they make a grocery store purchase. One dd said she doesn't keep any cash on hand. I now have a Venmo account (opened to provide a gift to one dd) and the other kids have offered to reimburse me through it. (I decline because mine is only connected to a credit card.)

[regentrude]

Much more important than the bank being local is, IMO, that it should be a bank that is easy for the parents to transfer money if needed. With some banks, it's an instant and free transaction. With others, it's a tedious multi day process that costs fees.

[RootAnn]

DD has found it useful to have a local bank account. Several local banks, including one which has a branch on campus, were at the move-in welcome booth activity at her college.

She does not do Venmo. She likes having cash for various purposes including laundry.

[Tree Frog]

56 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

She likes having cash for various purposes including laundry.

My son took a tin full of quarters for laundry when he went to college. When those quarters were gone, he was happy to just use his student ID card/flex $ for laundry. He found using the card much less tedious than quarters/cash. I agree with keeping some cash handy and have told my dd she should also. 

[RootAnn]

Mine went with quarters & cash plus some money on her flex card (which she uses mostly for printing). She should put more $ on her flex card but prefers to simply use quarters. Shrug.

[Innisfree]

Okay, it looks like we have some options to investigate. Thanks, everyone!

I'm hoping to open an account for dd pretty much immediately, even though she may not be on campus in the fall at this rate, so she can use it for summer earnings (we're hiring her for some work at home, since she's stuck here). Maybe I'll call the college and the local banks on Monday to get more information.

[GoodGrief]

We have not used a local bank for some-20 years, even for our own banking. Really easy to do things online these days, and if the bank has an app, you can even deposit checks that way. Our college aged daughters had their accounts and we could deposit directly from ours via the app.

[easypeasy]

DD has a savings/checking account at a local bank here, where we do all the "family" banking. Before she left for school, we opened a checking account at a national bank with locations near our house and near her school. Her university provided nothing helpful on this topic, we just started with this bank (I think it's Bank of America?) and searched locations near her school and found a very close one.

She would write a check from her "home" checking account to transfer her own $$ to the national bank account or she would cash it at that bank. I could also zip over to BoA and deposit $$ that she would have instant access to. Super easy. She tried to keep only $300-$500 in that account in case her BoA debit card was hacked (which happened three times in her college years).

She used the BoA's debit card when she bought groceries and gas. But she always likes having cash on hand.

[Bootsie]

What do you see her needing a physical bank near her for?  She probably will not use cash for much.  If your bank charges a few to use another bank's ATM machine, she can always get cash back making a small purchase at a grocery store.  Even if there is a fee for ATM usage, it would probably be easier to have her keep a couple of month's cash on hand at the beginning of the semester and make one withdrawal half-way through the semester than opening up a new account where her college is.  Also, some colleges will cash small checks for students to get cash if they need it.  

[Innisfree]

9 hours ago, easypeasy said:

national bank with locations near our house and near her school.

See, this is part of the basis for my question. The banks within walking distance of her campus are not big national chains; there's a local credit union which I'm not sure she'll even qualify to join, and a couple of small local banks which don't have branches near us at home. The campus is in a small town. I think there may be larger banks she could reach with a car, but she won't have one. 

I don't think she can get to a grocery store without a car, either, but maybe she could get cash back from the college bookstore.

7 hours ago, Bootsie said:

What do you see her needing a physical bank near her for? 

Quarters for laundry, cash for tips for pizza delivery, cash to feed a snack machine...that sort of thing. But it sounds like laundry machines may not require quarters these days. Maybe she won't need cash. I haven't even known about Venmo, so this is outside my experience. I don't know, I just think of having a bit of cash available as a matter of safety and convenience, but maybe not anymore.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Innisfree

[Innisfree]

7 hours ago, Bootsie said:

it would probably be easier to have her keep a couple of month's cash on hand at the beginning of the semester and make one withdrawal half-way through the semester than opening up a new account where her college is.

Yes, this would work.

[Bootsie]

Both of my children's schools had free laundry machines.  Many other schools have gone to students using their ID that can store a cash balance on it for laundry machines, snack machines, and most on-campus purchases.  

[MerryAtHope]

3 hours ago, Bootsie said:

Both of my children's schools had free laundry machines.  Many other schools have gone to students using their ID that can store a cash balance on it for laundry machines, snack machines, and most on-campus purchases.  

Yes, at my son’s school laundry, vending machines, and even some local restaurants that aren’t run by the school can all take the student ID. The kids choose how much money they want in school dollars, and use their ID just like a debit card. Is there a bus system at your daughter school? Usually there’s a way for kids to get to grocery or to Walmart and places like that where they can shop and get some cash back.

[G5052]

Mine are commuter students, but we use a local bank that doesn't have any branches near their campus. They use their debit cards and a joint credit card with me for most purchases. 

Our bank pays the fees for four external ATM withdrawals a month, which is more than enough when they need cash, which isn't often. They deposit checks via the bank app. 

[Lanny]

DD initially was interested in getting a local bank account, in a branch near to her school, or on the Internet, and she and I spent a lot of time researching different banks and different accounts, and she went into one or 2 local banks there to ask about a bank account and also a Credit Card. The Credit Card was a critical thing and she had no Credit Rating and is an Overseas American.

As pointed out upthread, better for her and me to have accounts in the same bank, where, if necessary, $ can be transferred into her account, ASAP.

She did get a Credit Card that I believe is almost always marketed to "International Students" and I believe they were confused, because she is an Overseas American and a U.S. Citizen, but after some delays for back and forth, and starting the process over, they did issue the card to her. One thing she needed the Credit Card for was to be able to Recharge the thing the students use to pay for a lot of things on the campus. I forget what that's called.

We were confused by many of the Credit Card offerings, because sometimes cards for people with Elite credit ratings were also being marketed for Students, and that seemed incongruous to me.  How can they market cards with elite things, to  people with little or no credit, in addition to offering them to people with outstanding credit ratings?

We wanted to avoid her getting a "Secured" credit card and that wasn't required. That would have been the worst case.