Question: So the kid wants a computer for college REALLY BADLY , but she doesn’t really need one at the college she’ll be attending because they have computer labs everywhere. If I should break down (she’s offering to pay half from her summer job) which is better? She wants an iMac because she says she needs it for music composing software, but the iMac’s are WAY expensive compared to a PC (they’re very cute though-like a desk lamp with a flat screen). I’m also pretty sure that the college has all the composing software in the music lab. Also, I am concerned about a lap top being ‘misplaced’ or stolen. Would a desk top be better? OR should I just say no and make her try it without one first semester? iMac desktop about $1700.00 (iBook about the same)and PC under $1000, She is trying for a $1000 scholarship offered locally at the end of June. I told her if she gets it maybe we can use that for the computer since we will have that much less to pay for her room. I also warned her that the college could take the $1000 off her merit scholarship and then it wouldn’t matter (can they do that?). Any thoughts?
Answer: Don’t forget to factor in these expenses if you decide to buy her her own computer:
1. Paying for the music composing software and the cost/hassle of supporting it. It isn’t going to be standard on any computer you buy and I’d be surprised if it were anything less than a couple of hundred bucks. And when it starts to malfunction, who’s she gonna call for help? She’d better be very computer savvy as her school’s IT department isn’t going to help;
2. Paying for a printer and the cost/hassle of supporting it. Your own computer at school without your own printer is kind of pointless since without it, you’d have to use the school’s computer lab, which many students use as their main point for having their own computer to begin with (the complaint is that they’re always crowded when they need to use them the most, during midterms and finals). But a decent printer is about $100 or more and supplies can get very pricy ($20-40 or more for a new ink cartridge). And what happens when the printer stops working (or never works at all)? Call the computer manufacturer? [They might not have “any” real problems with theft. But I truly doubt that they leave their doors unlocked “at all times” or even most of the time unless they are stupid. Even if they did, it’s a dumb idea and I’m certain the RAs there strongly discourage it out of hand (if nothing else, for liability reasons).
If absolutely having a laptop is that important to your kid, make it a learning experience. If it means that much to her and she simply HAS to have it, then let her pay for half… and discover that a good laptop is going to cost her up to a grand or more for her half, about what she could buy her a much better and really nice desktop machine and goodies on her own. She has to do her own meaningful yet personal cost/benefit analysis and justification statement to herself instead of you. This way it isn’t up to you to decide for her what you think she “needs”… and for you to ultimately end up being the bad guy if you don’t simply acquiesce to what she wants. She has to decide what’s more important… and put her money where her mouth is.
Why not just dangle that in front of her? Just say, “Here’s $700 for your computer fund. Use it to buy a desktop or laptop, but that’s all your getting.” Let her make that decision as to how important it truly is. Seven bills will just about buy her a nice desktop, most likely with printer and everything else she needs. Depending on the laptop, seven bills will buy her 40-70% of a laptop.
(If she argues that it isn’t enough money or some other such crap, then it’s probably time to have the ‘ingrate child’ talk with her and also explain what your truly obligations to her are when it comes to college… which is that you truly don’t have any.)
If she bites and decides to buy half that laptop anyway, believe me she’ll take better care of it knowing she has that much of her own cold hard cash she earned invested in it. Really, I think the best security arrangement for a laptop for a college student is that he/she has to shell out a significant chunk of the cost of anything him/herself. Believe me, you’d be surprised how well college students take care of things they had to buy themselves.
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