Experts tell us it's never too early to teach young people the value of a dollar.
That becomes even more important when they head out on their own - - or nearly on their own, when they go to college.
There will be lots to think about when they head off to college - and money may be low on the list. But parents need to prepare them for the budgeting process.
"Another way is to get them used to the daily spending items that they'll be faced with when they go to school. Perhaps, grocery bills, just handling your day to day expenses - a parent can involve a child on a more regular basis so that they can get an idea what it feels like to be responsible for those kind of expenses," said Susan Utsugi of Central Pacific Bank.
Let's assume the student is going to need access to some cash. Here are the benefits of the debit card.
"The debit card has a lot of benefits. It's widely accepted by merchants. Because it's linked to a checking account, a parent can have full control and see what's going on in the checking account."
There's an additional benefit for the parent.
"It's a good way for a child to have that responsibility and yet a parent is still much involved with the account. You can also control the spending, you can set limits on the amount of debit card usage per day."
On the other hand, Utsugi points out there could be a benefit for the student having a credit card - - as long as the limitations are understood ahead of time.
"If you have any kind of emergency expense that comes up, the child has access up to the limit of the credit card. So that's more available than your debit card which is up to the limit of the funds in the account or the daily spending limit."
