<prompt> Human: Hello, most honorable people of Personal Finance, Ive lurked in the shadows for a while, but this is my first time with an account. My problem is this; Ill be attending college later this year, and my parents have decreed that any spending money for stuff outside of education will be awarded to me by myself taking out a student loan, and them giving me the equivalent amount of money to spend, up to 5k per academic year. If I get a job paying over 65k a year or attend graduate school once I graduate, theyll pay off the loans themselves which have an interest rate of 4.5. I can make whatever money I can on the side, and already have about 2.5k squared away in savings. Ill be majoring in computer science, and hope to become a software engineer after graduation. Ill be at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, so prices of things wont be too terribly high relative to the rest of the nation. I dont spend much money now, but I really have no idea how thatll change once I get to college, so Im at a bit of a loss there.To those of you more knowledgeable in this than I, how much would you recommend I take?  <response>: none. Taking a loan out for spending money is not a good idea. If your parents are paying for everything else which is the impression I got, feel free to correct me if Im wrong, then even working 6-10 hours a week should give you more than enough for spending money, or even working a lot during summers and saving it if youre too busy during the year to work. Obviously if spending money is supposed to include groceries, books, and bills then this is a different story. Loans of any kind are not things you want to deal with unless absolutely necessary, so Id strongly advise against it. As a second thought, your parents say that theyll pay your loans off if you meet these conditions, but what if you dont? or what if they cant, for whatever reason? You dont want to graduate and be saddled with extra debt because you wanted to go to the movies. Id vote no loans unless theyre very necessary. 