Rewards Credit Cards - cashback rather than travel points

I did what Chloe advised. I got a card in my name and put my daughter on as an authorized user. My goal was teach her responsibility while still having some control ( she was 14 or 15 at the time). When she pulled out a credit card to pay for her lunch while working at McDonalds a friend said, “Wow you have a credit card let’s go buy a computer or something!” My daughter responded, “it is still my money!!!” She only paid interest one month and that was confusion while living in China a few years later. Mission accomplished!

The issue here is that the college will charge a fee to pay via card. Tuition of $10k with a 3% processing fee earning 3% cash back actually costs you $291 dollars more than paying ACH without a processing fee. If you’d like them to see how cards work for day-to-day spending you’d be better off adding them as an authorized user on a card you don’t use (so they can see spending and cash back calculations of just their charges) because a young customer without much established credit or a well-paying job won’t qualify for “good” cash back cards independently.