Study abroad - how best for DC to take money?

[HysterectomyHysteria]

My DS is off for an academic year in the USA and I have no idea what to do about his spending money.
What have others done? I assume that he can't use his UK bank account?
I really am clueless and would appreciate some pointers. 😀

We setup a Caxton prepaid currency card for DS1 which we can load up with dollars from this end and he can use in the U.S.
It's really easy to load money onto it and he can use it to pay or withdraw cash without charges .

One of ours has just returned from 6 months in Asia. He used a Revolut card. Similar to Caxton.

Fantastic, I'll look at those.
I can't believe how much there is to organise for the coming year!

I was just going to get one of those prepaid currency cards from Thomas cook or similar to get ds started then he was going to open a bank account in the US which we would transfer money to. Can the Caxton card be topped up from any bank account?

Watching with interest. I was going to do that as well purple. I've heard people mention the monzo card but ds only taking a cheap as chips mobile pay as you go phone for emergencies and I think the monzo topped up by a phone app so not sure if it would work.
A friend of mine used to send money by transferwise which she said was good.

When I studied abroad (many moons ago) I was able to open a local bank account. A very simple bank account admittedly with no overdraft or anything, but with a card to get money out at an ATM. Can his Uni give guidance?

I don't think my parents did anything when I studied abroad. I just opened a local bank account when I arrived. It was no bother.

DS opened a bank account locally which was quite straightforward. That was in EU not US though and was several years ago. We didn't get involved in organising anything for him, he sorted it himself.
The prepaid cards are excellent though, we use one now as we spend quite a lot of time abroad and DS would have used one if they had been widely available then. Check each one for charges and best rates, they aren't all the same.

Using a card like Revolut is so simple. Also drastically reduces the chances of a bank account being fradulently accessed. The exposure is limited to the amount of money on the card. There were no exchange rate fees charged and no commission.

My DD is doing a 4 year degree in the States (just completed her first year), and opened up a Bank of America current account in addition to her UK bank account. She arranged a private appointment with BofA during Freshers Week, and it was all dealt with very quickly. BofA also had stalls at the Freshers Week fair, so I presume it could've been dealt with then.

Caxton card recommended here as well. I think you have to nominate an account to top it up,although never tried to top up from a different account. Slight tip-I opened an account as was using my account to top it up.got a second card for DS2 but he could not then monitor the account as only I could ( til I gave him my details).
Also worth looking at Money saving expert. Some credit cards are better than others to use abroad, ie don't add on a charge to use abroad.