Your son/daughter turned 18, now what?

Congratulations, your son/daughter is 18! Well, done. Even though they may not act like it, they are officially adults. They can vote! They are responsible for themselves! They can make their own decisions! They can get married! And they can now open a credit card under their own name. Good or bad, depends on who you ask.
I think it's actually a good thing as long as they know how to manage it. There are a number of student credit cards out there and some offer small bonuses.
I'm assuming that you have been teaching your child about financial literacy since he/she was small. But now it's a good time to talk to your son/daughter about interest, financial responsibility and leveraged spending. By the way, it's also a good time to create a power of attorney, medical power of attorney and HIPPA privacy authorization form (you can find these forms online) Your 18 year old is an adult so in the case of an unfortunate event, you need to legalize your authority to make decisions for your child.  I'll go deeper into this in another post.
My daughter has a debit card and one of my credit cards. She is allowed to put one tank of gas a month on my credit card to pay for those times I ask her to run errands or shuttle her siblings around. Otherwise, the credit card is for emergencies only.
Now that she is 18, moving across the country and has a college tuition payment, I figured it's time for her to have her own credit card in her name. She already has her own checking account and debit card. Yes, I could make her an authorized user on my card, but then I'm not teaching her anything and she isn't establishing her own credit history. And I have always believed that my job is to teach her to be a responsible and independent adult.
Needless to say, she already understands leveraged spending, but now I need to get her into the habit.
And, of course, the most important part managing that credit card and not overspending.
Because she has no credit history and limited income, I looked for student credit cards. I found quite a few, but since we have a relationship with Bank of America, I focused on their offerings. They have 3 student credit cards Bank of America Cash Rewards For Students, Bank Americard for Students and Bank of America Travel Reward For Students. All are fee free, but offer slightly different benefits. We opted for the travel card for the $200 travel bonus and no foreign transaction fees. Even though, we will pay a convenience fee for charging the $1,000 minimum spend from her college tuition payment to her credit card, we will get a $200 travel credit in return. You always need to weigh the pros and cons of convenience fees.
Every stage of life marks growth and turning 18 is a big one!