If you’ve got a child between the ages of 12 and 26, you know how difficult it can be to motivate him or her to want to apply for college scholarships.

Try this entertaining strategy, one that other parents are using with great success.

1. Give your son a meager allowance.

Make sure it’s just barely enough to cover his bare minimum life expenses. Set up an automatic bank transfer so that this amount goes into his bank account reliably, every two weeks.

2. List for your son all the purchases this money will have to cover.

“Son, we’ll expect you to use this allowance money to buy all your own school lunches, cell phone service, clothes, shoes, gas, football fees, school activities, and all your personal spending.” Add anything else to this list you can think of.

3. Then, wait for an emergency.