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College Expenses

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by gaynonsense, Aug 14, 2018.

  1. gaynonsense

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    I'm just curious, since it's that time of year, and I'm really stressing finances, how have or are you guys keeping afloat with the outrageous cost of college?
     
  2. BlueNeon

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    Luckily, I've got the cost of school and all that covered with scholarships. If I didn't have enough scholarship money available for that, I'd start looking into grants and loans offered by the federal government. Getting a part time job would help with spending cash, books, and things of that nature. Don't be afraid to ask your school's financial aid department for help figuring this out. That's pretty much the usual way to find the money for college.

    Now, if you meant how do you manage the money for everything, the best solution by far is to make a budget. If you make a proper budget, you'll know how much money you have available for what expense. When you track the dollars you're spending, you'll be a lot more aware of what your financial situation is, and you'll be able to figure out where you have room to play, and where you have to maybe tighten your belt a bit. Seriously, I can't speak highly enough about how useful and important a good budget is.
     
  3. Destin

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    I'm fortunate that my parents pay for it, but if they didn't I'd just do what most everyone else does and get a part time night job plus student loans.

    My boyfriend has an interesting situation with college finances. He's majoring in economics with financial classes mixed in and also does foreign currency exchange trading on the market to make money. The more classes he takes and understands things more, the better he gets at it, and the more he can make. It's a pretty good cycle - getting degree-related experience and cash at the same time.

    A few of my friends work for the university itself as a residence assistant, secretary, research or teaching assistant for a professor etc. and it gets them a tuition waiver plus enough to cover rent.

    I also know three people who are Uber/Lyft drivers and pay for their rent and tuition that way. They just sit in their car studying and whenever a ride pops up they go make some money, then go back to studying, all day.
     
  4. kibou97

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    I'm fortunate enough so that my mother is paying partly for my tuition but lot's of it is student loans. As for the rest like general living expenses like food or things like textbooks, I work as a Teaching Assistant for the Japanese professors at my university. As others have said though, if you or really anybody isn't sure how to manage money, budget and stick to said budget. Allot some money for food/drinks, allot some for general living expenses, keep some backed up in case of an emergency, allot some for things you may need to buy for school, and then allot some for luxuries and ways to help relieve a bit of stress because it gets really important in college to not get too stressed.
     
    #4 kibou97, Aug 14, 2018
    Last edited: Aug 14, 2018
  5. BadassFrost

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    Just curious, how much does college/university approximately cost in the US? I have no idea how much that could be, but I've heard it's really expensive.
     
  6. OGS

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    My alma mater estimates the annual cost (tuition, room, board, fees, misc. living expenses) at $75,000/yr. I'm pretty sure that's not typical though.
     
  7. gaynonsense

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    I'm going to Ball State University, which is a state school in the state I'm living in, so I have slightly reduced rates. They estimate, with no financial aid, the 2018 - 2019 school year will be a couple hundred dollars short of $20,000. So, a state school is almost $80,000 for four years.
     
    #7 gaynonsense, Aug 15, 2018
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2018
  8. Destin

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    For a public state university, usually around $10,000-$15,000 per year in tuition so around $50,000 total for all 4 years counting books and other fees. That's just for school though... then there are living expenses like rent, food etc. on top of it so for most people 4 years of college and living expenses gets to around $90,000+ no matter how frugal they are.

    If you go to a prestigious or private university it can be a whole lot more like OGS mentioned - although he went to one of the most expensive and well known in the country.
     
  9. gaynonsense

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    I really appreciate all the advice and tips so far!
     
  10. smurf

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    There are also other ways to get the cost down.

    I went to community college for my first 2 years. It was only $1k per semester compared to $3k for a 4-year college. I got my AA, transferred to a 4-year college and then graduated. My bachelors diploma looks exactly the same as other people from the university, but I saved $12k in just tuition. Not to mention that small colleges have some really good financial aid, so my first two years were actually completely free. Doesn't sound like a lot, but $15k a year is what minimum wage jobs get you so if you want to put it into perspective I saved almost a year worth of work by going to community college first.

    If you do go to community college, I would highly recommend you pick up this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007FU2DI0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

    It will guide you in avoiding some of the traps of community college and how to use the resources they have to your advantage.

    Also, look into scholarships for LGBT students or any other demographic that you might fit into. In our community we are giving out close to $15k of scholarships each year to LGBT students because the leadership in Central Florida is invested in creating LGBT leaders. So look into scholarships for first generation, ethnicity, race, gender, etc.

    Reach out to your local rotary clubs as well. They usually give small $500 scholarships but those add up and they are far less competitive than other ones.
     
  11. Biguyjosh

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    I go to an in-state school so tuition is less. My parents help some and I worked during the summer, and I got a little scholarship. I do have a small student loan.
    I'd say that most of the students here have scholarships or loans or combination of both for the majority of the costs.
     
  12. kibou97

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    The University I go to has about $23,000 for tuition which includes a meal plan and housing but thats only for people from my state, it costs way more if you're from out of state
     
  13. ECMember

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    Well up till January 2012, I was stuck with student loans to pay my college tutition and housing and meals and relying on some support from family to pay textbooks and supplies .

    From January 2012 till Spring 2017, I was fortunate to have my tutition paid for due to a program that my dad qualified for. My dad is a 100% service connected disabled veteran of the Vietnam War. He filed for VA beneifts in 2009 after nearly 30 decades of making the first attempt with the VA and being treated like shit due to his Vietnam Veteran status in the 1980s. So I'm grateful and to a degree blessed for my dad's benefits as as a disabled veteran.

    So I did have to rely to student loans to pay for my dorm and meals. I did rely on either a paycheck from on campus work to pay for books or expenses or lesiure(like movie tickets, bar expenses, etc) or family for expenses.

    My last semester this past Spring 2018 was just a 1 hr course. I needed to "Enroll" to take a final/comps exam to graduate. I didn't have a course per se but I needed to "enroll." I had to pay around 500-600 bucks. I made 3 payments to my college out of my pocket
     
  14. Aussie792

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    I don't pay tuition fees (Australian citizens have public loans which are paid back in tax above a certain income threshold and degrees are still heavily subsidised) but I manage the cost of living by living off campus in a sharehouse, working 30 hours a week and budgeting realistically but not stingily for food and entertainment expenses.

    I would be having a lot more of a difficult time if I had to pay for the cost of university itself during study. But if your parents aren't paying for your expenses, you just have to accept that it's going to be a tough time studying and working. You have to accept that you're not going to be able to laze around doing fuck all like the classic university lifestyle stereotype. I often have a 70-80 hour workweek between paid work and study. It's exhausting but manageable and it's forced me to learn how to just get on with the job even if it's overwhelming.
     
  15. AwesomGaytheist

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    I’m at the University of Michigan-Flint. In-state tuition for upper division students is $5,472.00 this semester for 12 credit hours, with an extra $98 per credit hour over 12. I would definitely look into programs at schools where you live.

    UM-Ann Arbor just announced the Go Blue Guarantee for this school year, where anyone who had the grades to get into Michigan (which is far from easy), lives in Michigan, and whose parents make less than $65,000 per year and have less than $50,000 in assets gets four years of tuition-free college. It’s too bad they didn’t have that program 7 years ago when my cousin went to school, because his engineering degree at Eastern Michigan University ran him over $100,000 in student loans.

    To answer the first question, my mom has taken care of tuition for both me and my brother, who starts college this year. My parents are totally coddling my brother and the difference is almost maddening. The summer before I started college, I had to have a summer job (which I totally hated) to have money for my expenses. This summer my brother refused to work because he had too many grad parties to go to. I probably would have gotten slapped across the face if I’d tried that excuse when I was 18.

    Originally my parents were going to get my brother an apartment down in Livonia, pay all his bills, and give him money for all his expenses. Thankfully since they were going to make him take a prerequisite course over the summer that ran 5 days a week (and that school is an hour away), he changed to our local community college up in Flint, from which I hold an associate’s degree.

    My parents will still have to shell out for him, as he has $120 in his bank account and again he has no job and won’t get one. He doesn’t seem to realize that gas is not free and since he’s driving my mom’s old minivan that gets 14 miles to the gallon, he’ll be going through a lot of it.
     
  16. Chierro

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    I'm fortunate enough that my parents have agreed to pay for my first four years of college, anything after that is on me. Of course, that is also with the stipulation that I work a summer job, which I've done since I was 14. Even though my college is paid for, I do apply for scholarships to get what I can from there and I also have a work-study position in an office on campus and get paid for helping with a camp over the summer on campus.

    I know a lot of my friends who struggle with costs apply for CA positions (what my university calls RAs) as here being a CA covers your housing entirely as well as a biweekly stipend. If they get the position then all they need to worry about is tuition.

    It's best to check with your university about work-study positions as some could cover costs partially, entirely, etc. It differs from university to university and position to position.
     
  17. BothWaysSecret

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    I saved a lot of money by living at home, so I didn't have to worry about costs of room and board, or meal plans. However, my tuition was still a lot. I managed to get a few grants and scholarships, the rest was covered by loans that I had deferred on repaying until after graduation. Hell, there was even a few times where they weren't enough and I had to cover the remainder out-of-pocket.

    I've graduated, so I'm in the repaying stage for the loans. It's difficult, since I'm unemployed at the moment, but I have my loans set up in a different account than the rest of my money that I don't touch. There's enough to cover about six months or so worth of loans, and when it gets low, I dip into my savings to replenish it until I can find a good job.
     
  18. HM03

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    My grandma and parents paid for the majority of mine. I also lived at home. So that didn't leave me a lot to pay.

    Not sure how common sense it is but a few ideas:
    * Do not buy anything new, ESPECIALLY AT CAMPUS/THE BOOK STORE. I remember first year thinking that I needed to buy every single textbook, new AND from the bookstore. Textbooks, lab coats etc are so overpriced at the bookstore. Buy them used. Places like Amazon, Kijiji, or see if your school has a fb book page where students can sell their stuff. Check with upper years, but for some classes you don't need to buy the textbooks, and sometimes they even explicitly tell you that. If you aren't going to be reading the textbook every single day, I know my uni librairy had copies of some textbooks that you could loan. Or once you get to make friends and know who to trust, you could share and split the cost of a book with friends.
    *Sell books that you don't need after the class is over
    *Check out and apply for scholarships, burseries, loans etc. Be careful with loans though.
     
    #18 HM03, Aug 17, 2018
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2018