College Expenses

M

multi-illionaire

Member
Ok so i am trying to figure out how much i need to make this summer

how much should i expect to spend during the year for like random stuff i want (books are included)

i have no idea i turn to u NS
 
well books are probably gonna run you like 250-300 a term. i donno if you smoke and drink but that'll take a chunk out of your savings. other than that you wouldn't have to spend much more, it's just what you want to buy like going out to a real restaurant or something. so i would say you would need about 1500 to 2000 if you wanna get by safely.
 
DO NOT order your books from your college's book store it's such a rip off. Find out the name, author and edition and get it used off amazon, you will save a lot of money!

as far as other expenses, ski passes are a couple hundred, entertainment expenses a couple hundred and whatever else you need to facilitate a smooth transition into college. personally i spent a lot of money ($1,000) my freshmen year, becuase i bought a lot of new clothes, a ski pass, etc. but it can really vary.
 
youre going to want to order your books off of amazon.com because i bought my books at the bookstore first semester and it cost me like 300 $ ish. crazy.

. also...if your roommate is the same year as you...try and split the cost of books and share them. youll have to coordinate your schedules a bit. but it can be done..and you can check if your schools library has the books too. the college book store rips you off in many many ways....good luck!
 
Well lets put it this way.

I went to college with 3000 ish dollars in my savings.

I had to pay 200 a month for car payments, so minus 1600.

That leaves me with 1400, with a little money from my parents every month (like 100 mostly for gas) i had 48 cents in my bank account by my 1st, so over 8 months i spend 1400 + another like 800-1000. Of course, i bought ski passes (500), some gear(maybe 200), and some other essentals (maybe another 150-200), but i probably spent 800-1000 bucks on beer/liqour.
 
ya, buying your books on amazon is a great idea. i buy all or most of my books on half.com its like a partnering site with ebay and its used books and stuff for real cheap, and at the end of the semester i just put them back up on half.com and make money back. there are a shitload of random expenses in school like if you want to join a club or certain activities have dues for them. at uvm house parties usually are $5 a cup so for every thurs,fri,sat night of the year it slowly chips away at your bank account. plus like pregaming booze gets expensive too, so for me every weekend was like 30+ dollars to get fucked up. if you arent into partying youll save alot of money but theres still other shit youll spend money on.

youll get to school with all your stuff and realize you have dorm necessities you forgot about when you were packing the car so youll spend money on that. late night pizza delivery costs money. going out to eat. everything costs money.

in short, just make as much as you can this summer and beg your parents as much as you can to pay for books, dorm supplies, and dues for getting involved at school. see if you can get work study at school too. its mindless stupid jobs like sitting at a desk in your dorm getting people's mail and you get disposable income for doing nothing.
 
jesus 1000 dollars is nothing. i dont know how much you like to party or smoke, but on average i spent about 50 dollars a week on drugs/alcohol. then you're probably going out to eat a lot because every college campus has great restaraunts so thats on average another 20 bucks a week going out. you gotta buy your own toiletries and shit now too that stuff adds up, plus snacks and drinks to keep in your dorm... overall i probably spent about 3 g's freshman year, but i also lived in an apartment so i had more shit to buy than if i would have been living in a dorm.
 
The amount you need really depends on how you spend money and what kind of shit you'll be doing. As others have said, look for other places to get your books, but even after saving money, it is totally easy to spend hundreds on books a quarter. You could even look into checking out books from a library, but usually that can create some wicked hassles (especially if there are discrepancies with specific editions and stuff).

Food is always more than you expect. And supplies can be ghastly depending on the program. I've dropped a lot of coin on architecture shit, be it programs & computer shit, drawing stuff, etc etc.

 
I spent 2g every month my freshman year. I was working a metric shit ton and my parents threw in some money. Put it this way, you wanna sit around in your dorm room Friday night while everyone else is at concerts/clubs/parties cause you don't have money to pay for shit?

I'd get a job when you start school in addition to a summer job.

Good luck man.
 
how much yay did you do man holy shit?

freshman year, i probably spent like 1500 in total on booze and stupid shit. books run at least 250 to 500 $$ for my 4-5 classes. then i spend about 17-35 a week on booze. last year i went through like 2gs because i got arrested and got some fines, but thats my fault. i still say that 1200 should cover alcohol, i dunno about pot i don't smoke. i'll have 3gs for next year, but i have an apartment and gotta make it ball outrageous.
 
as a freshman you won't have to pay for much alcohol at first.

your alcohol expense will just go up and up and up as your transition from going to parties, to hosting parties, to overpriced drinks at bars.
 
hah. I don't do anything besides drink. I went out a lot. Restaurants, hookah bars, concerts, all that stuff. I kinda bought a lot of stuff too. I worked at nordstrom at the time, so I could afford it.

And also some guy said as a freshman you don't spend too much on alch... while that is true, you shouldn't be a douche and not offer to throw in.
 
haha sick.

but i always threw down for alcohol. usually i'd just buy myself a rack for the weekend or something at uvm. i never got more than a few free drinks and it was only just from frat dudes who wanted me to rush. and now at uconn i always buy my own shit and bring it to parties. and next year i'm going to be paying for the kegs so i guess freshman year you pay the least, but expect to throw down so you don't look like a huge dick.
 
Hell yeah man rush week is free booze week for wet campuses. (seriously, go to the frat parties. They will kiss your ass during rush week) When I move to Orange this fall I'm gonna buy a metric shit ton of booze and have small kickbacks in my dorm.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top