Hello! I was wondering aside from tuition, books, housing, full meal plan, etc… how much should a typical USC student expect to spend each month?
Clearly, the expectations of a new college freshman at USC could vary as widely as the # of freshmen themselves. In my D’s case, when she was a freshman, she lived on campus with the Gold meal plan… and I only supplemented her with an extra $25/wk allowance. The Gold mean plan itself though gives $500 dining dollars in addition to unlimited swipes per semester. And in her case, she never complained and ended her freshmen year with roughly the same amount of money in her account that she started the year with. It seemed to be enough extra money to cover the misc stuff. Now that she is a sophomore on an apt meal plan instead, I have raised the weekly allowance to $60… and she still seems to be fine. Hope that helps…
There isn’t a typical student at USC - you can manage on what you choose to manage. Some kids live on $50 a week, some spend many times that because they can. Depends on what they eat mostly and how much/what they do socially. You have to have food, bath/cleaning items and do laundry as necessities. Different kids have different splurge levels so plan on what works for you. One of mine has a group that loves great food and will travel miles to get it. Certainly not a necessity, but they think it is. As CS major, he also spends a lot on gear, but his choice to do so.