<p>Parents of current students:</p>
<p>Around how much would I need to spend on top of tuition and fees, room, and board? Since I'm an international student, I would need to sign up for health insurance too. So I'm guessing the breakdown would be something like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>Health insurance - $2,000~</li>
<li>Books and supplies - ? (I'm an engineering major)</li>
<li>Laptop - varies</li>
<li>Transportation - How much is a taxi fare from the airport? Or does Tulane have a free shuttle?</li>
<li>Personal Expenses - What are the unavoidable expenses (i.e. laundry, etc)?</li>
<li>One-time move-in expenses - What are the additional stuff students usually bring to their dorms? How much would dorm shopping cost me? Oh, and is there storage available?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks! Need to know how much more I'll pay for Tulane if I indeed attend. :)</p>
<p>wow, it’s hard to gauge all those costs, but i will try for you.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>usually runs about $500 and up per semester. depends on what/how many classes you take and whether it is necessary for you to buy the books. i found that a lot of the times i did need to purchase or somehow obtain a copy of the book. this could also include any supplies you might need for class.</p></li>
<li><p>taxi fare is $33 not including tip one way to or from the airport. you can also sign up for the airport shuttle online ahead of time that costs $13, but is a little more inconvenient because you have to pick up/drop off other people. as far as i know tulane does not offer any transportation to the airport. when i was at tulane my friends and i would usually try to share cabs or take the airport shuttle to cut costs. as far as transportation costs go while you are on campus they will actually be pretty minimal. a lot of things are within walking distance and tulane also offers a free shuttle to some places (like target). if you want to take the streetcar to downtown it’s only $1.25.</p></li>
<li><p>laundry is 75 cents per load, per cycle. so it will cost you $1.50 to wash and dry one load. as far as other personal expenses that is up to you. hopefully you will not need much more money for food because your meal plan will take care of that. i made a little pocket money from my on-campus job and was able to use that as my spending money to go out and do most things that i wanted to do. let me warn you that it is easy to end up wanting/needing more personal expense money than you have, because of the variety and number of festivals and things going on in new orleans. something to think about.</p></li>
<li><p>well the things that you will absolutely need include bedding, pillows, towels, toiletries, maybe a little trash can, study lamp, and some type of laundry basket/hamper. most students also bring a mini fridge and tv and dvd player, and usually roommates will work out that one of them will bring the fridge and the other will bring the tv or something like that. it is honestly up to you how much you spend. i spent maybe $500 or so? it is easy to spend a lot more so that is up to your budgeting.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>hope that helps!</p>
<p>My son spent about $300 on storage during the summer. You might want to add that in.</p>