<p>What do you think a reasonable amount is for Columbia (per month)? We aren't talking books, cell phone bill, etc. This is for metro card, food, movies, and other entertainment.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>yes, this seems very interesting and I would like to know too</p>
<p>Depends on your lifestyle. Metrocards are 2 bucks each way supposedly going up to $2.50 (greedy bastards!). If you want to go out and party downtown and eat at pretty nice restaurants, be prepared to easillllllllllly spend at least a few hundred a month. On the other hand if you wanna save money you could eat pretty much every meal at the dinning hall (which failed health inspection last year due to “rat products” in the food), and either not really party or just go to the few free parties they have, or if you want to spend a bit but not a ton on parties, the bars by here aren’t horrible for price or fun. So depending on lifestyle you can expect to spend anywhere from 10 to 20 bucks a month to a few grand a month if you have overly generous/naive parents.</p>
<p>Although as a current Columbia student I agree with metsfan that the spending depends on the person, but I’m not sure why metsfan wrote such an emotional response. In the first year, your meal plan will cover meals at John Jay dining hall as well as points that you can spend throughout campus. If you’re planning on eating 3-4 meals a week off campus, and throw in a movie on the weekend or tickets to something going on in NYC (which are extremely cheap with our student discounts) you can expect around $50-$100 per week. Again, that’s a rough estimate given a normal, money-conscious college student.</p>
<p>there’s a thread on expenses in the Helpful Columbia Threads thread, pinned in the main Columbia board.</p>