<p>So, college students, how much per month do you spend outside of general tuition/books during the school year?</p>
<p>Generally in the categories of transportation, housing(what type do you have?) entertainment, food, money. </p>
<p>I know it GREATLY varies by campus, life style, the amount you are comfortable with spending, whether you know how to budget, are a compulsive shopper, etc, etc, etc, all the categories that everyone will say. </p>
<p>I just want to get a general idea though.</p>
<p>Transportation--usually nothing. City busses are free to students at my U. If I have to go somewhere, it's within 45 min and I do that MAYBE once a month. I can do plenty of things in town via the bus. $0-10</p>
<p>Housing--I live in a dorm. I dont pay anything per month. Next year I'll be in student apartments, but everything is on my student bill so I don't pay anything per month. $0</p>
<p>Entertainment--Sports tickets are prepaid, small concerts on campus are usually free, and I dont go to big name concerts a lot because I don't have the money. I go to movies occasionally, so I'd say $10 to be safe.</p>
<p>Food--when i'm not eating in the dorms or grab stuff from one of the campus c-stores, I'll spend ~$25 a month. Next year I'll have to buy my own groceries, so this will increase.</p>
<p>I dont go shopping much because I'll buy too much stuff. So I guess I spend at most $50 a month, usually around $30. First semester I spent a lot more but now I've realized I have a lot of stupid crap that I shouldn't have bought.</p>
<p>I actually keep a record of everything I spend money on, because I was curious as to what it added up to....and I'm a big nerd. I go to an urban school and I live in a single apartment.</p>
<p>Housing - rent + utilities is around $730 a month
Food - around $90-$100 per month, solely from the grocery store
Transportation - $25 per month, which includes a tank of gas month or two and occasional tokens for public transportation. I only use the car to visit home and I usually walk everywhere.
Misc householdy stuff like lightbulbs and laundry - about $20
Shopping - about $50, I include grabbing food from somewhere because I couldn't be bothered to go back to my apartment and cook my own in this
Going out - about $15, I include going out to eat in restaurants with other people here</p>
<p>It all totals to around $1,000 per month. I don't remember what it was when I lived in the dorms, but obviously it was considerably less...probably somewhere around $150 or so.</p>
<p>Well I'm not an average student so I don't spend much</p>
<p>Transportation: nothing. I don't have my car on campus, so if I go home it's on my parents' dime. We have shuttles to Wal Mart/the mall/movies and some other off campus places that are paid for by our fees, so nothing out of pocket
Housing: I live in the dorms, so that's all part of my tuition payment
Entertainment: Some months absolutely nothing. Other months might be closer to $20. All of our sports tickets (for campus sports) are part of our fees that are paid when we pay tuition. I don't really go out. They show movies in the student union building for $2 (movies that are between the theater and DVD), and the concerts on campus that I go to (the student acapella ones) run about $3. I don't go to big name concerts though
Food: I generally buy what I need in the campus convenience stores, so I use my dining dollars which are built into my meal plan. I might get something off campus once a month. So lets say I spend $10 a month.</p>
<p>When I was on campus and had a meal plan and no car, I'd spend under a few hundred dollars a month. The top amount was restaurants because my friends liked to eat out a lot, and it got me off campus. The next amount was misc. stuff at Walmart, like toiletries, laundry soap, cleaning supplies. Then came laundry fees and the occasional movie out. </p>
<p>A more seasonal thing was gifts for bf, parents, friends, etc. for birthdays and xmas. Clothing was also more seasonal as I needed a lot of stuff when I first got to campus. (winter clothes)</p>
<p>I spent a few hundred in the summer before college for dorm sheets, towels, storage stuff, etc.</p>
<p>Now I spend over a thousand a month because I have rent, utilities, car payment, gas for the car, groceries, etc.</p>
<p>Transportation will vary if you're flying or bringing a car so you can estimate that yourself. But generally the normal student living on campus with a meal plan should be able to make enough at a part-time job to pay for all those incidentals. ($200-300 a month)</p>
<p>Of course, you could go cheap and take stuff from home so you don't spend anything on dorm supplies, mooch toiletries from your house or have your parents take you shopping, never go out to eat, and use loose change for laundry!</p>
<p>I'm at Penn, and I've probably spent over $5000 this academic year on non-school-related stuff (alcohol, dinner, cabs, clothes).</p>
<p>Miscellaneous expenses will run you about $800-$1,000 for a year. It still sounded like too much even as I was reading the responses to the question, but I figured that it's actually about right, even for a non-partying type like myself. I didn't throw any money into alcohol, but I always spend $20/week on groceries at Walmart, I spent about $100 of my school money on christmas presents in December, I bought a student ticket to the Goo Goo Dolls show last weekend. I spend between $30-$50 eating out w/friends every month. I've done a little impulsive clothes shopping. It all adds up.</p>
<p>Well, it sounds like the roughly $3,000/year that colleges where I live allocate as 'Personal/transportation' expenses in the financial aid package is pretty conservative then, which isn't surprising.</p>
<p>Eating out would make a huge dent in that I bet. When my parents and I visited one of the colleges that i'm considering attending, we ate out afterwards at Lee's Chicken. For the little snack meal I bought which consisted of only three chicken strips, it cost almost $5. I couldn't believe how much more expensive it was there compared to home.</p>
<p>"snack meal", did it include a drink?</p>
<p>My only real expense is gas. I commute and live at home so I have no bills to pay for housing, get all my food/other stuff like toothpaste at home (aka mooch off my mom), and I don't need much in terms of entertainment--hate going to the movies, never drink or party, and usually go to lots of ballgames in the summer when I'm working more/bringing in more cash--so I'm not counting that under college expenses.</p>
<p>Gaswise, I'd say I spend about $45-60 each month depending on how much I drive and what the weather is (which directly impacts fuel economy).</p>
<p>I get the gym for free at my school, get books at the library (aka for free for a few weeks), and the only other expenses I have are occasional clothes, tools, computer parts, chewing gum, pens, etc. I shop once or twice a month on average.</p>
<p>I'd say my average monthly output is $100, give or take $15. I usually bring in over three times that if I'm only working two days per week part time, much more if I'm working more often. The rest goes into savings in case I need to repair my car or need to splurge on something (like when I bought my camcorder a few years ago). The $100 sample figure includes minimum gas charges, one A&F polo, and $5 of misc. expenses (say, a notepad, pencils, and gum).</p>
<p>I must be the only one on here who doesn't go to Wal Mart. TARGET is superior!!!</p>
<p>There's no Target near my school, or I would definately go there instead.</p>
<p>(per year totals)
tuition: around 23k ish
books: a shade under 1k
housing (room in a rented house): 10k
entertainment/clubbing/bars/shopping: 12k</p>