I’m trying to figure out a budget for college. I’m an international student and will be starting out at a CC where there of course aren’t any meal plans available. I would just want to know how much money you spend on food each month and in which state you live in. Do you cook your food on your own or do you eat out?
It would really help me a lot to know the average money spent on food so I can prepare my budget.
It depends so much! At my college, we get 30% off of dining hall food and no taxes charged. But, most upperclassmen make their own food. Some weeks I may eat out a lot too which generally costs more. Most college websites have a page where they say the usual living expenses.
I think $50/week would be ideal. Personally, I eat out a lot and spend way more than I should (like $100 some weeks), but that’s still $1200 less than the cheapest meal plan. #-o
When I was in college, generally between $40-70 a week depending on how much I ate out or how much “free food” there was at various events. Usually I cook more when I’m not as busy, then save leftovers for later meals.
About $10 per day without a meal plan, but it depends on location.
My daughter has a small commuter meal plan for eating in the food service locations when she is just too busy to cook but cooks most of her meals this year. It will cost approximately 1500 per semester for food if I add the meal plan cost plus what we have budgeted for groceries and sundries. The commuter meal plan is a convenience that gives Mom piece of mind.
This will be highly variable depending on a number of variables. First will you have a kitchen available to you? Will you have a refrigerator to store food? Do you have access to a car to shop for groceries? Finally which city will this be in?
Shopping for groceries in New York City will be considerably higher than in a small rural city.
Since you’re at a CC I will assume that you will have an apartment with a standard kitchen. If you don’t, it’s going to be tough to cook for yourself and your budget will be a lot higher, maybe double this amount.
Living in an expensive city will make the price go up, eating out a lot makes it go way up. Also things like getting a coffee in the morning on the way to class. There’s no way to know for sure what you’ll spend. You can try to estimate by shopping for yourself for a few weeks before you go, which will get you in the ballpark but still won’t be the same as actually being in school.
I spent $50-70 a week eating pretty standard food, not all-organic or expensive cuts of meat. I eat a fair amount, probably over 3000 calories a day, so if you don’t eat much it will be cheaper. I saved money by taking a bus to a cheaper place than the campus store, but I could have saved even more if I had a car to drive further. I ate out less than once a week but normally it was a fast-food place and less than $10–the weeks I went to a sit-down place I might have been over $80. If you want to eat out a lot it adds up fast so keep that in mind. I also got free meals maybe once a week on average, which may not be common at a CC.
If you drink a lot or think you will go to bars a lot, add that to the budget. Any liquor store near campus will have high prices and drinking at a bar adds up very fast.