<p>So I was looking at the allotted amounts for Fin Aid and I realized that a lot of it won't apply to me (e.g. transportation and clothing costs). So if we have extra money, are we allowed to use it to buy things that aren't necessarily school related (e.g. games )?</p>
<p>To my understanding, if you open up a direct deposit account with UF, they will pay themselves for housing, fees, and tuition and the rest of the gift money that is left over is deposited in to your checking account where you are allowed to use it as you please. At least, that’s what I’m planning to do.</p>
<p>its cash. the university could care less what you did with it. i wouldn’t recommend basis your own finances on their estimation, however.</p>
<p>aforautumn, if we don’t take loans out the first or second semester, are we still eligible for them next year?</p>
<p>yes. they are required to meet your financial need according to their standards (the ~18k or whatever). however, i once had my work study revoked after spring and when i emailed to ask if it could be reinstated the FA advisor said he would put it back because i had actually been using it. so he basically implied that if I hadn’t used it, it would be revoked. i didn’t ask explicitly, but it was definitely implied. that said, work study is the only form of financial aid where that kind of situation could arise. loans do not get revoked after not taking them afaik.</p>
<p>Thank you very much. </p>
<p>I believe you said you’ve gotten by at 12k a year, correct? I am trying to do the same with tuition/housing at ~10kish and since I’m not getting a meal plan, groceries/eating out at 2 or 3kish a year. Would that be an accurate estimation?</p>
<p>Also, how do I go about getting a FWS job? I don’t have previous work experience so I don’t really know what I would put on my resume if they need one.</p>
<p>i cant really speak about getting the work study job. besides treating it like you’re getting any other job, i’d highly recommend talking to professors to see if anyone wants to hire undergrads for research. work study goes a long way in getting those jobs.</p>
<p>10k for tuition housing is good. i think your food estimation is also good. i just checked, and between aug 2010 and may 2011 i spent about 1200 at publix, and very roughly guessing other sources of food, i’d be surprised if i went over 2k for the year.</p>
<p>there were times when my frugality really made my life miserable my first year, so i don’t recommend doing what i (and many others, of course) did, unless it was necessary. its good to be concerned with your finances, but i think its a bad idea to let stress about not having money to do things distract you from school. thus, i highly recommend taking out the maximum amount of sub loans the offer you your fall semester and putting the money in a special bank account. this is almost critical if you don’t have insurance, and even if you do, theres a very real chance you budgeted something wrong–textbooks are more expensive than expected, or something else. i also think its a good idea to be able to afford to reward yourself with a nice dinner or whatever after doing well on exams.</p>
<p>but if you’re going to try to be frugal, make sure you have a very thorough budget planned out before you cut yourself off from additional financial aid. as in like, pick a daily food budget and make sure the math works out. even if you don’t end up following it to a t, its important that you at least have some accurate plan.</p>
<p>Thank you for your detailed post!</p>
<p>Yea I just started looking on the Gator Jobs web site and it seems to be updated frequently so I’ll look in to that. </p>
<p>About the finances, besides tuition/fees, housing, food, and books, are there really any other things that cost a great deal of money? I mean, the way I see it, I don’t think I need to take out any loans this year unless I’m not factoring in some finances that I’m missing. For food, I know I don’t eat THAT much; breakfast sandwich, a snack (which 90% of the time is cereal with milk), then dinner and sometimes a lunch option, depending on how many hours of the day I’m awake. If I’m still hungry that day, I eat like fruits, grilled cheese sandwich, crackers, etc. </p>
<p>My parents pay for my bills/gas so I don’t have to worry about that as is stated in the CoA, and I also have a laptop. They’re also going to deposit every month in to my account so I have money for things like eating out, going to the movies, etc. </p>
<p>Do you think I’ll be fine? I’m not sure if college is very different from the expenses I face at home, besides food, since I won’t have my mom to cook for me. </p>
<p>And what do you mean by insurance?</p>
<p>aforautumn means health insurance. Just to give you an example, almost two years ago I was about to go downstairs in my house with a bunch of crap in my hands -laptop bag included- which got stuck on the handrail of the stairs and I was basically launched 9 feet in the air and landed in the first floor (I didn’t roll, I just flew and fell) lucklily for me all I broke was my elbow. I had very good insurance at the time but it still cost me a s** ton of money. Between the copay for the ER, copay for Xrays, Copay for all the visits to the orthopaedist, 16 sessions of therapy, MRI’s, plus the brace I had to wear for 12 weeks, Pain killers, etc the big total came to $1,700 (I know because I put in my tax return last year). </p>
<p>My point is, even if you have insurance your medical costs add up, hopefully you will not fracture your left elbow like I did, but even with insurance it was a bunch of money I had to shove out and you always need to set money aside for it. Also for the dentist -they’re even more expensive than md’s, even with insurance. Just try to over estimate your budget so you can be safe, and if at all possible set an emergency fund aside, normally emergency fund should be equal to 6 months of normal expenses, but if you could set aside the equivalent of three months of expenses and leave it alone, and not touch it then it should be a good emergency fund that will get you out of trouble. “emergencies” show up when you least expect them. My latest emergency: just this morning spent $1,100 changing all 4 engine mounts for my car. <em>ouch</em></p>
<p>i agree, living on your own can present some very unexpected and expensive situations. this isn’t applicable to everyone, but getting involved with well-to-do type lady friend is another thing (in addition to hospital visits and car problems) that a 12k budget is not ideal for.</p>
<p>@isenior: if your parents have money in case you’re in a bad situation, then don’t worry about the loan. i’m strictly speaking of the case where you’re more or less completely independent and don’t have those resources. but like i said, if you’re confident with how you’ve budgeted, then do what you think is best. i cant say whether you’re missing one thing or another.</p>