<p>I’m currently serving on Active Duty and will be attending the University of Alabama when I get out next year. Looking over the GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program, it appears that all my tuition and fees should be taken care of. That just leaves me with covering living expenses. </p>
<p>The GI Bill will pay me ~$1000 per month (while in school, so no pay during breaks, etc) as a stipend. For a standard 9 month school year that’s $9000 give or take some change. Out of that, I need to pay for room and board. Bryce Lawn’s single occupancy rate is $4225.00 for the 9 month academic year. That leaves me with $4775 for food, gas, car insurance, health insurance (no longer under a parents health plan after all!) and other social/living expenses. that works out to ~$352/month. I’ll make an additional $352 per month in reservist pay. for a grand total of ~$704 per month. </p>
<p>Out of that, I’ll have to pay $100 / month for car insurance and $50/month for health insurance (Tricare for reservists, includes dental), leaving me with $550 per month for food, gas and living expenses. I figure at least for the first year, I’ll use the all access meal plan which will run me about $200/month (including the mandatory $300 dining dollar buy-in) leaving me with $350 per month.</p>
<p>Now, having been out in the world for the past 8 years, my standard of living is obviously different than most college students. And while I’ll be making some standard of living adjustments, living on ramen for weeks at a time isn’t going to cut it. Which means that $350 per month isn’t going to cut it to cover all my expenses. I’m going to need to get a job. Which leads me to the question:</p>
<p>How much should I expect to be spending per month on miscellaneous living expenses, school supplies and social expenses? I’ve been stationed all over the world in the last eight years, so I have a pretty good idea of how far my money will take me in pretty much every corner of the globe except for the southeast and especially Tuscaloosa.</p>
<p>NOTE: Veterans Services told me that bryce lawn is an option for me as a veteran even though I’ll be a freshman.</p>
<p>Thank you for serving our country and I’m proud that Alabama participates in Yellow Ribbon.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how much you’ll need each month, but are you permitted to work part-time during the school and full time during the summer to supplement your income?</p>
<p>Yes, I am allowed to work, and fully intend on it. I’m trying to figure out how much to expect to work, and that’ll be based mostly on how much it costs me to live as a college student in Tuscaloosa.</p>
<p>Thank you for your service! My D will also be attending Alabama next yr on the GI Bill (her Dad’s). </p>
<p>First know that for the months of Dec and Jan your BAH will be prorated so you will not get full BAH. Also don’t forget your will get $1000 book stipend. We are buying my D a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 with the intention of using E-Books which are a ton cheaper. I figure she will probably only use $500 a yr on books this way.</p>
<p>To answer your question, I would assume you would want btwn $125-200 a week. If you have a rainy day fund for car repairs and the like, then $600 a month should work since you will have the full meal plan. Have you checked to see if you will qualify for any scholarships from UA or a Pell grant? if you add those into the mix work may not be necessary.</p>
<p>I haven’t had enough posts yet to answer your PM, so I’ll answer it here. I deal with them at least once a week, and their service is spectacular. I usually deal with Alex Karagas (she’s listed on the vets.ua.edu page so I don’t think I’m giving anything away here)</p>
<p>Will you be required to purchase the frosh meal plan if you live in Bryce? If so, that’s very pricey. It’s only req’d for frosh year, but it is expensive.</p>
<p>No. I’m not requred to buy the frosh one. I’m not even required to live on campus, I’m choosing to in order to help me integrate back into the civilian world. Living in an apartment by myself off campus isn’t going to help me much.</p>
<p>I’ve known Alex Karagas through a couple of her previous positions at UA and know that she will be very helpful in determining everything.</p>
<p>You’d probably save money by living off campus and having roommates. Being in the military and knowing acceptable standards of respect and cleanliness would likely be seen as a huge benefit to potential roommates. A lot of non-freshman live off campus in communities that are similar to on-campus living, so it would be a good option to consider for future years. Keep in mind that there will likely be a 6-10% increase in on-campus housing costs for next year as has been the case for the last few years.</p>
<p>UA just built a brand new veteran’s center in the back of BB Comer Hall near the Ferguson Center student union.</p>
<p>UA has no rules off-campus employment, so you are free to work as much as you wish. I suggest looking into private security and bouncer jobs as your military experience will be seen as a huge plus. However, this is generally a lot of weekend, which may conflict with your reserve commitments.</p>
<p>As for dining costs, you would likely save money by doing your own cooking and eating out. Groceries, especially non-processed foods, are more expensive in Alabama than other states and there is also a 9% sales tax. I’m not sure if there is a PX near Tuscaloosa, but that might help you with saving money.</p>
<p>I agree that living right off campus with other students may be better. there are several student apt complexes that have 4 bedroom/4bath units where you lease ONLY your own bedroom (so you’re not responsible if your roommates are late with their rent).</p>
<p>I think this is better because then you don’t have the move in/ move out situation that is req’d for dorm living. On campus housing doesn’t let people just live in their room for all their years…you have to keep moving out and moving back it. </p>
<p>I understand the desire to live on campus for your first year. One of my closest friends from college was a non-traditional student living in a dorm. He hadn’t served in the military, but had just decided to return to college later in life and was 27 when he began his freshman year. I got to know him as well as I did because we were able to eat together in the dining halls and spend time together in the dorm. Being a non-traditional student, it may be easier to integrate into campus life living on campus for your first year.</p>
<p>I do have to agree with others on the food plan though. Unless you eat a lot, I would go with a less expensive food plan. My son is currently a first year student and is required to have the unlimited plan, but for next year he has told me that he does not want a meal plan at all. He said just to put money into his dining dollars account and he will be able to use the money in the dining halls if he wants, but won’t be limited to that option. If instead of investing $1500 for the semester for the meal plan, you instead put $500 into your dining dollars account, you could use that to eat in the dining halls as you wanted and would be able to add more money to the account later if needed, but would not be limited to that option.</p>
<p>As for school supplies - for the semester we spent about $500 on books and supplies combined. Very few supplies are needed and most can be obtained pretty inexpensively during back to school sales each year, the most expensive supplies may be a graphing calculator or something else that is required (or highly recommended) for your particular major.</p>
<p>As for social expenses - that is entirely dependent upon you. I believe my son spent less than $150 for his entire first semester. We bought football tickets which were $5/game for the partial season package he was able to get this year. He paid $5 to go to the away game viewing the honor’s college hosted. He did not go out to any movies (although he does have my Netflix password and can stream those movies in his dorm room). He bought 1 new video game that cost him $50 or so. And he went out to eat on a few occasions but those seemed to be fairly inexpensive <$10 meals. But we’re a pretty frugal family and his girlfriend is here at home so he wasn’t paying for dates, but there are so many free activities on campus that there isn’t really a need to spend a lot…football games are $5/student ticket ALL other athletic events are free to go see which are often far more exciting that paying $10 to go sit in a movie theater. You can go to the rec center for free and participate in intramurals. The libraries are free. There are social and professional clubs that do have dues $10-50/year, but then have meetings and gatherings that you can attend. There are numerous community service activities that you can participate in. It would be very simple to fill all your time without spending much money at all. </p>
<p>If you are planning on eating out frequently that is an expense that needs to be considered, but then you definitely shouldn’t purchase an unlimited meal plan on campus. Also you need to consider a budget for alcohol. Personally I don’t drink, but I have close friends that say they spend neary $100/week on alcohol. Your habits and expenses will probably not be much different than they are currently.</p>