<p>I'm trying to calculate my cost of living for the upcoming year at UT Austin. I'm an incoming graduate student with a 13,000 stipend for nine months. That gives me about 1400/month to work with. My housing, which is 800/month comes with 3 meals a day. Will I need to supplement my income? I want to enjoy Austin I love to explore. How much do you think Ill need to comfortable? Thanks for your thoughts!</p>
<p>That’s a tough question to answer. Does the apartment come with paid utilities and internet? How much is your cell phone contract? UT will recalculate health care costs for grad students and employees for next year if they haven’t already. Currently the default plan (with no vision or dental) costs nothing out of pocket for a single grad student, but I don’t know if it will remain fully covered. The biggest question might be support for the summer. Has the English department told you there will be no summer stipend, or have they left that open? (Summer enrollment is lower, of course, and teaching positions are fewer.) Another option is to consider moving to another place with a roommate after the first housing contract is up to save on the rent. (When I was in grad school I ended one month with literally $6 in the bank, but I did get through it all financially intact.)</p>
<p>BTW, I don’t know what your specific interest is in English, but Austin is home to Book People, one of the best independent book stores in the country, and pretty much every evening they have another visiting author in to speak. Definitely check them out once you get to town. [url=<a href=“http://www.bookpeople.com/]BookPeople[/url”>http://www.bookpeople.com/]BookPeople[/url</a>]</p>