<p>@lt.milo…I’m doing the same. I have a work-study job, and I plan on living off of that for miscellaneous expenses. But I’m bringing about 3K in “backup” money, for the entire year. I think it’ll be doable…you also have to account your lifestyle. If you go out and spend hundreds of dollars in clothing, then of course 3K won’t be enough…LOL. And I don’t plan on doing that.</p>
<p>I’m also a grad student…and after working a few years post-undergrad, you learn how to cut corners financially. And you also realize having the latest fashion and gadgets are useless, b/c in reality…most people don’t care…lol. College is way different from high school.</p>
<p>@NastyNate0315: Dude, I know. I cannot help myself sometimes. I just bought 150 dollars jeans from diesel the other day in Union Square, and yesterday I bought a lacoste polo and went to Bloomingdales to buy myself more clothing. Now I went from having 350+ dollars in my wallet, to having nothing. Lesson learned…for a few weeks lol.</p>
<p>lol, there was a line in last year’s Reality Show:</p>
<p>“dude. . .i’m broke.”
“how can you be broke? welcome week isn’t even over yet!”</p>
<p>@NuclearPakistan:</p>
<p>LOL this is getting creepier by the second. I’m not even kidding I just bought a black lacoste polo at Macy’s earlier this week…However I would like to point out I like Diesel Black Gold over Diesel.</p>
<p>Well now I know who I need to stay away from. LOL If we shop together we’re bound to do some serious damage :p</p>
<p>@NuclearPakistan1
@nastynate0315</p>
<p>Two words for you: sample sale.</p>
<p>@nate:
i’m in the same boat as you, hoping to get apt. style and getting the lowest meal plan 75/semester. </p>
<p>I’m hoping I can do about $100 a month with just food and necessities. and I also plan to do work study, and if needed, another part time job. what are the types of work study jobs nyu offers? I got an email about tutoring in Brooklyn schools, but are there jobs like working in the dining halls and such? and if my financial aid letter said i was eligible for getting $2000 a semester w/ work study, is that how much I should plan to make? Or is that just a number they give me?</p>
<p>Students don’t work in the dining halls since those are food services which are contracted out. Students have jobs like swiping people in in the gyms, working the circulation desk in the library, and doing cashiering in the bookstore. You might also be able to get an office job where you are really just running errands, answering phones, filing mail, etc.</p>
<p>The $2000 is the maximum amount of FWS you can make per semester. You’re not guaranteed that amount, and you may not necessarily make that amount.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t think $100 a month is anywhere near enough to live on, even with a meal plan, unless you don’t plan on buying ANY outside food and don’t want to go out at all. I will be the first to say that no one needs to budget themselves $1000 a month to live in NYC, but $100 is really pushing it.</p>
<p>i have to agree with nyux2. 100 is really not enough.</p>
<p>I replied to that tutoring job and I hope I get it because that’s something I’m really interested in. I definitely plan on getting another part-time job, because as you can tell I have pretty expensive tastes. LOL</p>
<p>@heyitzerin: about the reduced meal plan. You have to take into account that a school semester is about 80-90 days so if you get the 75 meal plan then you’ve got to make up for the remaining 5-15 days as well as weekends, not to mention a healthy person has around 2 meals a day. lol What I’m trying to say is if you plan on reducing your meal plan like myself you better have secondary income because you will either be buying groceries or eating out (often).</p>
<p>@nyux2:
What do you think is a decent budget then, with just groceries, eating out at cheap places here n there, and maybe going out a few times? bare minimum with all of that? I mean if I gotta buy a case of Top Ramen ill do it… haha. And also, when i get to NYU and go to the Wasserman Center do they just give me a list of available jobs and I apply with resumes like any other job?</p>
<p>@nate:
yeah i know i estimated, including weekends in all, its about 1 meal per day for the semester. So i’ll be heavily relying on groceries and eating out at times. but i rather have to buy groceries I like then pay more for a bigger meal plan. I like to eat, especially late at night so thats why I need an apt style lol.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m an NYU Soph who lives off-campus in an apartment with a roommate. Neither of us have meal plans so groceries are for 2 people. I also go home at least every other weekend. Here’s a typical month:</p>
<p>Rent: $1,040 (I pay half)
Groceries: $400
Eating Out: $80 (boyfriend usually pays for me lol :p)
General shopping for stuff (clothes/supplies): Hmm maybe $300-400? Sometimes more, sometimes less. Not really into buying stuff =/
Going out: $200? Don’t go out as much as the typical student because I’m really really busy during the year. </p>
<p>If you’re a girl, you don’t need to pay cover charge in most clubs/lounges and stuff if you show up before 12pm. If you’re a decent looking girl, you won’t have to pay for drinks often as these places. If you’re a guy, bring 2 girls with you. 
There are many free and cheap places to go for fun.</p>
<p><em>edit</em> I should clarify I usually go to cheap bars/lounges on the lower east side or west village, if you’re a more upscale person you’re obviously gonna pay more. And these places don’t give out free drinks, people just buy 'em for you (don’t drink anything a creeper hands to you of course).</p>
<p>@alix:
hahaha thats awesome hopefully I can get those free drinks too!! hahah i’m soo excited for ny and to go out to clubs! here in LA nothing gets you in free. maybe $5 off before 930pm if youre lucky…</p>
<p>@Alix: where is your apt.? $1040 is not bad at all, which makes me question if it’s in Manhattan because the rent is so low. lol</p>
<p>@heyitzerin</p>
<p>To be on the safe side, I would say $100 a week is probably more realistic, though I’ve definitely managed quite well with $10 a day plus about $35-50 worth of groceries every two to two-and-a-half weeks. If you want to have a little more breathing room, cap your monthly expenses at $500 a month. </p>
<p>(I’m going to go into Suze Orman mode now.)</p>
<p>The big thing is to track where your money is going. You can do this in a notebook or even in an Excel spreadsheet. And make sure you sign up for online banking with your bank! Once you figure out what you’re spending most of your money on, you can adjust accordingly. For example, let’s say I have budgeted myself $100 for the week starting Monday, and I know that on Saturday, a bunch of friends and I are going out for dinner. I can expect to spend about $40. In relation to my budget, that’s a lot, but to make up for it, all I have to do is spend about $4-5 less per day (so, instead of ~$14, I spend ~$9-10) which is fine since during the week all I can reasonably expect to spend any money on is coffee/tea and maybe a quick snack from the law lounges since I already purchased my groceries the week before (and if I hadn’t, then I would have just spent more this week than next week, where I would have trimmed down on spending). It sounds complicated, but once you’ve seen what you’re spending money on, anytime you need to trim down expenses one day, you can just cut out some regular purchase that you know you don’t need.</p>
<p>There are also many ways to save. NYU and student groups have many events with free food. And as I’ve told many others, fun in NYC can easily be done on the cheap, so splurging isn’t always necessary to have a good time. Hunt around for the cheapest grocery store (hint: it won’t be D’agostino’s, and don’t count out Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s), and make a note of restaurants that offer cheap lunch specials (two meals in one, really) and/or NYU student discounts. It is NOT impossible to live well on a small budget, but you have to be proactive and exercise self-discipline.</p>
<p>@nastynate0315</p>
<p>I was paying $200 less than Alix2012 living right behind NYU. Some of us are just lucky. ^_^</p>
<p>I just went over my bank statements form Sept to May. I wanted to see how much I actually transferred into D account while at school and to figure out my budget for next semesters. The transfers did not occur with any regularity, she had the 175 flex meal plan, although she did eat out at several fav vegetarian places, and she did not work.
The total amount was approx 3100.00 which roughly translate into approx 103.00 per week(15 weeks a semester). She did use this money for supplies as well as books, entertainment, travel subway, train, excursion on cheap bus to Boston, and whatever else. Whenever we came in to town and took her out to dinner, we gave her cash/pocket money. she never seemed to be deprived of anything. She and her friends knew how to find the free food and cheap entertainment.</p>
<p>edit: I think her daddy slipped some money into her account as well, but I don’t know how much that was.</p>
<p>
No I mentioned I have a roommate, I split rent with him, so it’s more like $2080 a month between 2 people - we’re going to live on the upper west side in a 1 bedroom, about 20 mins subway ride from NYU. It’s actually a pretty nice place for the price. 
Last semester I lived in a Greenwich Village apartment that was really expensive and smaller than our new one, but I didn’t have to pay for that one.
Whoa where?!!! Maybe in Brooklyn?</p>
<p>^ahhh I took it as the total rent was $1040 and you paid 520. Now 2080 sounds much better, or worse, haha. I knew something sounded out of place, an apartment in manhatten for 1K, it’s just unheard of.</p>
<p>@Alix2012</p>
<p>As I said, I lived right behind NYU. The rent was split two ways, but still. It was a rent-stabilized one-bedroom with living room, kitchen, dining room, and a full bathroom. Like I said, some of us just get lucky.</p>
<p>@nyux2:
hahah im such an idiot, in my other post I meant $100/week, not month! no wonder you guys said that was impossible. [sorry it must be the blonde hair heh] Yeah so $100/125 is what I’m estimating. And I’m hoping to get another part time job along with work study. Plus I have $1500 from an outside scholarship to help me get started as well, especially with buying dorm stuff. And I was reading up somewhere on cheap restaurants and markets near Third Ave. North [crossing my fingers I get that dorm] and there were tons. And I’m a Trader Joe’s addict…I might have to watch myself with it being 3 blocks away… haha.</p>