Especially for those who attend school near Bostn?
I live in a house that is slightly off-campus and we cook our own food most of the time. I would say I spend about:
$40-60/week on food
$200-400/semester on books
$20-$40/month on miscellaneous expenses
A semester is roughly 18 weeks, so that comes out to roughly $1320 if you take the middle numbers from those ranges. It should definitely be less if you are on a meal plan because food is my biggest expense other than housing and tuition costs.
I go to Indiana University, and I probably spend less than the average person in general. I don’t pay for much except food, toiletries and a haircut once a month. When I was a freshman, I lived in a dorm I probably spent $400-500 per semester on stuff other than tuition and room and board. I had a meal plan and ate mostly in the cafeteria.
Kind of a difficult question to quantify, since everyone’s needs vary. Will you have a meal plan, a kitchen, both? How much do you plan on eating out vs eating either college food or cooking yourself? Do you already have all the clothes you need? Are you going to include textbooks and school supplies in your budget or do you get grants/scholarships/parental assistance for those?
My parents provided me a budget of $25 a week (so I guess about $400 a semester) for general expenses during my freshman year; anything I didn’t spend stayed in my bank account and could be saved for a big purchase. It was more than enough (I’m in central Mass, not Boston though). Textbooks cost anywhere between $50 and $400 per semester from my college bookstore. This was on a full meal plan, mind you.
This year I have a kitchen and $25 more per week was added to my budget for food; it’s enough for me to make good, healthy meals for myself for dinner. I’m also on a meal plan, so I get lunch at the campus food court most days.