How Much Does Hopkins REALLY Cost?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
1

<p>Whenever I look at the estimated expenses for Hopkins, or any other top private school (Duke, WashU, UPenn, Vanderbilt, etc.), the total seems to fall at around $55,000 per year.</p>

<p>However, there are a number of expenses (car insurance, gas, eating out, etc.) that this amount does not factor in. Those of you who have spent a year at Hopkins or any of the other top privates, how much does 1 year REALLY cost? </p>

<p>I ask this because a friend told me that his total cost ended up at $70,000 last year at Hopkins. This seems a bit too high and is the reason why I am curious as to the estimated cost vs. reality.</p>

2

<p>Yes, $70,000 is quite a bit higher than most Hopkins students spend I would say. $55,000 sounds pretty accurate for an average student living on campus, maybe around $50,000 if you find a decent deal on off campus housing. This is without a car, mind you - I don’t have a car (and get along in Baltimore just fine with a bike/public transportation), so I really have no idea how much it would cost. It depends on your habits, largely. If you do a lot of eating out, going to bars, shopping, etc, it’s going to cost you. If you’re reasonably good at managing your finances though there’s no reason it should cost you $70,000.</p>

<p>In general, if you’re at a city school, you and your friends will want to go out and do stuff in the city (concerts, shopping, special events, trying out different bars/clubs/restaurants, etc, and of course all the cab fare back and forth) - which is more fun than hanging around a rural/small town campus, but also tends to be much more pricey.</p>

<p>As cities go, however, Baltimore has a pretty low cost of living. As an upperclassman, if you choose to live off campus, you can find a decent place nearby for yourself pretty easily in the $700-$800/month range, or $500-$600ish with roommates. Similar quality campus housing anywhere, or off-campus housing in other cities, usually is well over $1000/month. Same goes for groceries, eating out, bars, etc - in other cities, you’d be paying a lot more for the same quality of stuff.</p>

<p>In general, you’d probably spend more money at Hopkins than at a rural/small town private school, but less money than you would at most other city schools. I’ve also heard that St. Louis is crazy cheap. Stay away from New York and Boston though, if money is at all an issue.</p>

3

<p>Depends where you eat out, what type of car you drive, if you have a car, etc.</p>

<p>Insurance in Baltimore is expensive, although some discount must be applied because of Hopkins’s security at the garage. </p>

<p>I didn’t spend much outside of my payments to the University and travel.</p>

4

<p>RENT: My current living situation is $850 a month, plus electric (~$30) and Internet (~$30). (In the dorms, it probably averages out to about ~$1000). You can definitely get really cheap housing if you’re willing to compromise on space and quality.</p>

<p>FURNITURE: Once you move out of the dorms, furniture is a must. Of course how much you spend is up to you – you could buy a new bedroom set for $500-1000, or look off Dailyjolt or Craigslist for old furniture which can be DIRT CHEAP, especially around graduation when everyone is desperate. Cautionary note: I bought a lot of furniture off other students and… got a bedbug infestation. So I ended up paying the cost of that furniture plus new furniture from IKEA…</p>

<p>FOOD: Groceries are probably $100-150 a month (I believe a meal plan is $1000-something a semester for the lowest? But I believe they’re implementing newer ones next year). Eating out for me is $30 a month, roughly.</p>

<p>ENTERTAINMENT: This really depends on you. If you like exploring, doing things at night, watching movies, etc. then it can be expensive. Again, up to you.</p>

<p>COST OF CAR: I don’t have one, but some of my friends do… parking is a hassle, and people get towed/ticketed left and right. They’re really ridiculous with picking up cars around here (or maybe my friends are just careless). If you can avoid that, then private parking in your apt building is generally $50-150 a month, or a street permit (if you live in a certain area) is probably less than $50 a month.</p>