<p>on average</p>
<p>On a very rough estimate and without any financial aid/scholarships you would be looking at around $20,000 per semester. It is relatively easy though to get the national buckeye scholarship if you are an out of state student that is worth $12,000 (i think) per year. </p>
<p>$20,000 a semester. Gosh, wouldn’t that be nice.</p>
<p>I’m from out of state (I’m assuming you are too, TexasBuckeye7), and also a current OSU student. College prices include tuition and room and board, but there’s also those other tricky fees and expenses that you hear about, but don’t really appreciate until you have to dig the money out of your ever-so-quickly emptying wallet. </p>
<p>I’ll give you a run down on my financial statement for last semester (without compromising my privacy of course) Realize that everything listed here gets doubled since there are 2 semesters in a year.</p>
<p>COTA Bus Service Fee
Student Activity Fee Undergrad
Student Union Facility Fee
Bio Sci Lab Fee (only if you’re taking science classes)
Recreational Fee (this is your gym membership)
General Fee Undergrad (everyone pays this)
Laboratory Fee–Chemistry (again, lab class charge. And I never broke anything, what a rip off.)
Instructional Fee Undergrad
Non-Resident Fee Undergrad (what we get charged for being out of state. It’s like $12,000 or something like that)
Housing Activity Fee
Block 350 Plan (the meal plans differ in price, but not significantly)
Housing Rate (this changes slightly depending on where you live, but as a freshman, don’t worry about it)
TOPP Enrollment Fee (if you split up your payments)
Space Reservation (you pay this as an incoming freshman.)</p>
<p>This all totalled a wonderful $24,000. BEAUTIFUL.</p>
<p>So, in just school fees, you’re looking at about $50,000 a year. Depending on your financial aid and external scholarships (these are huge, work your butt of for them, trust me), the amount that YOU actually have to pay from YOUR wallet will go down substantially, even if only for a year. However, another thing to consider is general living expenses. That $24,000 doesn’t include that necessary ingredient to loving your college experience.</p>
<p>Things you’ll want to account for include:
entertainment (nights out with friends, dates, sports, etc.)
student orgs. (if you’re joining a club, you have to pay dues. This is anywhere from $20 - $100 per club)
books (these hit you hard. OSU requires a lot of access codes, so often you will have to buy a new book that comes with the access code. I was frugal with my books and still spent around $350-$400 a semester)
travel (My average plane tickets cost $350 a round trip. So depending on how many times you want to see Ma and Pa, you’re going to want to account for that. If you live close enough that it’s cheap to drive, don’t forget about gas)
wants (let’s face it, sometimes you’re going to want that new shirt, or new sneakers or whatever.)
Spring Break (You’re in college, just GO. You will regret it if you don’t. But be smart.)</p>
<p>I would give yourself $5000 for the year, at least, for all of that jazz. I easily spent that much. All that being said, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ohio State, and I think it’s worth every dime.</p>
<p>Hope this helped, sorry for the overload…</p>
<p>Good luck!!
Sleepy.</p>
<p>Good Point ReallySleepy I forgot that I don’t pay for a meal plan or housing since I’m off campus now.
Only thing I would change is that you probably don’t have to worry about gas since you can’t bring a car as a freshman and your out of state anyway. Unless you drive one of those dang car2go’s lol. </p>
<p>And just another tip to be thinking about… Living off campus is cheaper then living in the dorms in almost every situation and you can stay there through the summer. You aren’t forced to buy a meal plan so you arent spending 2 blocks ($10) on every meal. The downsides are obviously the walk, being more isolated from people, and having more responsibility. While off campus life is great, it also requires you to be much more dedicated to schoolwork because its so much easier to just skip class on a snowy day or slack off during the week. </p>