<p>moviefreak, I live in the NE, but my son goes to school in the south (VA). My son is a a real down to earth guy who does not spend much money on stuff. He still spent about 700-750 for this semester. He did tell me that there were a few big ticket items like computer cables or something having to do with his computer. Laundry is not free for him. I did send him with various over the counter meds, and extra self care items. Frankly, he can buy all of these things readily, but what I sent with him was on my dime. </p>
<p>moviefreak, NYC can be very expensive (I don't know if you are planning on going to school in NYC, or somewhere in NY state). I have a friend whose son decided on a school in MD rather than one near NYC. The family thought the savings in pocket money between the two would be substantial.</p>
<p>NYC can be expensive, but it's also easy to get well paid part time jobs too. My friends in NYC employ college kids to babysit and tutor(they always for cab fare when it's late). Later on, it's also easier to get internship. Yes, you spend more, but you could also make more.</p>
<p>Another NYC student here, so the $300/semester sounds very modest. I ended up spending ~$500 of my own money this semester, and that doesn't include textbooks. My parents also gave me money at the beginning of the year and during breaks. I don't think that's going to continue, though, since at the beginning, they were mostly afraid I wouldn't be able walk the seven blocks to the ATM.</p>
<p>The 8% sales tax was new to me, too. Where I'm from, it's 5%.</p>
<p>The amount of money spent will depend on location, personal interests, social circle, and family circumstances. Some of my friends get more allowance from their parents and others have work-study jobs. Of course, you don't really think about that when they're begging you to go out to a nice sitdown lunch (that will most likely cost at least $15).</p>
<p>I really think I spent way too much money this semester, though.</p>
<p>oldfort, that is true to some extent. I tend to believe that you wold spend more than you would earn in proportion to your higher earnings. It is true that my son earned more on an hourly basis last summer working in NY state than he would have earned working in VA. The company also limited hours that he could work when the company's business slowed down (their high season was May through the first week of July). This might have happened in Va too (don't know). One might earn $4-5/hour more in NYC doing the same job as someone in a rural area, but I still believe personal expenses outweigh this. Also, after the first 3250/year, doesn't a large chunk of that money go toward tuition anyway if one gets financial aid (20%?). I am not sure how that works, but many here do know the answer to that. My son earned close to that figure working very part time for 3 months.</p>
<p>DD is expected to earn money for books and spending, so I have tried not to "hover." This thread piqued my curiosity and she looked over her expenditures and found that she had spent $600 on books/materials and $400 for spending. She hopes to re-coup some of the book money by selling them back to bookstore and she will also be a more savvy book buyer the second semester. </p>
<p>I am impressed with how little she spent on personal items. We did send her with just about every toiletry known to womankind, but that was sort of like a dowry - a one time gift!</p>
<p>worknprogress, my son was able to trade one book for one semester with a friend freshman year. He has been able to sell books back for a reasonable amount of money.</p>
<p>Don't count on a big windfall from selling back books.</p>
<p>My daughter sold back her books from two courses in which she has no further interest and got a total of -- wait for it -- fourteen dollars. This for books that cost several hundred dollars new.</p>
<p>If the professor for a course changes textbooks or if a new edition comes out, or even if the college bookstore isn't sure whether a particular book will be used again, your textbooks may be close to worthless.</p>
<p>It looks like there are different definitions of spending money being used. In some cases, it means money spent on incidentals only; in others, it includes clothes, books and even computers and other electronics. It seems more helpful to have a budget for the whole year that takes into account infrequent but large purchases (winter clothes, a new laptop, books) as well as more frequent but smaller expenditures (eating out, laundry, movies, etc...). It is also useful to distinguish between more or less fixed costs (books) and discretionary spending (movies, eating out). Students also need to take into account the number of times they will be traveling to and from home. </p>
<p>My Ss have had the same experience as Marian's D when re-selling books. The real benefit has been in the space that was saved, rather than the money recouped.</p>
<p>My son has only what his financial aid package gives him to spend. He budgeted that out like this: </p>
<p>xxxx dollars for the semester, minus xxx dollars for books = xxx dollars left for the semester. </p>
<p>xxx dollars for the semester divided by xx weeks in the semester = xx dollars per week to spend. </p>
<p>So son spends no more than that per week. In his case, that's about $50 a week. The down side is that because he didn't include break weeks in his budget, he has no spending money of his own while he's at home. </p>
<p>I helped with some travel costs, but not all. I bought him some clothes at the beginning of the year, and helped with some things for his dorm. But once I've done the initial outlay, I expect him to manage all other expenses on his own -- after all, he's the one with the financial aid.</p>