I will be transferring to a university in an expensive city on the West Coast. Currently I have a scholarship that I anticipate will give me $300 per month for personal expenses, with my tuition and board already covered. Should I consider my financial situation OK as of now, or would you advice trying to earn more money this summer?
Kinda late to get a summer job, although you could always get a job on campus. Going to school in LA, I spent around $3k-4k on personal expenses (uhh excluding books, yikes) last year. LA is an expensive city + I had some club dues + there was a Starbucks on the first floor of my dorm, so I couldn’t help myself lol. I definitely should’ve been more frugal, though. I’m trying to bring costs down this year to $2k-3k.
If you’re frugal on textbooks (buy used/rent/etc) your $300 per month should be plenty for you to cover your needs and have a good time as well. I’d advise you to form some sort of budget/spend wisely, though. 
You “anticipate” the scholarship will send you a check for $300 per month? Have you already been awarded it or not?
For the west coast expensive cities: consider books and supplies, transportation in so cal is lousy so monies for transportation would help. Sometimes the scholarships aren’t dispersed until after the semester starts, how will you pay for bedding and immediate supplies?
The scholarship will actually give me about 1300 per quarter which is actually going to be a little over 400 per month.
Out of that money, I will need to buy everything.
For immediate supplies, my parents will likely help but I am trying to keep their contributions as minimal as possible.
Generally my single biggest personal expense is food, but I am thinking with this meal plan that should be eliminated. Right now I am nervous about books, fees, and other expenses that might come up that I can’t think of atm.
I give my kid $300 a month on top of room and board. I think that you should be ok, but she is not in LA. She is in La Jolla, near San Diego.
That’s pretty decent money, you should be okay. Maybe you should look for a low hours campus job. But are you sure your meal plan covers every single meal? Usually you might have some you have to purchase yourself. Fees should be in with your tuition direct cost already. As said books will have to try used and renting. Sometimes if you are the first to run to the library/department resources you might get any lending copy. If we know what city we might have an idea. With some you just buy a transit pass and you can get around.
Welcome to the grown up world . That’s your budget, you must live within it or get a job to earn more. It would be no different if you had $100 or $1000. I think it should be plenty, but you need to decide if you are going to spend $20 a day or $100 each weekend or try to earn more.
I think it is plenty, but you are going to have to control your spending. Have a Starbucks, go to the movies, treat yourself to pizza, but know what your budget is and stick to it.
I think that before “spending this money” on personal items,you need to be 100% certain as to what is your schools policy on outside scholarships.
As you are getting $1300 pet quarter or $5200 a year, this is a sustantial amount of money that must be reported to the school.
You said that your tuition room and board are already covered. if they are covered by institutional funds from the school, your school may apply some of those funds and reduce some of their aid.
Contact your school today to get a definitive answer on how they treat outside scholarships
Don’t forget about the federal (and state) income taxes you may owe on grants and scholarships (not loans) if the amount received is more than the cost of tuition and books.
Free money used for room, board, personal expenses is taxable income.
See IRS Publication 970.
You also need to consider any taxes you’ll be paying on awards that cover: Room, board, personal expenses.
Sounds like you will owe taxes, so save for that…
Did you end up picking a UC to transfer to?
You need to be careful. If you’re getting outside awards, the UC is likely going to remove some of their grants.
Do you have loans in your FA pkg?
Where is this “extra” money coming from?
If thats the budget, it seems very do-able.
Wow, 300 bucks per month seems like plenty given that room and board are covered, even in an expensive city. My daughter does have books covered by an outside scholarship, but with room and a full meal plan, she is budgeting 25 bucks per week, and I doubt she will spend that every week.
I keep seeing threads that include some discussion of “personal expenses” — but it’s never defined. I think a definition is needed (even if it differs for each OP) in order to know what may or may not be enough. For some kids this might only mean “play money” - (starbucks, movies, occasional meal out, that sort of thing), for others it might also mean a few small essentials (toiletries, laundry, occasional tank of gas, etc.), and yet others it seems to mean necessities (car maintenance/insurance etc, medical, “emergencies”, books, even groceries if not on a meal plan, etc). I notice the responses seem to vary greatly in these discussions because different people have different ideas on what “personal expenses” means.
My first thought was $300/month is plenty but I’m thinking play money and a few small essentials.
You are right, @ClaremontMom, and what is play money varies a lot from kid to kid and family to family. My daughter will NOT be able to afford Starbucks on a daily basis. She can make coffee or tea in her room or have it in the cafeteria. If that isn’t good enough, oh well.
I am not going to a UC…They were way too expensive. I will be going to a private college and as of now, I will not be taking out any loans.
In my situation, personal expenses include everything from toiletries to academic textbooks to fees. Tuition, board, and dorm are covered so I don’t have to worry about them (study hard kids, it pays off).
I likely will not work this summer. So far, I have earned over 5K in outside scholarships for next year. When I declare this amount to the college and also account for any taxes I may have to pay, I am a little unclear as to how much money I will have left over for my expenses which is making budgeting difficult.
One last question: does anyone know if outside scholarships can only be explicitly used for academics? One organization wrote me a check that should be arriving soon, and I am wondering if I can use it for personal expenses.
EDIT: If anybody is wondering why I am not work, it’s because I missed all the deadlines for the paid internships so I a working an underpaid one. Which, I guess, is working but I won’t have anything much to show for it!
Personal expenses as noted by my son and daughter (at his private college and her public uc) have included but are not limited to the following:
Supplemental texts listed on the booklists but recommended by the professor (per dd) after “½ the class has failed the midterm”.
bio field trips
U Bike lock (once-the kids got Kryptonite U locks).
Change for washers and dryers, laundry soap, dryer sheets
Hair cuts and hair supplies,
Toiletries-razor blades! agHH! sanitary supplies, contact lens supplies, sunscreen
Illness supplies: Nyquil, Airborne, Tylenol, Aleve, cough syrup, Chamomile and herbal teas. Prescription medication copays. (Yes we do get a winter in California).
Clicker -$50, blue books, Scantrons, spiral notebooks & 3x5 cards(“depends on the class”), printer ink when campus printers are unavailable, memory sticks.
club fees/dues (usually these are reasonable ~$5-$10)
potluck supplies for those clubs
gym fees (when not directly related to onsite classes)
room snacks (popcorn, water bottles, etc.)
Lastly: entertainment
I think you should be able to budget within $300 per month but you need to save as much as possible for those unexpected surprises.
If you get into a real financial pinch, you can always take out a Direct Loan.
Next summer, I would,suggest you look for a job if a paid internship is not available to you.