<p>How much do you spend on Tuition, books, gas, etc. in one academic year?</p>
<p>It depends on what school you’re at (and if you’re in or out of state), what field you’re in, whether you drive or take the bus, etc. Do you have an idea where you’re going, what field you’ll be in, and if the transit system there is any good? There can be thousands and thousands of dollars’ difference depending on your responses.</p>
<p>Instate, Physics, Car - 10-15 minute commute one way.
I just wanted to get a feel for what others pay.</p>
<p>For a community college I spent:</p>
<p>$0 on tuition because of a waiver. I think it’s about $46 per unit now for those who need to pay.
$700 per semester my first two years before I got smart and started renting from online.
$120 a week on gas.</p>
<p>Lesson: Rent your books and buy the ones you will want to use in the future as references. I bought all of my physics books, but I only bought Calc I/II/Diffy Eq and rented Calc III/Linear Algebra for my core classes. I did end up buying my old Linear Algebra book again. I’m a math major so our coursework is virtually the same for lower-division. I’d keep my General Chemistry book as well. </p>
<p>I was an hour commute one way, though.</p>
<p>Here, it’s a little over 4k a year for tuition. I’ll be renting my books. That’s about 400$ a year for books. It’s less than a 5 mile commute one way (for my classes at the nearest campus). So gas really isn’t an issue in my gas.</p>
<p>@CalDud, wow $120 on gas! I thought that was a mistake before reading you had to drive an hour each way. </p>
<p>I appreciate your guy’s feedback. Are there any other expenses I should account for? I have general school supplies, parking permit and food in mind so far.</p>
<p>School supplies are fairly cheap (Wal-Mart). I don’t know if it costs this much at your prospective CC but it cost me $15 for a parking permit for the entire semester. </p>
<p>I had about $30 minimum for the entire week to spend for food, but I was an hour away from my school. You could easily just really drive back home to get something to eat. Buying stuff from the on campus cafeteria is more expensive than getting a meal from a fast-food place nearby. I ate out at places frequently with my friends, so I always always had money on hand. </p>
<p>Make sure you have some money for scantrons, bluebooks, etc. They’re very cheap, though. Like a $2. If you want to join any clubs you’ll need to pay some money for that. Don’t rent library books if you can’t return them on time (I had to pay about $30 in late charges). At my school you had to pay to print, so keep that mind too. I had to put money on a print card to print documents and scan them as well. Was about 15 cents a page. Um, on campus internet was about $60 for me if I wanted to use my laptop (so I don’t really recommend it). </p>
<p>What kind of calculator do you have? Ti-89’s at my college were NOT allowed. I went and bought a Ti-84. I barely used it, but it will serve a purpose in Calculus II or physics classes.</p>
<p>^CalDud hits it pretty good.</p>
<p>Also $0 for tuition after waivers and other things, but it’s $31/unit at my CC. So with the ~$50 in fees each term that’s ~$400 for tuition and fees as a bare minimum full-time student each term (12 units). That doesn’t include random materials fees (a few bucks here and there) or the $13-26 parking decal (depending on what type of waiver you have) or room & board, of course.</p>
<p>I highly doubt I spend >$50/yr in materials. Between Wal-Mart, the Dollar Store, and back-to-school sales it should be much less. I also have a Ti-83Plus and only used it’s “extra” functions on a just-for-fun basis, but none of my math classes required to have one that graphed or anything.</p>
<p>Renting textbooks is a great way to go, or buying used on Amazon. There have been plenty of times where I have actually made monry by doing that. I’ll buy a used $12 textbook on Amazon from a reputable supplier and when the term ends, sell it to the bookstore for $22. I just made $10!</p>
<p>Also, I lived about 8 miles from campus, but my classes were always one after the other that I wouldn’t have time to go back home just to eat, so I spent $30-40/wk in food eating at places right off campus like Togo’s or Panda Express (both about $10/meal+drink). And I drive an old commuter-friendly car, so I went through about $20/wk in gas ($80/mo), but you can always look into public transit if it is an option on your campus.</p>
<p>If I had to guess in adding all the estimates together I would say baout $1000-1200/term with paying full tuition and depending on how textbooks go.</p>
<p>@CalDud and turtlerock, thanks so much! </p>
<p>I’m going to set aside $1000 for a year for books. Hopefully that’s enough.
I’m going to attend two regular semesters (Fall and Spring) as well as summer courses, so hopefully, with most courses requiring 1-2 books, that will be sufficient. </p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>Wow. I have been taking ten credits (work full time) and paying about $1100 per quarter for in-state. I rent books and ride my bike, but still.</p>
<p>
If tuition at your CC is ~$30-35, then $1,100 just for tuition and fees sounds right (~$300/qtr). It seems as though you may not have a waiver. You do need to apply for the BOG waiver (along with FAFSA) if you think you’re eligible. The school won’t automatically submit you for it. Usually when you apply to the school it asks if you want to apply for it. I also took 10 quarter units this Summer and both my wife and I work full-time and I still qualified for it. It’s worth looking into as it turned my $350 Summer Quarter bill into $50. Then I bought my own books from Amazon which was about another $120, but I’ll sell them as used to the school to reclaim some of that.</p>
<p>^ No, $1100 per quarter.</p>
<p>Is tuition $100/unit?!</p>
<p>EDIT: Or does that include everything after food and book rentals?</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s about $100 per credit.</p>
<p>I did qualify for the BOG fee waiver so the cost per unit is very small.
Thanks for the help guys. </p>
<p>I’m also going to buy math, physics and chemistry books to keep since they may come in handy in the future. Especially since I need to buy 5 math courses just at CC. I might also keep programming books too. Not sure yet.</p>
<p>If you qualify for fasfa, you almost nothing. I paid $0 for tuition and I received 2 checks totaling about $3000. One at the beginning of he semester, an one at the end. I had way more than enought to pay for everything and I didn’t work. I ate out 2 times a week with friends and pretty much spent it all going out every weekend. I worked hard though; I got a 3.8 while taking 15 units.</p>
<p>@mermaker</p>
<p>That’s interesting.
Do you know if I qualified for the Pell Grant whether or not will receive it even though I’m attending a CC, or is that irrelevant? Also, is 15 units a lot? At my school, 12 or more is considered as full time and I’m going to be taking 15 units as well. How many courses did that translate to at your school?</p>
<p>@lefty you said you qualified for the fee waiver, right? Call your school right now and ask them if you qualified for pell grant. (fasfa is pell grant and fee waiver but some people dont qualify for pell). It should also tell you on your student account if you qualify or not. 15 units is not a l</p>
<p>15 units is not a lot. Most people take more than 12. I’m taking 15 units this fall and I’m also on the waitlist for another class. If I get it( I think I will), I’ll be at 18 units. It’s really easy if you don’t have a job. If you work part time, I would stay around 12ish</p>
<p>15 units can be 4- 5 classes. It depends on how many units each class is. Last semester it was 4 class. 5 units Spanish class, 4 units bio with lab, speech for 3units and intro to psychology for another 3.</p>