How much $$

[momof07]

<p>In preparation for paying my son's bill, which will show up in the mailbox in the next couple of weeks and be due on Aug 1, I realized that, per semester, there is about a $2800 difference in my expected contribution vs. what I'll be billed for: i.e. my bill will be 2800 less than my semester expected family contribution. I assumed and the financial aid office verified that this is for travel, meals (not in bill), books, etc.</p>

<p>Much of this, my son will need up front - especially if he has to pay half of his meal plan up front. The meal plan web site states to plan on $20 per day, or $2150 per semester.</p>

<p>So my questions are - how much is needed at the beginning of the semester? (average freshman bookstore trip?) How much is a good stipend per month after that? He also has a summer job, so can pay for his own "fun" stuff.</p>

[crazyray]

<p>it varies per person, depending on their situation, but don't plan on spending more than $2150 a semester</p>

<p>for me:</p>

<p>my parents put $400 in my techcash account at the beginning of my fall semester, expecting me to burn through that in 2 months or so for food and whatnot. but i ended up joining a fraternity (wasn't planning to when i first arrived) and wound up being stingier than my family expected =)</p>

<p>my fraternity provided dinner during my freshman year, at a reduced cost that was essentially negligible. i'm pretty sure a lot of fraternities on campus are like this. and so i just spent a lot of time across the river my first year. in terms of food, i still haven't used up all of that $400 in my techcash account after an entire year and 2 weeks or so of summer, so i'd estimate that i spent around $1500 total for the entire year on food</p>

<p>but i also like to cook for myself on weekends and rarely go out to restaurants all that much =P</p>

<p>book-wise, i spent $70 total for my first two semesters. for my fall semester, i only got the 8.012 book, since i found older copies of 14.01 and 18.03 books to use, and thought that'd be just fine. and my hass class didn't have a textbook (lucky for me. a lot of other hass classes require tons and tons of books you'd have to get). </p>

<p>2nd semester, i borrowed older copies of books for 2.001/2.003/14.02 again (which i didn't really end up using all that much), didn't need a book for 6.081/6.188, and got duped by my professor into getting the course notes for 2.005 (which i subsequently dropped because it was hard and is a junior level class and i was stupid for taking it so early)</p>

<p>for those who'll take 2.005 eventually: the course notes don't ever change. don't believe your professor when they say that you need the newest version</p>

<p>but also a warning: it turned out that the 14.02 book i used was so old that the newest edition had changed a crucial definition (for exchange rates) in the second half of the book. that messed me up for my last few psets and through a series of unfortunate events, i ended up having to pretty much relearn everything the night before the final. it's a long story i'd rather not live through again. needless to say, i believe my desire to save a few bucks on books (or my inability to stay awake during class -_-) cost me the A in that class (B+'s kind of suck, but i digress)</p>

<p>then again, i've heard stories of people spending upwards of $300-400 on Coop trips for textbooks, and i definitely made my share of sacrifices to cut corners on expenses =) so maybe i'm an odd exception</p>

<p>however, you should definitely wait until after you've gone to class a couple of times before determining whether or not you need to get a book. in a lot of the classes, you don't really need the textbooks, so it could be a total waste</p>

<p>but it definitely varies from person to person</p>

<p>bills are always a pain =(</p>

[over30]

<p>My son bought books his first semester ($300 or $400) and never again. He borrows from other students on his floor, uses OCW or goes to the library. He does occasionally buy paperbacks for his humanities classes.</p>

<p>He doesn't spend much money eating out, has no meal plan, and cooks most of his meals. He's always been tight-fisted with money. He uses his $ from summer work/UROP for food so I don't know how much he spends, but it's not much.</p>

[molliebatmit]

<p>I bought all of my books brand-new at the Coop first semester freshman year, then realized, like over30's son, that it was a waste of money. After that, I either bought online or scrounged books from friends who had taken the classes previously. (There are some student-run websites that arrange textbook swaps.) If you're buying new and/or at the Coop, freshman books can be $400ish, but they will be much less than that from other students or online.</p>

<p>I spent about $200 in TechCash every month ($800/semester), but I'm a girl and a light eater, and I cooked for myself most nights.</p>

[sadoian]

<p>If your son will be eating in an on-campus food location for three full meals a day, he might need $20 a day. I can't imagine a situation where he would do something like that, though. I split the bill with my parents this past year, comprising about $100-$150 or so a month on TechCash, and I do just fine. I have a box of cereal and some bagels from Shaws for breakfast.</p>

<p>Generally food prices range in the $3-4 range for breakfast, $5-6 range for lunch, and anywhere from $6-8 for dinner. If you're on preferred dining (a terrible, terrible deal), then dinner is roughly $4-6 (though you just paid an extra $325 that you're not going to get back). If your son ends up in a dorm that doesn't have a dining hall, don't enroll in preferred dining - the total cost will be greater in the end.</p>

<p>The fraternity I pledged has dinner included in the term bill, which was nice for Freshman (since we got it for free). I'm pretty sure quite a few of the fraternities are set up in a similar fashion.</p>

[Olo]

<p>This thread is making me feel so ridiculously good about being a cheap vegetarian LOL.</p>

[Crash_Blair]

<p>Get a job on campus during the semester. It made me stop fussing, as I always had pocket money when needed.</p>