<p>My dd will be attending IU Bloomington in the fall. We are trying to determine an amount that is closer to actual expenses that she will have for books/supplies and personal expenses. The IU estimator shows $3500 for these two items plus another $750 for travel expenses. We live fairly close and she's not taking a car so I know that estimate isn't accurate. I figured the cost of used books for first semester and it was around $500 but I'm trying to get a better idea of what actual expenses will be.</p>
<p>Depends on what she does–is she going to eat lunch on campus a couple days a week and eat dinner out on weekends or only stick to the meal plan? Is she going to be going to free social events or ones that carry a cost? Is she a shopper? Is she going to only be eating on campus or will she want to buy some of her own snacks and groceries? What about laundry detergent/toiletries/beauty products? Clubs that require fees? Sorority rush? </p>
<p>Books you can get a good idea by picking them out on IU bookstore and trying to find them cheaper, but classes can vary each semester–especially if she’s a science major.</p>
<p>If you know what books she needs and they are not instructor specific packages, check out prices on amazon.com or rent them from an online textbook rental company. We saved a ton by doing this. My son also sold some of his books to friends that were taking the classes during a later semester rather than selling back to the bookstore. Be sure to compare ISBN numbers when you buy so that you get the right books.</p>
<p>HoosierParent is so right. I bought the majority of my books for fall on Amazon and paid about 1/4 of the cost. Really helped out. I plan to rent the remaining book that I need</p>
<p>Well, we plan on stocking her up with laundry soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc to take with her. She probably won’t need to restock until she comes home for break or we take a visit to see her.</p>
<p>Just trying to be reasonable about what is a good ballpark. I’m wondering if we stock her up on most things from home if she could get by on $100 a month for personal expenses?</p>
<p>Additionally, I am planning on books/supplies being closer to $1200 for the year based on the cost of her first semester books (mostly instructor specific packages).</p>
<p>In our experience with my D at IU and son at another college, the colleges’ estimates for personal expenses are too high – mostly because parents already are paying for most personal expenses, such as cell phone, toiletries, some clothes, etc. Spending amounts above that depend on a lot on the kid…</p>
<p>Our son had a self-imposed a budget of about $20 a week, with occasional modest splurges for concert tix, etc. For our less frugal D at IU, we gave her a budget of $50 a week. When she started at IU, we dropped her $18/week allowance and ended her ability to spend half of her pay from a part-time job she had in high school & summers. (She had been saving the half of her pay.) </p>
<p>This $50 a week comes out of “her” money from graduation cash gifts and the half of her work pay that she had saved. Even though she is spending her own money, she is a clotheshorse and loves to eat at restaurants instead of the dorm, so it has been helpful to set her on a budget, which she has followed. We continue to pay the personal expenses we paid for her in high school, as we do for our son. (They each have one of our credit cards.)</p>