<p>Hey everyone, I love UW, but I'm really unsure as to if I can afford it being an OOS student from California. If you all feel comfortable with it, would you mind posting your net cost per year and the amount you receive in grants & loans. This would be extremely helpful! Thanks to everyone.</p>
<p>These calculators might give more accurate results than anecdotes: :)</p>
<p>[Student</a> Office of Financial Aid](<a href=“Student Financial Aid”>Student Financial Aid)</p>
<p>I tried that already and I found it to be very vague, but thank you so much for the help!</p>
<p>I think the budget put together by the financial is the best measure. It probably considered an average student with average needs. Of course, what your net cost per year would be depends heavily on you. If you will be eating out everyday at $6-7 a meal, you can spend a lot on food. If you will be living on ramen (20 cents each), you can spend a dollar a day on food. Textbooks are also big. You can choose not to buy them at all and use the ones on reserve at the libraries (which might be very inconvenient).</p>
<p>Do you only want to hear from OOS students or are you comparing it to in-state students?</p>
<p>I am an in-state, independent student. Official cost of attendance: $27358
Actual cost = $25,000 including rent + utilities, food and incidentals, books, tuition + fees, transportation. Grants and Loans = $24,358</p>
<p>Excluding tuition and fees, 12,311 is what I need for for rent, utilities, food, incidentals and books for 9 months (3 quarters). That would go down to $8171 if I rented just a small room that was within a reasonable distance (a mile or two) from the U district but not directly in the U district for $500 a month utilities included. Food and necessities = $200 per month, books averaging out at $180 per quarter (mainly rentals, used books and ebooks). $150 a month is spent on incidentals. Obviously, you can save money on incidentals and food if you are frugal.</p>