<p>My daughter will be starting her freshman year at a school in NYC. She will be living in apt. style dorm with a full kitchen, however, I don't expect she will do much cooking. There is a very limited meal plan, but most students don't use it and she is not signed up for it. She will not need to use mass transit to get to and from class. I had planned a budget of around $25 per day for food, incidentals, and entertainment with a third of the funds coming from work-study. She thinks that is much too low, but I don't think we can really afford any more than that (about $400 per month from us). Do any of you have experience with costs in NYC?</p>
<p>My S just finished his first year in NYC. We didn't do an allowance per se, but he had summer savings and a merit scholarship which he usd to pay for books, entertainment, incidentals, mass transit, etc. I can't tell you how much he spent, but I can say that his expenses overall ran way higher than his sister's , who went to a small town LAC. They tend to eat out more and go to more off campus events, plus the subway's 2 bucks every time they go anywhere.</p>
<p>This semester, he's in a dorm but not taking the dining plan (says it's way over-priced per meal). There is a dorm kitchen, but small chance he'll be doing much cooking. Realistically, he'll be eating out a lot. Since we're not paying for the meal plan thru the school, we'll substitute cash for eating out. But since he also maintains the meal plan was overpriced, we're not sending him as much as it would've cost us. I had first suggested 10/day for food; he thinks that's too little, so we're going to consider some not as yet agreed upon number between 3-400 a month for food (still less than the eating plan would've been).</p>
<p>Anything beyond that is his responsibility, again from summer earnings, scholarship, etc.</p>
<p>Hello,- By "NYC" I assume you mean Manhattan (which is what we New Yorkers call "the City"). We've lived in Queens for the past 16 years, and my son, who will be attending Columbia and living on-campus with a required meal plan (much to his chagrin), practically lives in the "the city", and has worked there fulltime this whole summer. I strongly suggest that your D start learning to shop and cook for herself now, bec prices in NYC are very high. To eat all 3 meals out, even at the "cheaper" fast food/deli type places, would cost AT LEAST $15-16 per day, and that's without lattes at Starbucks (the cheapest item you can get there is a small iced tea, which is $1.90.), etc. If she shops and cooks all or most of own meals (or better yet, goes in with her apartment-mate(s))-it will be much cheaper-she could probably do it for @$200-220 per month, which would include personal items like deodorant, soap, toothpaste,etc. If she goes strictly with prepared foods, supplememted by eating out, it would be @300-350 per month. Altho she doesn't need to use public transp to get to class, she will want to use it to get @ the city, and fares are $2 one-way, or $70 for a monthly umlimited pass. A first-run movie ticket is $10. A Broadway play runs from $50-100, but some shows have lotteries, half-price matinees, and/or student discounts, which she should ask for everywhere, even if it's not advertised. A cut and blowdry in the city averages @25, plus tip. My son says an average evening out with friends would go about $30-50 per person. Hopefully the college (is it NYU?) has many of its own in-house movies, parties, concerts, and entertainment events which are low-priced because you're already paying for them! If I think of anything else, I'll re-reply. Good luck to D and to you!</p>
<p>Basically, NYC is expensive. If you can help her learn to cook at least one meal a day and make her own coffee, you'll probably save $50-100 a month. It might be good to send her with a few bags of groceries, as food is much cheaper outside of the city. Getting her stocked up with coffee and tea, toiletries, cheap tupperware, paper towels, cleaning products, cereal, juice, peanut butter, pasta, canned soups, microwave popcorn, etc. and dicussing how to make a grocery list and budget would be helpful...I wish my parents had done this when I moved to my first apartment. I've gotten good at it now, but it's taken a while.</p>
<p>I think $400 a month from you is fine--and if it's what you can afford than it's going to have to be fine-- but if she eats out a lot it will be tight...after buying a monthly metro card, she will have $324 left over, which works out to about $11 a day for food. If she makes her own breakfast (let's say that's $2) and has pizza and a drink for lunch (about $5) that leaves $4 for dinner, which is not that much for buying a meal. She will definitely be tapping into her work study money (let's figure $8 an hour for 10 hours a week) for that...but if she uses $30 of her money each week for dinners and has $50 each week for fun/snacks/toothpaste/ extras, that sounds good. If she's not really into clubbing or buying fancy clothes, she'll be fine. Her biggest one-time expense each semester will be textbooks...I'd figure about $200-400 if she buys them used online. If there's any way you could help her with that, it would make her budget much easier.</p>
<p>Well, it looks like we may not be too far off. She will not need a metrocard, so she will have access to the full four hundred. I would love to encourage her to make some of her meals, but she so far has resisted all my attempts to shop for kitchenware. I will likely pack a small box on my own and get some food staples to encourage the process. I think we will do a credit card that we control for books and art supplies. Thank you all for your comments.</p>
<p>Well if you're saying that you figure $25/day (which is ok...if she's eating out all three meals then including incidentals, entertainment your probably looking at more like $35/day...restaurants/delis/etc are expensive) then you're figuring about $750/month, and a third come from work study so she's probably looking at $500/month from you. To tell you the truth if she's eating out every day (most meals) and will want some entertainment & incidentals money then you're looking at a figure closer to $1000 (including work study).</p>
<p>Yea a cheap meal is like $10. Movies are $10.75. Starbucks are everywhere (and tempting =/).</p>
<p>Well Bern700, thank you, but to add another 9k to her COA will not be possible. We are already 4k over our EFC. She will just have to budget herself. It will be good training for the "starving artist" career she has chosen.</p>
<p>Unsoccer-Mom - show her this thread, and have her understand what you can afford. I think the answer is give her what you can afford to give, and offer to help her live on that in any way you can - stock her up on groceries, toothpaste, etc, while she is at home (using her already allocated money) for example. She may have to get a job, and you may have to watch her to be certain she is eating.</p>
<p>My S frequently ate out at 4 dollars or less a meal (university food courts, hot dog stands, etc) STarbucks is not food budget, in my mind. I'm figuring he can at least keep a box of cereal in his room for breakfast. Anyhoo, I agree, they just have to budget themselves. Mine will augment from his savings (going out in the evening is his budget, not ours, for instance.)</p>
<p>I know unsoccer-mom...it's expensive. If she were able to cook her own meals she could easily live with $25/day even less.</p>
<p>I'm sure you've already thought of this, but eating out all the time can be pretty unhealthy in addition to the expense. cheap food, like pizza and bagels, don't pack too many nutrients. you might want to send her with a bottle of vitamins and some discussion of how to choose a balanced diet, if she doesn't know those things yet. the freshman 15 is more than just a myth (After a year of cafeteria food and late night pizza, I ended up moving to a co-op on campus and started taking sport classes, and i feel much better).</p>