<p>My D graduated in May. She was going to school in NYC, and got an apartment with two other roommates the summer before her junior year. We used a broker, it was expensive, but saved a lot of time and hassle. D lives in Washington Heights, the rent is cheaper and the apartments are huge, but the commute is longer. One roommate moved out, they have two people moving in next month that will share a bedroom so their rent will be $725 a month. Utilities are around 30-40 per month, I think the internet is $25 per month each. We’re keeping her on our cell phone plan for now, and we pay for her health insurance. A subway pass is $112 per month, it’s going to go up to $125 within the next year or so. D is working a retail job part time, and has another job working kid’s birthday parties. She’s getting by, but it’s really tight financially. Fortunately she’s really frugal and good at budgeting.</p>
<p>She booked a Shakespeare festival this summer, she’s been working her but off with that. It’s been a great experience, she gets equity points, but it doesn’t pay much. Luckily her job has been really nice about working with her crazy theatre hours. She’s hoping to get another part time job or more hours from her current job once the show is over. </p>
<p>If a parent doesn’t want to be a guarantor for an apartment (or can’t afford to) Insurent is a company that charges a fee (it used to be one month’s rent) to be a guarantor. Lots of landlords will take Insurent, there’s a dropdown menu to look for buildings and managment companies that will take it.</p>