<p>Our DD has decided to live off-campus. I need some input for budgeting from those with experience. Other than the rent, what kind of monies should we earmark for utilities, food, other items not mentioned?
She is living is a 3 bedroom "apt" in a converted house near campus. The house has been modified into a tri-plex, with each floor having its own bathroom and own kitchen, and 3 bedrooms. It does not have a/c-so use of fans/electricity high in the summer months. I have been told there are separate meters for each floor.
What do you budget students? Parents of students on financial aid, how do you handle these expenditures? I sure could use you guidance, ideas-Thank you! APOL-a mom
(note-cross posted in DD university page)</p>
<p>I guess it depends on how you want to approach this with your daughter. I have had 2 kids live off campus. For both of them, I added up the cost of living in the dorm and the cost of the most expensive meal plan, added those and divided by the 12 month lease. That came out to about $750 a month. I think we then rounded it up to about $800. That was their budget. They needed to figure the rest out based on that. I think that you should let your daughter know what you think is a reasonable monthly cost and let her do the work from there. If she desperately needs cable TV, she and her roommates can decide if it is something they can afford. Or she can get a campus job to help support her extra expenses. If she finds that she cannot live within the budget you give her, she can show you the figures and you can negotiate from there.</p>
<p>We also found out that for our second son, the college cut his grant by about $1000 when they found out he was living off campus, so make sure you communicate with the FA office.</p>
<p>Shennie-Thank you for your insight. I like the idea of dividing by 12 the room/board COA.
DD does have a campus job, so that can off-set some of her expenses.</p>
<p>One thing she did that may be helpful to other students/parents-she contacted the current occupant about buying her furniture. They settled on a price, and now she doesn’t have to buy & schlepp a bed, desk, bookcase, dining room table-only 2 chairs-and 3 occupants! someone is going to have to buy a chair…, living room couch. The bed is larger than her dorm bed, so she had to go out and buy new sheets-used the 20% coupons with BBB.
I have saved so many coupons, asking neighbors and friends to save theirs, too, that DD was able to share with her new roommates.</p>
<p>Keep the good ideas about off-campus living-very helpful.</p>
<p>We took the cost of room and divided by 12 , but took the cost of Board and divided by 8. The food budget really only covered the time during classes. She was able to get a sublet for the summer though to cover some of the rent so we let up a little on extras. Her job covers some incidentals we don’t.</p>
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<p>Yes…this is a win/win for everyone. My kids both did the same thing. DS did the same when he moved OUT at the end of undergrad. We anticipate DD will do the same…just sell the “stuff” to the next tenant. Cheaper than moving it for her…cheaper than buying it for the next folks.</p>
<p>I am living off-campus (2-3 years) and I bought my own bedroom and dining/living room furniture. My roommate will have to come up with her own furniture for her bedroom.</p>
<p>At my son’s university, most student rental housing comes furnished. At least LR couch and chair, TV, dining room table and chairs, and a bed, dresser, and desk/chair for each bed room. In fact, many of the apartments have cable and internet included in the rent.</p>
<p>Colleges have a COA for students living in off campus apartments. You need to take into account the type of housing your student is getting. If he is going for an above average place in terms of what most students get, he will need more than that COA. If he has found a dive that he is splitting with a bunch of kids, he will need less. </p>
<p>In terms of budgeting, I did as others here have done. I simply gave our son exactly what he would have gotten had he lived on campus and used the meal plan. In fact, I did buy a limited meal plan for him as he still ate on campus at times. At least he would have one meal a day covered while at class even if he blew his food money that way.</p>
<p>It all depends on how responsible your kid is. I did not have high hopes for mine. He should have saved a lot of money given the low cost of his off campus housing, but he was perpetually broke, more so than he lived in the dorms, but that was because of his standard of entertainment, in my opinion. A lot more expensive options easily available when you are off campus. Also not as easy to mooch of others in your dorm when you live in a house or apartment.</p>
<p>I think it is a great opportunity for kids to learn how to manage their money and budget. You tell them how much you are willing to spend and they have to figure out how to live within that. There are some exceptions. My middle on lived off campus for junior and senior year. He managed fine until one of the roommates bailed half way through senior year. They did manage to get another roommate after a couple of months, but ended up short on rent for awhile. We helped out son with extra for a couple of months.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school most people live off campus after the first year. We gave our daughter a budget for apartment rental, then we plan on giving her a food budget (middle of the road plan divide it by 5 months/semester), and her regular allowance for spending money.</p>
<p>She is going to be living with 2 other girls in a 3 bedroom apartment in collegetown. They decided before hand they are not going to have cable, but instead they would chip in to get a cleaning lady every other week. I was supportive of that because it is often a source of bad feelings if someone is a slacker when it comes to cleaning. She is going to pay for it out of her own pocket. She also found out from the previous tenant on all utility costs.</p>
<p>We will be depositing money into her acct monthly.</p>
<p>S2 lives off campus in a dumpy old house. We also figured up the total living costs for dorm/meal plan and divided when he was “house shopping” so as to have a rough estimate of how much rent he could pay.</p>
<p>The rent on the house is $1200/month. Utilities/cable/internet are extra. We know cable/internet is $77/month. Utilities will vary.
Power,water,trash pick-up are all included in the Utl. bill. There will be 4 boys to share the costs. After we get a good idea of the average utility bill, we decide on a set amt. for each month that he needs to live on.</p>
<p>I used $50/week for food.
Maybe the air conditioner is similar to my heat in the winter which was about $55/month in the cold months.
Internet was about $10.
Electricity was about $25/month.
Plus misc common items like paper towel, soap, etc were around $10/month.</p>
<p>So I guess it was about $300/month, not including rent.</p>
<p>This was just my share. Our stuff was split 3 ways also. (:</p>
<p>My financial aid covers all of my expenses. I pay for the entire semester’s worth of rent as soon as I get my refund check. Makes it easier to budget.</p>
<p>You can probably go to the local utilities (gas/electric, water if not covered by landlord) website to find average monthly utility bills for the past 12 months- you can check on other apts in the building to see any variations and come up with expected bills (depends on computer/other electric use, insulation/heat gain/loss, water usage, # of people). </p>
<p>We can afford things but son shared with a bunch of guys and had it cheap- next year he’s living alone so rent et al will be more (and he procrastinated and will be in an unfurnished apt- we are renting a truck to haul a twin bed, couch, etc we already own instead of a couple of suv trips needed in past years). At least he has a good sense of needs vs wants- rejected a more expensive (still within my willingness to pay) apt as too big for his needs. I am glad he rented with others for his first apt- he learned from them and didn’t need to handle all of the details or need everything (he provided pots and pans, someone else dishes…). He was and will be closer to his classrooms than in some dorms (off campus can be only a few yards from a campus building, or just across a street). I figure he will be set up for his grad school apt in a strange city next year and will know how to search for an apt there. </p>
<p>I had worried about the extra time needed for an apt- but there is the tradeoff in needing to stand in line, get to the food service place, and guys don’t seem to worry about cleaning too much. I have unloaded some of my kitchen stuff for his use and treated myself to better pots and pans et al- I suggest this instead of spending a lot of money on cheap first time stuff for them. Parents deserve new stuff, too. I think all 6 mothers sent cleaning products- they eventually were used and they got to see brands their own family doesn’t use. It is easier to start with things instead of needing to make a trip to buy them when needed.</p>
<p>I tried to get son experienced in some cleaning chores the summer before his first apt. I told him he would have to clean “his” bathroom- it never was cleaned the 3 months he was home and I did the deed after he left (it wasn’t that grungy). He was already doing some of his own cooking (at odd hours). I copied my recipes and hints into a small notebook for his future use. I also gave him the current (14th) edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook- it includes all of the basics, including how to make hardboiled eggs.</p>
<p>We used the sum of the costs of being on campus divided by 12. The 12 months of apartment is still cheaper than the dorm, so S has more to use on other things.</p>
<p>When we looked at food, he said he’s do the transient student meal card and do most cooking (dinner) at the apartment.</p>
<p>He had a car this year while on campus and will have it again next year. He paid for the campus parking last year and since the apartment is right next to the campus and has off street parking, he is saving that amount next year.</p>
<p>S called the utility companies and got the previous year’s figures so he won’t be surprized by those costs (the apartment is still cheaper with the utilities added in that the dorm).</p>
<p>There is no housing for upperclassmen at my daughter’s school, so landlords could charge whatever they want. For very dumpy apartments they still charge dorm prices, so there is really no saving to move off campus, except maybe on food.</p>
<p>I addition to rent, my son and his housemates pay for cable TV, wifi, gas/electric and water. I set up accounts with each carrier in his name and when the bills come they split them. He is in charge of collecting from everyone. It has been a good learning experience in responsibility.
As for furntiture, we furnished his room from Ikea. We also bought a set of couch, lounge and loveseat off of Craigslist. Got curtains at Target and provided a plasma TV. Other housemates contributed other furniture.
With food, they take turns shopping at the local supermarket or sometimes go together or in pairs. It’s a real sense of community and sharing which is nice for them. They cook meals together sometimes too (it’s a mixed gender house). Many times they go out to eat or order in too. Most of the places in town are resonably priced and geared toward college students. Otherwise, it’s easy to grab a meal between classes on campus.
I hope your daughter enjoys living in her first apartment! It’s one of those wonderful growing experiences they get in college.</p>