<p>One thing that many people do is work part-time while in school. You should be able to cover your housing costs that way, and still have a little left over. Try to look for paid research positions in your major, as well (you can usually get one as a junior or senior). You get paid and you build your credentials at the same time.</p>
<p>When you look at housing, don’t always just look at dorms. As a freshman, on-campus is a good thing because it allows you to meet people. But after that, off-campus is usually much cheaper. When you’re enrolled in the summer, fraternities rent out their rooms at dirt-cheap rates. </p>
<p>Before buying any textbook, go to class the first day. The professor will sometimes say things like “I included this book on the syllabus for reference, but you don’t really need it.” Also, before buying a book, ask the professor if you can use a previous edition of the book. While the latest edition of a textbook might cost $200, the previous edition might be available used for $20. Finally, use sites like abebooks.com to see if you can find cheap used (and sometimes international) versions of your textbooks. You can save a ton of money.</p>
<p>I should also probably point out that the above isn’t going to cover tuition. Working part-time might earn you $3000 - $4000 per semester depending on where you work and how much you work, living off campus might save $800-$1200 per semester, and cheap textbooks might save $200-$300 per semester. </p>
<p>The most important thing is to not to require an extra semester to graduate. Decide on a major early, don’t fail classes, and plan out your coursework well. Your comment about studying abroad worries me a little. Usually study abroad programs don’t allow a full course load, which could delay graduation if you don’t plan properly. Keep that in mind.</p>
<p>If I had to do it again, I’d seriously consider either a community college or working for a year in Georgia before enrolling (you’d receive in-state tuition and would start off with a considerable bank account)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on books and living off campus. I’ll go in with some AP/IB credits and am taking class over summer at CC that I already checked will transfer.</p>
<p>Anyone else have info on study abroad at GT? I do know someone who studied at GT France they took smaller load, but still took 4 classes needed to graduate including Diff Eq and Statics and mandatory electives. That was another thing about Tech that pulled me in was that I could actually go abroad and still get GT classes in Engineering without worry of transfer credits. They said the key is to go in sophomore year.</p>
<p>Im just worried the incidental costs of living abroad will be too much.</p>
<p>If you have some AP/IB credits, you could look at a few community college courses this summer before starting at GT. You might be able to cut off a semester doing that (and December graduates are the most coveted by companies).</p>