<p>Modiam,</p>
<p>My daughter has an allowance of $100 a week. She had been approved for workstudy, but the workstudy jobs are more in line with the advertising and graphic design major's qualification than those of a fine arts major and we wanted her to adjust to school before throwing a job into the mix. She has found $100 to be enough, but tight. There is a market nearby where she purchases most of her food. Also, around the corner there is a bagel store where you can get tea and a buttered bagel for under two bucks. Lunch is usually a slice of pizza in between classes. The biggest savings is that she kicked her Starbuck's coffee addiction. That leaves her with about $40 for transportation and entertainment.</p>
<p>As far as the campus is concerned, it was never a requirement of hers. For high school she attended an arts boarding school and though she was a day student, she has already had what is typical of a four year "college" campus experience. There is a cafeteria, but it is expensive and there is so much available in the Gramercy and Chelsea neigborhoods that my daughter reports she has never eaten in the cafeteria. There is a new campus center at SVA on the first floor of her dorm. There are scheduled events throughout the week, but she has never attended them. She works very hard during the week with 24 hours of scheduled class and significant homework for each of her seven courses. She has many friends at different colleges throughout the city and weekends usually mean going down to the Village and hanging out with friends at a club or bar. As an aside to that last comment there appears to be absolutely no problem with underage students getting served in NYC, but I appreciate her honesty. </p>
<p>Going to school in NYC is not for everyone. I think you need to be pretty independent, social, and street-wise. There is very little hand-holding and anything you need will come only from your own efforts.</p>