COA numbers add up tuition and fees, room, board, books+supplies, and personal expenses. What does personal expenses really mean? I don’t really understand how this adds $4000/year in cost of attendance numbers. I’m thinking its stuff like laundry but I thought it would be more like $1-2k per year. I’m a pretty frugal person too so idk if I could make it cheaper. How much is a realistic expectation for those “personal expenses” or “other expenses?”
Personal expenses are everything else…clothes, shoes, undies, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, jackets, entertainment, dates, hair cuts, pizza with friends, movies, spring break, cell phone, pocket money (for the soda machines, etc)…and on and on.
@mom2collegekids Is 4k/year a reasonable expectation for this?
Yes.
Once you’re not living at home, you’re going to find that you’ll need money for various things. Maybe right now, your parents are paying for shampoo, razors, toothpaste, deodorant, lotions, etc. Are you the type to do things with friends? Date? Buy a video game? Go away for a weekend with friends? Go skiing? Go to the beach? Buy any sports equipment?
wow $ 4000 is high! My daughters school only lists $ 2800 and that is including books!
Personal can include travel home and back.
4k would average to 400/month, every month, which is high, imo, if you have meals covered. At most schools, activities like movies are on campus. They aren’t counting expensive hobbies. For my kids, ‘personal and travel’ was closer to 2k (but they were driving distance, no flights needed.)
Cost may be higher for those attending school in the city vs an isolated campus in the sticks. The city kids will be more likely to go get to Starbucks, go to a concert, out for dinner, a movie, etc.
These are estimates that the colleges put in their COA to give students an idea about their budget.
The only direct costs the school will bill you for are tuition, fees, room and board (if living on campus) and possibly health insurance if you can’t waive theirs.
The travel, book and personal expenses you pay for on your own. You can reduce costs by buying books used or renting, you can work in the summer and get a campus job to help with those expenses.
$4000 seems high. But it all depends on things like transportation costs.
For personal care items like shampoos and the like, we stocked up here where it was cheaper for one kid…and did a huge Target run for the other.
But really…$4000 for the year is only $400 per month (figuring on a 10 month for easy math).
But also, our kids had part time jobs that paid for all of these “personal expenses” and books.
A lot of the Division 1 schools increased their personal expenses numbers two years ago because the NCAA allows them to pay this amount as a stipend. Some schools even have two numbers, one for instate students and one for OOS to account for travel costs. The schools still have to stay within the dept. of ed guidelines, but there is a lot of room for interpretation. $100/ week or $400/yr doesn’t seem out of line.
$100/week does sound reasonable for all of that. Does anyone know how much they personally spent for these “personal expenses?” My parents buy bulk and stock up on toiletries and I don’t really do expensive things often. Stuff like regularly buying Starbucks and going to concerts and dinners is something I rarely do. Actually I’ve never gone to a concert. Some COAs show personal expenses of 1-2k year and some show up to 4k so I wasn’t sure what was reasonable. I’ll also rent or buy used books but I think that’s a separate category.
It is really dependent on the student. I am a financial aid director & set the COA for our school. I survey our students & use an average. When talking to students about costs, I tell them to consider the fixed costs (tuition, fees, dorm if living on campus) … but everything else is within their control. I encourage them to find sales circulars online for area stores - that way, they can get an idea of what things cost. If they don’t drive, I tell them they can order online - you can get things delivered for a great price these days. A motivated student can keep costs to a minimum. You need to sit down & think about what you need for daily living, then figure out what that will cost when you go away. Travel costs can be minimized with planning. Do include a little extra for fun stuff - you may find that you want to go out once in a while (but even then, it’s possible to be frugal).
I put about $300 on the student card for laundry a year, books were about $700 but that can depend on major.
Your parents probably provided food, toiletries and such for you while you lived at home. If you have a comprehensive meal plan you might not need much else. My D spent a few hundred of her own spending money (parttime job, grad gifts).
So I would think depending on travel costs, plane versus car distance, that $1-2 k is a good estimate.
I can’t give you a number at all. My kids worked to earn personal expense money. I had nothing to do with it…at all.
As a parent, I viewed this category as “new things we don’t already account for in our budget.” Airline tickets ($400 per round trip, maybe?) activities my kid doesn’t do at home, and things like that. Needing shampoo is nothing new for our family, but it could be a new expense for the student whose parents covered it before. This category varies so much from person to person. A student expected to cover his/her own cell phone bill might include that, but the $10/month it costs to keep our kid on our plan didn’t factor in for us because we already pay it. This category is also somewhat controllable. If you don’t buy concert tickets or the school provides massive discounts for local activities, or you only eat on the meal plan and don’t go out, or you live close to home it’s less. If you own a car, or buy plane tickets, or do more expensive activities, or maybe join a fraternity it’s more.
Whether that number is important to you is based on your situation. For example, if your budget is tight and you are responsible for all your own expenses, then a generous number helps you to qualify for more financial aid. If, like my kids, you are not responsible for more than your own personal entertainment, then this number is irrelevant. My kids barely spend any money while in school because there is so much free or cheap entertainment on campus.
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My parents buy bulk and stock up on toiletries a
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Whatever the parents are spending for toiletries, car insurance, clothes, cell phones, medical/Rx, or whatever would be included in that $4k. The $4k doesn’t mean that only the student is spending it…it could be parent, student, grandparents, etc…anyone who is paying for the various things a student needs/consumes/wears.
Even with a full meal plan, if the school isn’t in an isolated area, once the weekend comes, few are eating exclusively in the dining halls. The students are wandering off-campus.
It is so dependent on your personal habits, the friends you hang around with, and the college location and atmosphere that you can’t compare one student to another.
Do you ever have snack? Soda? Coffee? A candy bar? Do you like to go in on a pizza? Go out to dinner occasionally? Do you drink? If you have an unlimited dining plan technically you can never spend a cent, but is that realistic for you?
Even if your parents stock you with every conceivable toiletry, school supply, and over the counter med, things will pop of occasionally anyway and your shopping options may not be the most economical.
Your class/dorm/ec group is having tshirts/sweatshirts, etc. made-are you going to want one?
Will you ever go to a movie, a play, a concert, or a sporting event on campus? Off campus?
What if your phone charger dies? What if you lose something or break something that has to be replaced?
ECs. This was the big expense for my S1 last year. He was required to buy a lot of specialized clothing, participate in a lot of social functions, and spend a lot of money on out of town/out of state/out of country trips.
My kids’ dining plans come with “flex cash” that can be used for this…so no money is spent here!
If you participate in extracurricular activities or clubs, you may have dues or other expenses related to it. My son joined his college triathlon club and, aside from club dues and entry fees, they occasionally traveled to compete. Also fraternity/sorority expenses if you join.