<p>I was wondering if any current Barnard students could tell me roughly how much money is needed weekly (besides room and board)? Is an on-campus job enough spending money, or are parents expected to contribute a bit for this purpose?</p>
<p>I am also interested in hearing from current students about this. Anyone?</p>
<p>It's really hard to say, since it depends SO hugely on your habits and penchant for penny-pinching. Generally, though, your campus job should be enough. Assuming you work 8 hours a week for $9 an hour, $72 is fine for just fun stuff, unless you have a serious club/fine dining/drug addiction.</p>
<p>I can name some average prices of things for you, and you can work out your own budget if you want?</p>
<p>But remember that for everything you like to do, there's a cheaper alternative. For example: Movies cost $10-$10.50, plus $4 for roundtrip subway fare. Or you can buy a weekday ticket in advance from CAO for $6. Or see a slightly less new movie at Columbia for $3 and save the subway fare. Or get a one night rental from Kim's for $1.50 total, for all your friends. Or plan ahead, and search for free movie screenings (e.g. <a href="http://www.enjoytheshow.com/favorites/index.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.enjoytheshow.com/favorites/index.cfm</a> ). The same story can be told for dining, drinking, dancing, and doing the usual NYC stuff, museums, galleries, tourist sites...</p>
<p>Thanks for the detailed response, Primefactor! Do people tend to go to restaurants more than one night a week? What would be an average amount to spend eating out at the kind of restaurant you and your friends usually go to?</p>
<p>We're estimating that my daughter will need about $300/month. All her living needs will be covered so this will be for city transportation, going out to eat, entertainment, incidentals. So for the school year, she needs to save or earn about $2500-3000. If it's not enough she will have to work more hours or live more frugally. She will find the social group that matches her budget.</p>
<p>That's very true, ahimsa, about social groups and budgets. Some people go out every night, some people try to cook for themselves (and some people even succeed). Usually, the people you wind up being friends with have similar social patterns to you, anyway, so don't worry too much about it. Some of my friends had a lot more money than I did, but they never really wanted to go out every night or go to expensive places, so it didn't matter.</p>
<p>My friends and I usually lunched somewhere on campus most weekdays, and 450 dining dollars got me through the semester in style. Local restaurants are pretty standard, starting at about $5-$7 for a sandwich&fries/calzone/sushi roll&salad to maybe $15 tops for a full entree. Add tax, tip, drink, a shared appetizer and you can spend anywhere between $10 and $25. You can check menupages or campusfood.com (places that deliver) to see what's in the neighborhood.</p>
<p>But, as ahimsa said, $300 (or $288, in my earlier estimation :) ) is fine.</p>