<p>It's always interesting to gauge the financial status of your fellow peers, especially those who are in college. I know some may view this as being too personal, but we are mostly all strangers here. Really not a big deal but if you don't like it, please feel free not to post.</p>
<p>I'll start. Im a junior in college which is being payed for by my parents 100% since I am the only child and my parents are a bit older. I have about $1500 in my checking account which is basically just used for entertainment, gas, and food. My car is already payed off and my insurance is taken care of for the year. I live at home so I don't have to worry about rent.</p>
<p>Financially, I feel very comfortable. I don't have a ridiculous amount of spending money but I have a part time job to keep the flow going. </p>
<p>Please, feel free to comment and/or post your financial status.</p>
<p>I live at home as well. The only bills I pay are just for personal necessities, gas, food (when I eat out or want something specific), and my cell phone. I worked at the same place for three years but I am currently looking for work, so money is a little tight. I don’t have any loans out since my university is cheap and my father can afford the bill each semester (so far). Oh, and I just finished up my sophomore year. Overall I feel pretty lucky as many of my friends already have quite a bit of debt.</p>
<p>Well I was using my parents Post 9/11 GI bill to pay for college until they decided to use it for my mom so…I enlisted and am getting my own as well as making some money and securing myself financially.</p>
<p>Full ride. Parents pay for car insurance/health insurance and my parking permit every year. I live off of a combination of my stipend (which is higher due to a modified meal plan) and Christmas/birthday money. Plus I have an extremely generous aunt who will give me some money every few weeks. (I got to college near her house, not my own)
Finally have a part time job for this summer while I work in a lab (my own research, so no pay). My parents have actually agreed to pay my rent for the summer, and I’ll be making about 180 a week, which is good because next year my rent will exceed the room and board allowance of my scholarship (for an on campus apartment, but that’s a separate issue).
I pay for most things: gas, food, books etc. But when I see my parents they give me a twenty or two if they can.</p>
<p>This year I was decently close to financial independence. I had car insurance and cell phone paid for, along with $500 towards tuition. Loans paid for the rest that scholarships didn’t cover. Everything I else I worked for myself, including gas, rent, utilities, internet, fraternity dues, entertainment, etc. It could be stressful at times but I feel I gained good life experience working for most everything.</p>
<p>I live at home, so my mom’s paying for my education. But once I transfer to Davis, I’ll be on my own. She’ll still contribute towards my education, but I have to start contributing as well. I still don’t know how I’m supposed to pay $12k of my Student Contribution that’s listed on my financial aid. I don’t have a job (never had one) and the job market in California is pretty bad right now that they won’t even want to hire an unexperienced person like me even if I have the necessary skills to do the job.</p>
<p>I pay for my own school through a combination of need-based aid, scholarships, and a job on the student staff. My first semester I had about $1000 in loans but now with my job I get a pretty big refund check of my financial aid so I am currently making money going to school.</p>
<p>Some of that is going toward entertainment and fun stuff, but a lot of it also goes toward necessities like paying for my prescriptions, buying necessary clothing (interview attire, new jeans to replace ripped ones), textbooks, and other big ticket things like summer class tuition, and soon my GRE/grad school application/conference fees. I’m hoping to save up enough to purchase a decent used vehicle by the time I graduate. </p>
<p>Ideally I’ll be working this summer because Wal-Mart is hiring and now I have work experience, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to save up money then too to replace what I’m spending to take a summer course. I’m not financially independent thought because I live with my parents during breaks and they do give me things such as presents and money from time to time. :)</p>
<p>For your student contribution to be so high, you must have some serious assets in your name. Student assets are assessed at a much higher percentage (around 50% if I recall correctly) than a parent’s assets. Are you sure you entered all information correctly on the FAFSA? I would double check to be sure.</p>
<p>I got most of my money from my school this year - everything was paid for and there was quite a bit left over - it even paid for my extremely expensive sorority dues. I worked all first semester as well. Beyond that my dad gives me money. All I pay for is food, random things that come up, concert tickets, alcohol, drugs, etc. Good thing I don’t have a car or I’d be broke.</p>
<p>My current situation sucks big time! I am officially poor.</p>
<p>I was born millionaire, grew up rich and now…Im poor, hopefully I will finish college and repeat the cycle, millionaire, rich…die. </p>
<p>Nothing against poverty, just that it sucks, especially if grew up as rich. I had everything I wanted, everyone was happy, 3 maids, a buttler, a driver, etc…then just 3 maids, then 2, then just one…then a live-out maid coming twice a week, now…NONE. It hurts falling that hard, I feel like I am still adjusting and its hard to learn and cope. Good thing is it can’t get any worse, so it can only go up from here.</p>
<p>No car anymore, no assets, no job, no nothing… college loan (around 30k) parent contribution (around 13k)…SUCKS!</p>
<p>I have more or less a full ride (nothing out of pocket, but about $3k in loans each year). I am currently working about 60 hours each week (3 jobs) to pay for stuff. </p>
<p>My parents pay virtually nothing. They do pay my car insurance as long as I keep my grades at a 3.7+. I pay my credit cards, car payment, gas, food, apartment, etc.</p>
<p>reallifeis: I’m not trying to take away from your situation because it definitely sucks to lose everything. But I would be careful about throwing around the word “poor.” If your parents can afford to contribute 13k per year to your education you are not poor by any stretch of the imagination. Being poor is when you MAKE 13k a year (or thereabouts - depending on how big your family is).</p>
<p>My family is paying for my books, I pay for the rest with loans/ working full time when I’m not in school/ part time in school. $16,500 a year (SUNY)</p>
<p>I second Julie. I don’t consider myself poor and my family of eight is on food stamps. My mother makes 400 dollars a week. Maybe I would if I was more exposed to it but my father lost his job earlier this year and I haven’t been home for an extended time. I just know my mother would kill for a 13k a year job.</p>
<p>This year everything was paid for by financial aid and I had money left over so my mom did not have to contribute to anything. Next year, though, I will have just enough financial aid to pay for my room, tuition, and books. My mom will have to contribute by paying for my personal expenses and food since I dont have a job :(</p>
<p>Scholarships and my part-time job cover tuition, books, rent, utilities including internet and cable, and food, so the majority of my expenses. I’m on my dad’s health insurance plan from work and my parents generously bought me a used car (but not too used, a 2007 Honda Accord), pay for my gas (mostly because the only times I drive it any significant distance is to go visit them), and pay for my car insurance. They did most of this for me because I earned enough scholarship money to pay for college by myself (I get about $8,400 per semester to an in-state public university, which is more than enough as long as I’m frugal). I’ve managed to build up a decent amount of savings from all this, hopefully enough to study abroad the summer after my senior year provided I get funding for grad school.</p>
<p>Technically, if you’re working full time (40 hours a week/50 weeks a year), you should be making at least $290 a week. Multiply that by 50 weeks and you get $14,500. So I say any family that makes less than $29,000 a year is poor. (Two people in the family working full time at minimum wage)</p>
<p>But, I’m hoping that my parents will contribute about $7500 to my education next year, although I don’t need them to. Between work study, grants, and scholarships, my school gave me $16k. Costs should be about $19-21k (won’t find out til July)… and I also was offered $5500 in student loans, so if push comes to shove, I don’t need my parents to give me any money for school and that’s nice to know. I’m hoping not to take out any student loans though AND I need to take as little money from my parents as possible. I think right now they’re paying about $7000 for me per year and that’s already tough enough. At the very least, I think they’ll be paying about $1000 less on me just from lunch costs alone… so it should be manageable.</p>
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