Quote:
Originally Posted by Caoineag
Back when I was in college, I did the math and it cost me $900 per month (mainly due to the outrageous food plan) to live in the dorms with a roommate. Groceries and rent on my own cost $400.
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Many schools are now making it mandatory for all freshman to live on campus and purchase a meal plan. Heck, my wife is 22, married, moved across 3 states for nursing school, and took a year off of school to establish in-state residency ... and we STILL had to apply for a waiver so she didn't have to live on campus (because it was her first year at the new university). They let us out of the on-campus living but we still had to buy a meal plan for her first year. It's outrageous how schools can nickel and dime you to death. We barely got them to let us opt out of the mandatory student health insurance plan even though we're paying my employer $250/month for better coverage.
To the OP: $42,000/year is a very generous paycheck while in college (I made $5.25/hr when I was in school 2 years ago). That's about $3500 gross per month. The expenses you mentioned in your post only add up to $1,400/month. Even with food, gas, utilities, it seems like there's a decent chunk missing. Where's the rest of this going?