The Truth About College Costs
A while ago, my boyfriend was trying to convince his parents to let him go to a community college. Because I went to a community college, and long story short, was required to know almost virtually everything about it, I helped him figure out the cost difference between going to a community college and living in an apartment and going to a university and living in his own apartment.
This is what I did:
Went into his account and figured up the costs of his tuition, housing, and meal plan. I then went and looked up how much it would cost to live in an apartment for $500/month, how much tuition would be, and I went through my old bank statements and added up how much I spent on food when I lived in an apartment. (Now I live in a dorm… yeah.)
So anywho, here are the estimated costs from my end (I don’t have all of his data which is a little more than mine costs):
University 1 Year (Fall/Spring) Cost
Tuition: ~$4,000 (for about 16 hours/semester)
Housing (Dorm): ~$4,900
Meal Plan: $5,000
Fees and other various (like internet): ~$1,000
=$14,900
This does not include any of the times you decide to go out to eat, etc.
Community College, $300/month apartment, Own Meals for 1 school year (Fall/Spring)
Tuition: $1536 (for 16 hours/semester)
Fees: $50
Housing: $2700 (for 9 months, only including fall and spring)
Food: $720
Gas to and from school (since you’re probably not living on campus): $180
(This is MY estimate on food, about $80 a month. I cooked a lot and was a smart grocery shopper, and cut down as much as I could on going out to eat. If you are more than likely going to go out to eat a lot, I would make that $150 a month. Also note, the gas is adjustable depending on how close you live to the school, and I only estimated the amount it takes to go to and from school)
= $5,006
So basically, you could graduate from a (2-year) community college for less than the amount it takes for one year at a 4 year university.
If you are at a 4 year university, please don’t get me wrong. I am at a four year university and I have no regrets going here except for getting a dorm and meal plan because I thought they were going to be cheaper. There are so many degrees at a 4 year university that aren’t available in the 2 year form at community colleges, which is fine. Just note your spending habits and try to save.
So the jist is, if you can.. try to go to a community college to get the general requirements out of the way. You’ll save a ton of money and the classes are more personalized and a lot of times easier.
Also, help out your parents some: get scholarships. Here are some scholarship resources:
www.fastweb.com
www.scholarships.com
So basically, take what you want from this post, but there it is!
very helpful as my son is deciding on college.. thanks!