cost of expenses besides education, room, board, and medical?

[g1234]

 

I know this will vary enormously between students, parts of the country, etc., but for those of you who have tried to figure out an approximation of how much money your college student will need for expenses outside educational, medical, room, and board, how do you do it?  This is a big category that includes clothes, cell phone plan, small luxuries (a movie or coffee out with a friend), bike maintenance, etc.  We'd like to come up with an approximation, but our heads spin every time we try to think of all the possible expenses there might be and what they would add up to.  Anyone interested in sharing a strategy or a ballpark dollar amount?  We'd be grateful for any experienced words of wisdom!

[TCB]

I don't have an answer because I can't figure it out either but I think of those things you listed as stuff we have to ordinarily buy for them anyway so I think of the other things like tuition and room and board etc as what we will need to come up with extra. We are carrying on paying for phone, car and health insurance and giving dd $150 a month, for the moment, for buying extra stuff, going out to eat etc. We may need to increase that as she will have to buy gas when she comes home for a visit but that's what we're starting out with. She has a meal plan that gives her quite a few meals/week and she can eat some meals in her room, but I want her to be able to go off campus and eat with friends now and again. Don't know if this is what you're  asking lol! I should also add that I am definitely no expert because dd has just started at college this week.

[Lori D.]

Most colleges list broad categories for figuring out your total cost of attendance:
- tuition & fees
- books & supplies (could include pens, paper, backpack, computer/laptop, printer, printer ink...)
- room & board (dorm & meal plan)
- transportation* 
- other expenses (items needed to equip dorm room; entertainment; off-campus expenses; etc.)

* = transportation = sometimes not listed separately, but grouped in "other expenses" -- includes car gas/maintenance + campus parking fees; or it could mean bus fares or semester bus pass; or it could mean bike & parts/maintenance; or it could mean a longboard (skateboard) for getting around campus)

Sounds like you are trying to figure out an amount for the last 2 categories. I typically see college list $3000-5000 per year for those last 2 categories. You can go to the College Data website, search for specific colleges that your student might end up attending, and then click on the "Money Matters" subheading for that college to see what is listed as the amount for "other expenses".

I think it is super hard to determine "other expenses" until you know for sure which college the student is attending, and what the student's living situation will be, to know what other things you'll need to one-time purchase or regularly budget for. Transportation options and costs will vary widely. And like TCB said in her post above, some families deal with "other expenses" by just budgeting a monthly allowance (I see anything between $50-150/month) to help with things that suddenly pop up, or for the student to do a special event or get/do something on impulse, and let the student manage that money wisely (or not, and learn a quick lesson in personal finance, lol).

Our experience: there really wasn't much of a change or addition to our family budget. We continued to pay for things we had already been paying for -- cell phone, health insurance, auto insurance, shoes/clothing items as needed when he was home, so that was just a continuation of family budget costs, not a new cost. As far as "transportation and other expenses" -- I doubt that we spent more than $250-400 each year -- and most of that was "other expenses" of one-time purchase items to set up the dorm, and the "transportation expense" of gas of driving him to/from home/college. The college was only 2 hours away, and DS would come home to visit 2x/semester, and then come home for Christmas and summer breaks.

A big reason we didn't have much in the way of "other expenses" was that DS's college included so much. No need for printer/ink/paper because all papers were turned in online. And the college's student activity fee *included* admission to all campus sporting events, theater performances, concerts, etc., so he rarely needed/wanted to go off campus for an entertainment/event. As far as clothes, DS didn't go to a campus with a very different climate requiring speciality items, such as a winter coat or snow boots. As far as transportation -- DS rarely needed to leave campus. If he did, he would just catch a ride with a dorm friend and give them gas money. As far as medical expenses, we were super blessed that DS has no health issues, and had no medical emergency or medical needs while at college.

Other than dorm set-up and the gas for to/from college, most of the "other expenses" for us came in the form of sending DS a box of fun things just so he'd know we were thinking of him, usually with $20 tucked into a card in the box. (We didn't do a monthly allowance, as DS didn't have any need of it.) I sent a large-size flat-rate box 2x/semester. I would send things he asked for -- NyQuil when he got a cold, new sunglasses when his broke, and earplugs for the year he had a snoring roommate. And fun things, like a string of Christmas lights and garlands so he could decorate his room for the holidays. And things I knew he would enjoy, like a bag of favorite candy or snack food.

BEST of luck as you plan and budget for college! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Lori D.

[J-rap]

I'm sure this varies so much.  We covered tuition, room, board, books, medical, cell phone (it made more sense to keep her on our family plan), and basic necessary clothing. Everything else, which mostly included extra groceries, off-campus activities, transportation (she did take a bus to part-time jobs and internships), some on-campus student activities, extra clothing items, haircuts, makeup, gifts for others, little items for her dorm room, etc., could be met pretty easily with about $2500/year.

[8filltheheart]

This is totally going to be family dependent. Some families give their gives a monthly spending allowance for eating out, movies, etc. We gave our Dd $400 for the semester for food.  She has no meal plan and that $400 is meant for purchasing perishables. We went to Sam's and the grocery store and stocked up on all non-perishables that are now in rubbermaids under her bed. When she comes home for fall break and Thanksgiving, we will buy any other non-perishables she needs.

she worked this summer. That money is her spending $$. If she runs out of it, she is working at an internship, so she will have that $$. But, that $$ is what she is hoping to use for traveling when she is studying abroad. We don't give our kids entertainment spending $$. But plenty of families do.  That is something you need to decide on as a family.

 

[g1234]

Thanks to those who shared their plans and experience.  Even hearing from these few families helped us put things into perspective.  It's true that it's hard to get a good apples-to-apples comparison because every family and kid is so different and because families will choose to help with different things.  (Plus or minus a cell phone and plan, for instance, can be a difference of hundreds of dollars.)  But still, it helps.  We've been asking whether we want to do a monthly allowance, an annual (or twice-a-year) cash infusion, or something else, and what kind of things should be bought with her work-study earnings.  We'd like to get her being a little more independent in thinking about and managing money, though it will be a while before she's financially independent.  We always wanted to get a larger-scale allowance going, which she managed in order to decide what clothes, etc. to buy, but in the busyness of life we were never able to decide on a reasonable amount so we did....nothing.  It's definitely time, so now we need to decide what expenses are paid from that, how much to give her, etc.

Thanks again!

[HollyDay]

Dd's dorm is an apartment style dorm.  Besides bedding, she needed kitchen supplies, pantry supplies, cleaning supplies.  When she arrived, the blinds were broken in her room so she needed blackout curtains.  It has all really started adding up. 

[g1234]

10 hours ago, HollyDay said:

Dd's dorm is an apartment style dorm.  Besides bedding, she needed kitchen supplies, pantry supplies, cleaning supplies.  When she arrived, the blinds were broken in her room so she needed blackout curtains.  It has all really started adding up. 

Hmm that’s another possibility to be aware of.  Thanks!

[katilac]

Study abroad was a painful hit to the education account, lol. 

For the most part, our biggest expenses beyond your list are for travel. Oldest dd is a 7-hour drive away, so we spend a fair amount on gas and hotel rooms to move her in and out and visit her. Her visiting home means a plane ticket or a train ticket, plus getting her to the airport or station. 

Clothes, toiletries, cell phone and such cost the same at college. 

Spending money can, of course, vary wildly, from "nothing" to "I wish those people would adopt me." We had long had the rule that parents pay when it's family and kids pay when it's kids, so it mostly stayed that way (so we pay for lunch with us, they pay when they go with friends). We probably slip them $50 to $100 per semester in extra fun money. Both of them had high school graduation gift money to pull from when they started. 

Oldest is entering her 3rd year. Overall, we have found the incidental costs to balance out, even with our travel expenses added, because we aren't paying for camp, music lessons, and so on. 

We don't do clothing budgets, we just spend as little as possible and watch for bargains. So we might buy three pairs of shoes and five shirts at once, then nothing for a year. Fun or unneeded items they buy themselves or get as gifts. 

 

[DawnM]

We just give as needed.  Oldest started "live away" college in January.  He spends aprox. $500-$700 on books and supplies (NOT counting his computer, ipad, etc....)  He also spends about $100/mo. on stuff he wants (eating out, online gaming, art supplies, warhammer club stuff).    He just uses a credit card that comes to me to pay.  If he abused it, we would cut him off, but he always calls and asks for any expenses over $50 and if it is a want and not a need, he also will call and ask.  

[katilac]

On 8/29/2018 at 2:27 PM, DawnM said:

He spends aprox. $500-$700 on books and supplies (NOT counting his computer, ipad, etc....) 

2

 

Books can vary a lot, and it's really hard to get an idea ahead of time. One school we looked at has a rental program where you pay $50 per semester, per class, to rent your books . . . but alas, not the schools they actually chose. 

[DawnM]

9 hours ago, katilac said:

 

Books can vary a lot, and it's really hard to get an idea ahead of time. One school we looked at has a rental program where you pay $50 per semester, per class, to rent your books . . . but alas, not the schools they actually chose. 

 

Middle son's college fees for the year are $2,400.  In the fees there is a book rental program INCLUDED!  It is wonderful!  The school warned us it doesn't always cover everything, and sure enough, first semester, he needs a $180 language program at an added cost, but it does cover most of it.

But oldest's college extras are a lot more $$.  He needs a lot of supplies for project based stuff.  

My kids have credit cards that come to us, so they just use as needed.  They have not abused it.