daylatedollarshort
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Messages
- 9,358
College kids know how to live cheap. Most schools have estimated cost to attend for 9 months of the year for room and board. So converting that to 12 months gives you an idea of what it would take. When I tracked it for our kids looking at different schools that was in the $8 - $20K annual range (more now with inflation). With rent split with a partner or roommate(s), public transportation, low cost college and free activities, Medicaid and frugal habits, it doesn't cost that much to live even in high cost of living areas.
One of our kids lived in a small but very nice apartment near the beach during college. We helped furnish it from thrift shops, Ikea and hand me downs. It looked really cute. (We live in an area with a lot of rich people so the thrift shops have some really nice stuff.) Some of their professors lived in the same complex. Students had free public transportation passes. Most of their activities were beach parties or on campus activities. They had a car but didn't use it since there was no place to park it. Without the car I think the the other expenses were around $1300 a month, plus health care (more now due to inflation and rent increases). And that even included subsidizing some of the lower income roommate's expenses. We paid the ACA premiums but without our income they would have been able to go on Medicaid for free.
Robert Shiller once said, “My students are living alright...I’ve suggested to them, why don’t you just continue to live at that level after you get a job? It would pile up into a lot of money.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/weather/how-to-bank-hundreds-of-dollars-more-each-month-163549084.html
One of our kids lived in a small but very nice apartment near the beach during college. We helped furnish it from thrift shops, Ikea and hand me downs. It looked really cute. (We live in an area with a lot of rich people so the thrift shops have some really nice stuff.) Some of their professors lived in the same complex. Students had free public transportation passes. Most of their activities were beach parties or on campus activities. They had a car but didn't use it since there was no place to park it. Without the car I think the the other expenses were around $1300 a month, plus health care (more now due to inflation and rent increases). And that even included subsidizing some of the lower income roommate's expenses. We paid the ACA premiums but without our income they would have been able to go on Medicaid for free.
Robert Shiller once said, “My students are living alright...I’ve suggested to them, why don’t you just continue to live at that level after you get a job? It would pile up into a lot of money.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/weather/how-to-bank-hundreds-of-dollars-more-each-month-163549084.html
Last edited: