College and cost of living

[Mr Gravy]

So my situation is a little different from most in this subforum. I'm not in a LDR because of college but I'm considering to study abroad to be with my SO.
Now as we all know American college is anything but cheap but - tuition and fees aside - the estimated costs per year I find on the college websites appear unreasonably high to me. $2,000 for transport? $1,500 in books? $13,000 for housing and food? ...
Am I being delusional here or do those numbers really seem way too big?

[Ella85]

You know I was applying for a college visa too. They said to have $5000 for the school year for living expenses. But you are expected to be able to work up to 20 hours a week.$1500 in books is actaully a good guess. Text books in the US are expensive although you can probably get them cheaper second hand. $2000 for transport is probably for the entire year, but I can't comment on it. I do think they put the numbers high but they won't issue you a visa with out at least $18,810 for the first year. If you and your girlfriend decide to live together that would help keep your living expenses down as you would be sharing bills and rent. But dependent on the area living costs can be high.

[R&R]

It depends on where you are going to be college, where you will be living (dorm, apartments), etc. Not everything that shows on tuition is necessarily going to pertain to you. If you choose to use ebooks, second hand books or rent books then your cost for that will go down. If you have their meal plan, health insurance or live on campus you will see a large jump in costs.

Federal funding is not available to non-citizen unless you are a permanent resident, refugee or conditional entrant. There are private loans (where I work does those) but requires you to have a US co-signer who meets certain criteria.

[Ejoriah]

These numbers look about right to me, especially depending on where you're going. If you go to a place that is heavily dependent on cars for transportation, then needing gas money adds up quickly. 13000 is a bit more than a thousand dollars a month for living expenses, which again sound right to me if you're not sharing the expenses with anyone else.

As an international student you will be assessed much higher tuition but you will also be required to show that you can support yourself WITHOUT employment. You will need to show proof of funds for one year before they will issue you the paperwork you need. They'll expect you to have as much money as what they advertise to be the "cost of one year." You will only be allowed to work on campus, and even then only for 20 h/week.

I've been a student in the US for almost five years now so if you have any questions I'm happy to help.

[Ella85]

The college I was applying to would give authorization to work off campus if they didn't have a job for you on campus as long as it did not affect studies. If I can help out with anything as I had fully applied just as you know my loan was turned down. College is now on hold until after we've closed the distance (which will probably be cheaper anyway).

[Kapwned]

Sometimes colleges will estimate that stuff because our textbooks can get expensive, and transportation does add up. But results will vary per college, major, and class. You will never know your actual tuition until you've applied, gotten accepted, and sorted everything out. If you're a foreign or out of state student your tuition might be more. It could be less if you opt to not live on campus. When they tally up the cost of books, transportation, and 'cost of living' or anything like that, it is not actually a part of your tuition but assumed what you might use your financial aid on.

College in America is not cheap (no idea why any non-American student would want to subject themselves to our amount of debt...) but as a foreign student you'd have an advantage. You'd likely get grants and scholarship offers if you applied and have a good transcript. So your tuition might be covered and then some. I'd then recommend getting workstudy with your college for money + flexible schedules. As far as books go, your average college book will cost you between 50 and 100, but the more complex your degree and classes get the more it may cost. Most of my textbooks this semester cost between $15 and $50. But I've had to pay up to $150 for a book. As a tip on how to get cheap text books... after you register for classes, email all of your professors and ask them what you MUST absolutely get, and if so, can you get it online or would it be okay if you obtained a PDF of it. Most professors will not approve PDFs as they are typically pirated but I've had professors indirectly tell me it's fine. If you must have it, get it off of ebay or amazon, it'll be sooooooo much cheaper.

Welcome to American college! We're all gluttons for punishment and debt.

[Harlequin]

I strongly suggest thriftbooks.com for cheap textbooks. I only found out about it after college, but I managed to snag about 8 textbooks for a class I'm doing in my free time for like, $50 tops.

Those costs do sound right, though. But like others have said, it depends on a lot of things. State schools tend to be cheaper than private ones, and then location also plays a huge factor. I went to a private school in Brooklyn, NY, and I lived on campus and had a meal plan, so here's what I ended up owing before student loans and scholarships kicked in (the left column). I suggest looking into work study programs and what other services your colleges of choice offer international students. Some colleges are also willing to work with you in regards to a payment plan, and there should be scholarships available for international students.

Best of luck to you in whatever decision you make!

[Mr Gravy]

I'd be enrolling in a master's program in guitar performance so textbooks might be less of an issue. (I haven't spent a single cent on textbooks in my entire college career in Germany. Don't you have libraries in the States?!) Not sure how they would handle sheet music though...
As I already mentioned I'd be sharing an off-campus apartment with my girlfriend and we would share the living expenses. I found a German scholarship for musicians (925€/month plus up to 18,000€ in tuition/year) that I am going to apply for. That combined with the college's financial aid would make it seem a lot more affordable, however, it all will depends on my applications and auditions.

[Ella85]

I'd be enrolling in a master's program in guitar performance so textbooks might be less of an issue. (I haven't spent a single cent on textbooks in my entire college career in Germany. Don't you have libraries in the States?!) Not sure how they would handle sheet music though...
As I already mentioned I'd be sharing an off-campus apartment with my girlfriend and we would share the living expenses. I found a German scholarship for musicians (925€/month plus up to 18,000€ in tuition/year) that I am going to apply for. That combined with the college's financial aid would make it seem a lot more affordable, however, it all will depends on my applications and auditions.

Just see what you can get. I know it's not cheap

[Kapwned]

We do have libraries obviously but sometimes you are required to have a book. In a lot of my classes we refer to our books while in class. And libraries tend to only have one to a few copies of textbooks. Another thing college book stores do is they rent out books so you could potentially spend zero dollars (or euros) on a book. I'd definitely plan ahead. Think of transportation, work, how much stuff costs there. I'm currently in NY which is one of the most expensive states in the country, if not, the most expensive state, and it is an absolute pain in the butt.

[Sarah96]

As many have said, those numbers are both accurate and not, depending on your situation. My first year of college costed over $20,000, but this year it's only $14,000 because I'm not living on campus so it cut down a lot of the cost and now I'm simply paying tuition and transportation 2 times a week so it's not that bad. I've always found the textbook thing to be way off. In 3 semesters of college now I've spent a collective $300 in textbooks, and that is over 30 books I've bought so far (not all textbooks, some novels). Textbooks don't have to be expensive if you're willing to spend an extra 15 minutes searching the internet for other options. People also forget a lot of books are FREE online LEGALLY and they'll just shell out the $150 for it when there's no reason to. I'm a huge fan of public transportation now if at all possible, yes it can be a slight pain sometimes when trains are running late, but it's saving me a few thousand dollars and I get to live at home.

Also definitely don't forget any kind of scholarships and grants! You really have to go searching for them, they won't come to you. Every little bit counts, even if you're just get a few scholarships that are only worth $100 each, it's a few extra hundred dollars you can use and everyone seems to only go for the larger award sizes, neglecting the smaller ones which then go unclaimed, so don't forget about those!

[lucybelle]

It's unreasonably expensive. I went to a small, public, in state school and still had to pay around $9000 a year in tuition only. Being international (out of state) you have to pay nearly double the tuition. You can try to find scholarships but a masters in guitar might not have too many available.

[Kapwned]

Most colleges give merit scholarships to students who have really good transcripts and show a level of activity with their former school.

[Ejoriah]

The college I was applying to would give authorization to work off campus if they didn't have a job for you on campus as long as it did not affect studies. If I can help out with anything as I had fully applied just as you know my loan was turned down. College is now on hold until after we've closed the distance (which will probably be cheaper anyway).

Really? That's super interesting. Would you have been an F-1 student? As far as I'm aware you can either get 1 year of optional practical training (get a job off campus in your field of study) or curricular practical training (get a job/internship as part of your academic program), but that's limited to a year and they still require you to show that you have all the money to study there for a year.

Again, you need proof that you have a way of covering all expenses. It may turn out that you spend a whole lot less than what they require you to have, but they'll still ask you to provide proof of finances. Be aware of that. In my field (anthropology), people who only want to do Masters degrees get no little to no funding from the university, while people who do PhDs have a better chance. I was offered full funding for my PhD (tuition, health insurance + monthly stipend) and even then, the entire amount was less than what the university said was the correct amount, and I had to prove to them that I had additional funds.