1. Calculating Cost of Your Education:
Tuition and Other FactorsTo Consider
By: Donald J. Gearhart
At this point in the process of applying to schools you most likely have a
few top choices and price is going to be the deciding factor. Although tuition price
is obvious and always expensive some are better than others, also depending on
who you are there are ways around paying the normal price. Yet tuition is not
where college expenses end, there are a myriad of other areas one has to spend
money before as well as during the semester while at a university. As a senior I
have a good idea as to where students in general spend the majority of their
money and have talked to several international students as to where they
personal felt the most of their money goes throughout the year. The top three
responses I received was Tuition, housing and the supplies related to it and lastly
personal expenditures. Hopefully with this article help you as a student preparing
to come here can get a better idea of how much money you should have
prepared to come here and even begin to create a budget for yourself while here!
College tuition is expensive there are no full-proof ways around it. The
best chance someone has to not pay full price is to be an incredible athlete or a
certified genius and get a full or half ride to college. Though most people don’t fall
into those two categories, there is still a chance to reduce the price enough so it
is in a reasonable range for everyone to come and experience college. The way
to do this is through scholarships, many schools offer chances for students to
apply for scholarships as well as other outlets such as online opportunities like
Scholarships.com or InternationalScholarships.com. Many will ask you to write
an essay as to why you deserve to win the scholarship, where you are from and
what school you plan on attending. Another way to lessen the burden of the price
of school is through loans, which can be from a bank or through organizations
specifically tailored for students. These two are easy to find, many students are
helped by their advisors to find loans that will work for them but can also be
found and researched on their own, one example would be the IEFA international
student loan website which can assist you in finding one. Housing is the next big
factor for students, and it could be included in your tuition or not it all depends on
the types of housing available at your college of choice.
After choosing your school and how you plan to pay for it the next choice
will be housing, where will you live during your time in the US? Well most schools
offer either on campus dormitories, upper classmen apartments or off campus
houses. While both on campus choices are added into tuition and provide good
accommodations for many students, including my housemate from China, prefer
off campus housing. One huge reason living off campus is chosen is because it
is almost always a much cheaper option than living on campus. Currently for my
schools on-campus living options, living off-campus is half the price of the
cheapest on-campus choice so the economic benefit is obvious. Another reason
off-campus is much cheaper is because no university meal plan is required which
can be anywhere from 500 dollars to 2,000 dollars. Although this means you will

2. need to buy and cook your own food or always order food. Along with the base
price of either housing option one has to look at the other expenses that goes
into a room of your own. So any extra items you want to add to your room are
more expenses you will have to consider such as a TV, but just a TV itself is not
useful, you will need a stand or wall mount, a remote, batteries and so on. This is
the best way to look at things, say to yourself I want this in my room but with this
I will need what else. Also depending on where your school is located the change
in seasons and weather could be drastic. Learn from my mistakes, my first year
at my school which is in upstate New York and I live on Long Island, I assumed
that the change in temperature was about the same and happened around the
same time but I was severely mistaken. It dropped from summer weather to
snowing much quicker and I was stuck wearing shorts and a sweatshirt in snow
once! In short be aware of where you live and make sure you have appropriate
clothing, also if you are in a hot area make sure you have loose clothing and a
fan! The last expense most students, international or not, have trouble realizing
before going to school are personal expenses.
You might be thinking what do you mean personal expenses? Well
coming to college, living on or off campus, or even students that have full rides
still spend money and lots of it because of things they want to spend money on.
These expenses can be on a huge amount of different items, events, or
transportation. One expense that might surprise some people are club dues,
which is the basic charge anyone who joins a club has to pay, and is used to pay
for any equipment or events the club engages in. For me I am on the wrestling
team and the snowboarding club, so I pay dues to get a reduced price for
snowboarding tickets and the wrestling dues pays for tournaments as well as
new gear. Another personal expense to consider is how much nightlife or other
social expenditures you may run into. Nightlife is a huge part of college life so
you can imagine the expenses that go with it, there is transportation like cab
fares, cover charges for bars, clubs and parties, and tag on any money you
spend while out. Also if there is a concert nearby you may want to go to with
friends you will have to budget for that as well! Although none of these are
technically necessary to spend your money on, everyone does because meeting
people and having fun with them is a huge part of college and impossible to
completely avoid.
There are an incredible amount of factors to be aware of for your budget
when coming to college, especially in America. Alone tuition is a staggering
amount, then you add in any other expenditures and your budget could be
looking rather small. Luckily there are plenty of other areas for you too save in,
and even ways to lessen the load of tuition! I hope this article gives you a slight
insight into how much money will truly be spent and allows you to start saving for
each area, as well as a better way to budget.