Cost of Living
Understand how much college will cost
Starting college may be your time to move away from home, but the location of your dream school may have unexpected costs. Does your college have on-campus dorms or will you be required to live off-campus? How about the cost of food? Will you have a meal plan or make food in your apartment? If you plan on taking your car with you, will you have to pay for parking? How about gas and vehicle upkeep, not to mention car insurance. And we haven’t even brought up going out on the weekend.
Before you pack up and move, tally up the prices of things like groceries, entertainment, laundry, public transportation and sales tax of your new home. There’s more to your college expenses than tuition alone. If you know where you want to go to school, research the cost of living there to understand how much you will be paying for everyday products and services.
As a graduate begins their job search in a variety of locations, how much of their salary has to be used towards living expenses and not student debt. ALSO understanding a location's cost of living could be used while selecting a major IF you know where you want to live after college. You could see how much of your possible salary would be used toward living expenses to help keep your debt low.
Compare how much different college locations will set you back with a cost-of-living calculator.
