Hello everyone! I’ve got a question and I hope there’s going to be at least one person who would help me. **What are the average monthly expenses for a student at a US college?** I decided to study in the U.S. for 3-4 months (February – May?) – our university in the Czech Republic has a contract with a university in the state of Ohio and that means that I won’t have to pay tuition fees. The “problem” is that I have to write an application for financial support (for housing, food, transport, etc.), including approximate costs – and I’m clueless. Would anyone be so kind and maybe post about their experience? Thank you!
5 comments
Most universities have an expenses estimate page that includes housing, food, etc. You should be able to find it by googling your exchange school.
Something like this:
[https://bulletin.georgetown.edu/expenses-and-financialassistances/basicgeneralexpenses/](https://bulletin.georgetown.edu/expenses-and-financialassistances/basicgeneralexpenses/)
I’d probably refer to the college website, they usually break it down pretty well in terms of individual expenses. They’ll inform you of the dorm costs, meal plans, public transport/parking costs, etc. Prices can vary pretty drastically depending on the college so best just to get it from the source.
On another note, hope you enjoy your time here! Ohio’s pretty beautiful and has a lot of history, my fiancé went to Ohio state and had a blast.
That’s going vary depending on where you’re going. Rent, groceries, prices at bars, etc are going to be higher in Cleveland or Cincy than they are in Oxford or Bowling Green.
When I was a student in the late 2010s, food (restaurants/bars included), rent for a cheap room in a share house, and health insurance through the school’s group plan all cost ~$300/month. Buses should cost ~$2 per ride or $40-80/month for a monthly subscription, textbooks might cost $150/semester (I unashamedly used e-books and bootlegs) and miscellaneous spending might run another $100/month, so all in all 3.5-4 thousand + flight costs should run you for 3 months.
Also US financial aid usually allocates ~$1100/month for the non-insurance spending, you can check this by searching “cost of attendance” for whatever school you’re at. This is the upper limit of what you can expect to spend, and that’s probably the threshold @how much you can ask for but you can definitely make it work on $200/month less
In addition to what others have said: look for a subreddit for the school or city it’s located in for local advice, contact the office of student life that handles exchange students as well.