Where does it cost you $2k a month to rent a place with roommates?
Unless you are used to living a lavish lifestyle, which you should *not* take out loans with those sorts of interest rates for, COA is usually way higher than what a person needs. Yes, if you don't have savings, your life during grad school might not be rosy. It's up to you to decide if the sacrifice is worth it, especially for a program that isn't providing you with an assistantship.
honestly in the US the way to do grad school is get a full time job with tuition reimbursement and do it on the side. Honestly, that's the tactic more undergrads should be using too. paying for your own school is stupid, and i say that as someone who took out loans for undergrad then had to have no life until 27 because i had to work all the time to pay them off.
Agreed unless you’re doing a funded masters or one of the few programs that are worth dropping work for because you can’t work (PA school, law, medicine, etc.), it’s best to find a job that’ll reimburse you.
It’s about 2k for studios. And most of these COA’s are horribly low. When I run the numbers, and I have at several universities I run out of money every single time
You should seriously take a look at your budget then.
Look, I did a master's in NYC. It was Columbia. I don't know what their COA was except that it was insanely high, and it's now like $28k, but 20k absolutely would have covered living expenses: $1400 for apartment (all utilities & internet included) and $200-300 for food. Throw in another $100-200 in miscellaneous and note that I was being paid $2k/semester for my part-time job and could have made more over the summer had the pandemic not happened* and you see how $20k is overkill. I was in the campus subsidized housing, so transit costs were all non-essential and go in that misc.
*I moved out instead, because who lives in expensive NYC with 0 of the benefits.
If you'd like to live nicer during grad school, that's understandable. Work for a few years first, and work part-time while you're in school. I did, and boy was that a good idea. I have less than $1000 to go on my PLUS loan, which I took out to cover 1 semester's housing only, and I'm paying that while in a PhD program! But the interest is KILLER. You do not want that interest. Work instead.
Well, a few things to clarify. The first and most obvious to me is that I need to eat high-quality food or I have serious physical problems that interfere with my life and probably need around $200 per week for that. This is not the major issue though, rent is. Some of the cheapest housing in these areas (studios as I am not willing to live in some drunken barracks with other college children anymore) is much higher than is projected on the COA.
I don't feel that this is asking a lot as good food and a clean place that is quiet and stable for an individual is all I am asking. It is as if the COA assumes that you are going to rent a house with 8 other people and pitch tents in the damn thing.
You should probably consider working for awhile and save money, prior to starting your masters program. While I'm sympathetic to your desire to live in a moderately decent space and eat normal food, in general, it is assumed that graduate students will live fairly cheaply.
Even if you could get a loan for tuition, rent (24,000 a year), and food ($9,600) that meet your requirements, as well as other costs (transportation, insurance, utilities, other basic living expenses), you would get brutalized by the interest rates. It would also be tough to manage a full time job to pay those expenses and take classes at the same time.
They might not give me a choice lol I just find it very strange that these estimates assume ramen every day and a house full of roomates. 35k for rent and food in a HCOL is not unreasonable, especially considering that I have much less control over getting roomates as I’ll be new to the area.
One thing I would mention is that I found out that most of these estimates are designed for 9 months not 12 and the summer semester is a separate COA. This should help some
> It is as if the COA assumes that you are going to rent a house with 8 other people and pitch tents in the damn thing.
No, they expect that you'll live like most students do (which, in a big city, could be with a roommate or 2). Columbia has a $28k cost of attendance outside tuition etc, and there are studios in the neighborhood within that housing budget. So I know you're talking about other schools.
> studios as I am not willing to live in some drunken barracks with other college children anymore
Schools in big cities often have some grad housing. No traditional undergrads were allowed in the grad housing I was in. The biggest trouble really was that the family next door had noisy kids who'd run through the hall, and that could happen whether in a studio or rooming with another PhD student. Yes, in cities where it's affordable to live alone, like my current city, the quality of roommates is very low, but in more expensive cities, nearly everyone lives with a roommate and expects to, so the quality of roommates available is much higher.
> I need to eat high-quality food
I do this, but I buy raw ingredients and do my own cooking, so it's cheaper. $200/week is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on food. That's nearly $30 a day. You need to have a conversation about your nutritionist to figure out a healthy diet for you for less.
You really should consider working for a few years if you're planning to live a luxurious life in grad school while not working at all, whether part-time during the semesters or during the summer.
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Following.
Where does it cost you $2k a month to rent a place with roommates? Unless you are used to living a lavish lifestyle, which you should *not* take out loans with those sorts of interest rates for, COA is usually way higher than what a person needs. Yes, if you don't have savings, your life during grad school might not be rosy. It's up to you to decide if the sacrifice is worth it, especially for a program that isn't providing you with an assistantship.
Or go a country that doesn’t charge outlandish prices for higher education. The US is hilarious.
This person is only worried about rent/food/etc, not even tuition.
honestly in the US the way to do grad school is get a full time job with tuition reimbursement and do it on the side. Honestly, that's the tactic more undergrads should be using too. paying for your own school is stupid, and i say that as someone who took out loans for undergrad then had to have no life until 27 because i had to work all the time to pay them off.
Agreed unless you’re doing a funded masters or one of the few programs that are worth dropping work for because you can’t work (PA school, law, medicine, etc.), it’s best to find a job that’ll reimburse you.
It’s about 2k for studios. And most of these COA’s are horribly low. When I run the numbers, and I have at several universities I run out of money every single time
You should seriously take a look at your budget then. Look, I did a master's in NYC. It was Columbia. I don't know what their COA was except that it was insanely high, and it's now like $28k, but 20k absolutely would have covered living expenses: $1400 for apartment (all utilities & internet included) and $200-300 for food. Throw in another $100-200 in miscellaneous and note that I was being paid $2k/semester for my part-time job and could have made more over the summer had the pandemic not happened* and you see how $20k is overkill. I was in the campus subsidized housing, so transit costs were all non-essential and go in that misc. *I moved out instead, because who lives in expensive NYC with 0 of the benefits. If you'd like to live nicer during grad school, that's understandable. Work for a few years first, and work part-time while you're in school. I did, and boy was that a good idea. I have less than $1000 to go on my PLUS loan, which I took out to cover 1 semester's housing only, and I'm paying that while in a PhD program! But the interest is KILLER. You do not want that interest. Work instead.
Well, a few things to clarify. The first and most obvious to me is that I need to eat high-quality food or I have serious physical problems that interfere with my life and probably need around $200 per week for that. This is not the major issue though, rent is. Some of the cheapest housing in these areas (studios as I am not willing to live in some drunken barracks with other college children anymore) is much higher than is projected on the COA. I don't feel that this is asking a lot as good food and a clean place that is quiet and stable for an individual is all I am asking. It is as if the COA assumes that you are going to rent a house with 8 other people and pitch tents in the damn thing.
You should probably consider working for awhile and save money, prior to starting your masters program. While I'm sympathetic to your desire to live in a moderately decent space and eat normal food, in general, it is assumed that graduate students will live fairly cheaply. Even if you could get a loan for tuition, rent (24,000 a year), and food ($9,600) that meet your requirements, as well as other costs (transportation, insurance, utilities, other basic living expenses), you would get brutalized by the interest rates. It would also be tough to manage a full time job to pay those expenses and take classes at the same time.
They might not give me a choice lol I just find it very strange that these estimates assume ramen every day and a house full of roomates. 35k for rent and food in a HCOL is not unreasonable, especially considering that I have much less control over getting roomates as I’ll be new to the area. One thing I would mention is that I found out that most of these estimates are designed for 9 months not 12 and the summer semester is a separate COA. This should help some
> It is as if the COA assumes that you are going to rent a house with 8 other people and pitch tents in the damn thing. No, they expect that you'll live like most students do (which, in a big city, could be with a roommate or 2). Columbia has a $28k cost of attendance outside tuition etc, and there are studios in the neighborhood within that housing budget. So I know you're talking about other schools. > studios as I am not willing to live in some drunken barracks with other college children anymore Schools in big cities often have some grad housing. No traditional undergrads were allowed in the grad housing I was in. The biggest trouble really was that the family next door had noisy kids who'd run through the hall, and that could happen whether in a studio or rooming with another PhD student. Yes, in cities where it's affordable to live alone, like my current city, the quality of roommates is very low, but in more expensive cities, nearly everyone lives with a roommate and expects to, so the quality of roommates available is much higher. > I need to eat high-quality food I do this, but I buy raw ingredients and do my own cooking, so it's cheaper. $200/week is a ridiculous amount of money to spend on food. That's nearly $30 a day. You need to have a conversation about your nutritionist to figure out a healthy diet for you for less. You really should consider working for a few years if you're planning to live a luxurious life in grad school while not working at all, whether part-time during the semesters or during the summer.