Calculate College Costs

How Much Will You Need For College?

When applying for college student loans, you’ll want to have some idea of how much college will cost you over at least a 4 year period. If you already know where you’ll be going to college and where you’ll be living, you should have no problem getting a rough idea of how large of a loan you’ll need to take out. Add up your estimates for these expenses to calculate how much college will cost you:

• - Tuition: Tuition varies greatly from school to school. Going to school in the state you live is almost always less expensive than going out of state for school. The average costs of tuition for a four year public school is about $12,000, while four year private school costs over $25,000
• - Room and Board: Living on campus for public schools is typically around $5,000 a year, private schools cost a little more at $7,000. Choosing to live in an apartment may be more liberating, but almost always more expensive as you’ll be paying for rent, electricity, water, cable, and internet.
• - Supplies: You’ll easily pay over $250 a semester for textbooks in colleges, depending on how many classes you have and the books they require. Other supplies shouldn’t cost more than a $100 all together, unless you need expensive scientific calculators or a new computer.
• - Transportation: Obviously, if you live on campus, you’ll have very little in the way of transportations costs. If you live off campus or at home, you could pay over $500 a year on gas alone. With gas prices seemingly increasing by the day, that is probably a very low estimate.
• - Entertainment: When you’re young, you’re going to spend money. Whether it is on food, alcohol (if you’re over 21 of course), clothes, movies, music, or anything else, you’re bound to spend money. Everyone has different spending habits, but you’ll probably want to have over $1000 spending money each semester.