College is the best four years of your life. But let’s be honest, everything comes with a price.
When everyone talks about the price of college they talk about the $33,000 a year tuition costs. Yet, they sometimes forget the spending cash that goes into your pocket only to come right back out.
If a student applies to six colleges, that adds up to about $300 in application fees, according to an article in USA Today. That’s $300 just to throw your line into the water. While there is no guarantee that an 18-year-old student will get into a school, there is one application that has an almost a 100 percent approval rate.
Credit cards.
Students rack up an average of $2,200 in credit card debt over the course of four years, according to Nellie Mae, provider of student loans.
Last year a credit card company went as far as to slip “Free Subway 6′ Sandwich” coupons under doors of resident halls. Consumers could go to Subway, present their StagCard and register for a credit card.
Credit card companies attack college campuses like seagulls at the beach because they know teenagers living away from home for the first time are easy targets.
Now everyone knows where the money really goes. College students invest large amounts of money into the destruction of their livers.
The weekly trip to the package store can cost an average of $17.31 in alcohol according to the Core Institute, which surveys college drinking practices.
And that’s for students who don’t smoke cigarettes. Cancer sticks can run about $5 a pack. If you go through four packs a week, you’re up to $20.
Not all of the money in a college student’s pocket is spent on vices, however. The $200-$300 in books each semester is expected. But what goes unnoticed are those hidden fees that add up just like a credit card.
A professor takes the liberty of printing off the needed materials and hits you up for $10. Another professor tells you that you need to register for a Web site, and you’re down another $30 or so.
St. Ignatius Loyola traveled by foot and horse, and that never really added up for him. But if he took a cab from Campion to the beach area, he is looking at $10 or $20 round trip. Fairfield cabs show you all of Fairfield.
But let’s say that you got your own ride, you wouldn’t have to get docked for a taxi. Now you’re conducting gas money, which averages in the greater Fairfield area at $2.89. Let’s say you’re filling up a tank that’s 15-18 gallons, that’s $43.35 to $52.02.
Food expenses are another thorn in the sides of college students. I know that Sodexo provides us with meals that are included, but there is a reason why the food is included … it sucks.
You can’t live on Sodexho alone, and if you do, you should make a documentary about it like that guy in “Supersize Me.”
But I am not here to rip on Sodexho; we have other writers for that. I’m just saying that you’re looking at $30 in food each week.
No matter how you look at it, in order to enjoy these four years of bliss, you’re going to dish out the green and rack up some debt.
If you’re the average college student, then you spent anywhere from $150.66 to $179.33 throughout this column.
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