Estimated cost to study in America for an International Student

[Striker009]

I've recent been awarded a scholarship that will cover all tuition fees at an American university of my choice. I'm curious as to how much it will cost to cover living expenses for a full academic year as I have to cover these costs myself.

 

I've heard estimates of $12-16,000 to cover accommodation, food, course material etc. I was wondering if this was accurate or not.

 

 

[hj2012]

Hey Striker!

 

Congratulations on the scholarship -- that's awesome.

 

It's really hard to provide an estimate of living expenses because they can vary wildly. It would be difficult to survive on $16,000 in Manhattan, for example, but would be doable in rural areas.

 

If you already have some schools you're interested in, you can use MIT's Living Wage calculator to get a sense of how much you'll need to invest to keep yourself afloat in various places in the U.S. http://livingwage.mit.edu/

 

Hope this helps!

Edited December 22, 2013 by hj2012

[juilletmercredi]

I've heard estimates of $12-16,000 to cover accommodation, food, course material etc. I was wondering if this was accurate or not.

 

That's too low.

 

Unless you plan on going home during the summer, you probably will need 12-month living estimates.  Personally my program is in Manhattan, and I would say trying to make it in the city as a single person with less than $25,000 after taxes is a struggle.  MIT's living wage calculator seems to agree with me.

 

Even in rural areas, I would say that $16,000 is too low.  Even if you look at the living wage calculator for ruralish college towns like State College, PA (Penn State), West Lafayette, IN (Purdue) and Ann Arbor, MI (Michigan), the living wage is above $16,000.  In fact, I would argue that there are very, very few college towns where that would be an adequate salary.  Also, the source is meant to be a "living wage" - in other words, the bare minimum necessary to get the essentials of living, scraping the bottom of the barrel.

 

So personally I would say around $20-25K is needed to live comfortably but frugally in smaller towns and cities, and $25-35K is necessary in the larger/more expensive cities like Boston, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc.

[nugget]

Do you plan to have a roommate, own a car, or eat out at restaurants a lot? All of these things will make a big difference in how much money you will need. If you can provide a bit more information, someone here might be able to give you more accurate estimates.

[random17]

Like everyone else said, it depends a whole lot on what city you live in. On the other hand, I currently live in a high COL city (Toronto) and spend about $20,000 a year. If I didn't have a car or pets (car insurance here is ridiculously expensive), that would go down to $17,000.

 

Essentially, I don't think $16,000 is completely unreasonable, as long as you're willing to make some amount of compromises. I rarely go out to bars, but I will spent $15-20/month on alcohol to drink at home. I also cook most of my own food, make my own coffee, and rarely buy new clothes (about $300-worth in the past year), but none of these choices are ones that make me unhappy.

 

Personally, I find the two major expenses are food and rent, because I've decided they aren't things that I'm currently willing to compormise on. I pay $750/month in rent and $250/month in groceries/alcohol, so that's two-thirds of my yearly budget right there. Rent (depending on where you're living) is fairly easy to bring down by either choosing to live with roommates or in a smaller apartment--when I was a grad student in Boston I paid only $400/month in rent because my apartment was considerably smaller than where I currently live. Similarly, my grocery bill was $100 a month cheaper in Boston for exactly the same kinds of food, because food and alcohol are much more expensive in my current city.

 

I should also add that I don't have to pay for health insurance--as an intl student that might be something you run up against that could be expensive.

 

[obaka]

Depending on your field of study/school, you may get a stipend for living expenses. Having your tuition covered already should definitely help with acceptances.

[TakeruK]

MIT's living wage calculator also seems to agree with my location, although I would note that this is basically the minimum amount of money to survive, but not really enough to have luxuries (such as a car) or if you have larger than average expenses (such as increased health costs). 

 

I think the way to approach these numbers depend on the context. If you are looking to see how much you need to dig into any savings (or loans) to complete a program, then I'd consider these numbers as a minimum. However, another reason to ask this question is to figure out how much of a stipend do you need at each school. That is, to judge whether or not the stipend you are being offered is "enough".

 

In my high cost of living location, the minimum living wage is similar to Juilletmercredi's numbers (maybe just a little bit lower). Grad students in my program are paid about 25%-30% above this minimum number, which I think is a good level to set as the minimum stipend you should accept (in my opinion). Getting about 25%-30% above the minimum means that most students here are able to enjoy not having to constantly stress about finances, being able to eat out or go for drinks in moderation, save up money for the future, and if you save for a couple of years, most people are able to buy a used car. At many other places though, the stipend offered is somewhere around 50% to 70% higher than the minimum living wage, which would be really great if you can get that. Don't forget that even though we get school and a living stipend paid for, grad school is a long time and a lot of work, and ideally, we should be able to come out of this being able to save up (and able to pay for the next move!).

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

It really depends on a few things:

 

1) Like most people have said, WHERE you live is important. I'm from New York City. It's not only difficult to live on $12,000-$16,000 a year, it's impossible. Any small town/rural area will be the cheapest. And all those irrelevant states in the middle of the country are very cheap to live. (Wonder why nobody still want to live there.) You'd be surprised to know how many fairly affordable major-ish cities there are. Places like Miami, Seattle, Portland, Austin, and other places can be pretty affordable. Places like New York City, Boston, San Francisco are impossibly expensive. 

 

2) It also depends on how savvy you are with finding cheap places to live. An American is usually familiar with the area so they know how to navigate websites like Craigslist and find a decent place to live. Most Americans I know are also willing to live in any type of conditions, with any type of roommates. The majority of International students, in my opinion, foolishly overspend on housing. They don't take advantage of websites like Craigslist and they're not comfortable living with random roommates. They'd rather overspend on university housing with other International students from their own country. I know an Indian girl who talked for a year about how she couldn't wait to live with random American roommates, and once she got her she moved into an all Indian house owned by the university. 

 

3) It depends on how glamorous of a circumstances you're willing to live in. I keep mentioning Craigslist. You can find some decent cheap places (especially in cities with universities), but most people on Craigslist are trying to scam you. You have to be smart. Also, what else do you need besides housing? Do you need an unlimited 4G LTE smartphone contract? Or can you settle with a $40 a month 3G plan from some prepaid phone company like Metro PCS? Do you need a $65 a month gym membership from some overpriced place like LA Fitness or are you willing to workout at home or the university gym? Do you need a car? Are you willing to get around via public transportation, walking or bicycle? Many universities give you a free public transportation card. What are you going to eat? Are you going to go out to eat on a regular basis to better get to know your American classmates? American grad students do a lot of mixing and mingling via restaurants, bars and clubs. But if you want to live for cheap, you won't be able to go out with them. If you buy ALL your food from discount grocery stores, you could probably survive on $200-$300 a month. 

 

So, in summary, let's say you're willing to live in any conditions. You can find a VERY cheap place on Craigslist (most likely in a dangerous neighborhood and with a psychotic roommate) for $500-$600 a month. Not to mention, when you move in you'll most likely have to pay first and last month's rent plus a security deposit. So even a dirt cheap place can cost $1,500 to move in. You'll most likely have a cell phone, so you can do a cheap prepaid plan for about $50 a month. Not to mention, it might cost a few hundred to buy the phone. If your school doesn't provide transportation and you need to take the bus, it might run you about $100 a month. And let's say you never go out to eat, never go out to drink or party, and you only eat at home. You can get buy on $200-$300 a month on food. So that's $1,000 a month, and that's in ideal conditions. If you need a car, you're pretty much fucked. Cars, even cheap ones, can be very expensive. 1) You have to buy the car. 2) Monthly insurance is expensive. 3) Gas is through the roof. 4) A cheap car WILL have a lot of problems, so any money you had saved will go toward new tires, oil changes, tune ups, and more serious repairs. 

[Kamisha]

Even if you live cheap, $16K is not a lot. You are basically right at the poverty line or just above it. And, like the person above me said, it varies on so many factors. Location is huge. 

 

Unfortunately, $16K  seems to be on the high end for most graduate stipends. You have to get really, really crafty to live on so little. People do it, but know that it is a real challenge. 

 

Take comfort in knowing that we’re all broke together. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrCoyVK80I

[aberrant]

Unfortunately, $16K  seems to be on the high end for most graduate stipends. You have to get really, really crafty to live on so little. People do it, but know that it is a real challenge. 

 

not true. it totally depends on your field and IF this is for a science program, $16K is extremely low. For science programs, I know that it can range from $20K to $36K, depends on school and location.

[Kamisha]

not true. it totally depends on your field and IF this is for a science program, $16K is extremely low. For science programs, I know that it can range from $20K to $36K, depends on school and location.

 

Oh, the plight of the Humanities. Some schools get away with giving PhD candidates in English a $9K stipend per year. It’s sick.