Stanford Cost of Living

[ohhemingway]

Hi! I'm hoping to get information about what the cost of going to school in Stanford is. I've been offered a stipend of $30,000 for the academic year (summer is separate). I hear Palo Alto is incredibly expensive, though, so if anyone could break down costs it would be wonderful. I prefer sharing space with people and don't mind cooking for myself. My only concern is saving enough to take a $400 flight to see my SO every (other?) month. Would that be at all possible given how expensive Palo Alto is? Any advice is appreciated.

[123hardasABC]

Seeing as there are no other responses, I figure should chime in and lend the biggest helping hand I can (which isn't much). I went to the rival school on the other side of the Bay (Cal), but it's in the same general area, so I'll tell you what I learned from my experience in the Bay Area. I don't know what level of cost-of-living you're used to but I can tell you it's more expensive than LA, but cheaper than NYC. 

 

I also don't know if Stanford offers any student housing opportunities for graduate students or not, because otherwise, housing is really variable depending on your preference. If you share a room and are willing to commute, then it can be affordable. Otherwise......good luck, because even for the cheapest accommodations, you'll still be overpaying. In terms of food and entertainment, it's more expensive compared to most places in the US. You'll struggle to find cheap fresh fruit and produce. Eating out will be expensive unless you're willing to go down a few notches in the health safety scale (but! if you are, that's where all the best food is!!). Utilities, you'll find that certain companies will have a monopoly in your area so you'll be forced to pay their exorbitant rates. For me it was PGE and Comcast. But, despite all these faults, the Bay Area has been my favorite place to live. I miss it every day.

 

I can also tell you that I also did a long distance relationship at my time at Berkeley, but I was unable to save the money for flights. Because in the end, I wanted to enjoy myself in the SF/Bay Area and go out, shop, and eat out. BUT, if you're willing to trim down these spendings, it should be possible to save the money.

 

So on that bombshell, yes, if you're willing to sacrifice some luxuries and can find the time in your graduate studies, you can fly out every other month-ish to see your SO. Because in graduate school, it's not so much whether or not you can afford the money, it's if you can afford the time.

 

 

And please don't kill my alma mater at the next Big Game.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully my drunken ramblings can provide some insight.

[seeingeyeduck]

Yeah, I live in the area and while it is possible to get by with $30K, it will be tight and there won't be much in the way of luxuries or travel aside from what you save for flights. To give you some idea, the costs here have become pretty comparable to NYC, if not worse, because at least NYC has more random little cheap street eats or cheap hoods. There is no such thing as a cheap hood near Palo Alto. To give you some perspective, there are a lot of tech people here and their average salary is $100K. Unless you're from NYC already, take your current budget and add 30-40% to it. That's how much you'll likely need to maintain your current lifestyle in the Bay.

 

But in concrete terms, a lot of your budget will depend on what housing you can live with. Since you're willing to share a room (maybe around $700+/mo), you will have a lot more leeway. Eating out here costs >$6 for a premade sandwich to >$10 for the cheapest sit down meal (closer to $20 by the time you add tax and tip). If you don't eat out too often, it can be manageable. If I were single, my grocery budget would be $40-50/wk, but that's because I shop at the Asian stores (there's one in Milpitas, I think, but that takes a car to get to) and mainly batch cook a lot of noodle soups. The benefit of the Asian store is cheap produce, but it's not gonna be organic. There's a Trader Joe's right by campus, which is fairly affordable, but I would assume it's a little more to shop there or at Safeway.

 

Gas here fluctuates from 3.60-$4.50/g. It's usually about $65 to fill up from almost empty for me. If you bike (or only drive once a week or so), don't drink out, don't buy coffee out, don't have cable and don't eat out, it's doable. I don't know if you have savings, but I'm assuming you'd want a little bit of emergency money and not just be down to your last penny all the time, so budget hard before you come out here.

 

If you give us a bit more about your lifestyle, we can give you a better idea. I think you could still save enough for flights, but it all depends on what else you'd like in your life - ie other travel, entertainment (a movie at night would be around $12), shopping, etc. You can get cheap clothes and shoes at chains if you're okay with that, and if you can live without Netflix, Stanford's Green Library has an insanely comprehensive DVD library (though it tends not to have trashier fare).

Edited February 23, 2014 by seeingeyeduck

[CardTricks]

Hi! I'm hoping to get information about what the cost of going to school in Stanford is. I've been offered a stipend of $30,000 for the academic year (summer is separate). I hear Palo Alto is incredibly expensive, though, so if anyone could break down costs it would be wonderful. I prefer sharing space with people and don't mind cooking for myself. My only concern is saving enough to take a $400 flight to see my SO every (other?) month. Would that be at all possible given how expensive Palo Alto is? Any advice is appreciated.

 

I actually just visited Stanford for a PhD program. Housing through Stanford is very affordable, and the graduate housing options are very nice. They told us that they guarantee housing for the first year and it varies from around $800 up to $1400 depending on the type of rooming situation. The stipend for PhD is around $34k a year so I think its comparable to what you are getting. Current grad students told me that they lived comfortably and never had to worry that they couldn't afford any necessities. Traveling every other month for $400 doesn't seem unreasonable, but you may not be able to afford as many luxuries as your fellow grads. 

[hikaru1221]

I actually just visited Stanford for a PhD program. Housing through Stanford is very affordable, and the graduate housing options are very nice. They told us that they guarantee housing for the first year and it varies from around $800 up to $1400 depending on the type of rooming situation. The stipend for PhD is around $34k a year so I think its comparable to what you are getting. Current grad students told me that they lived comfortably and never had to worry that they couldn't afford any necessities. Traveling every other month for $400 doesn't seem unreasonable, but you may not be able to afford as many luxuries as your fellow grads. 

 

Bryc, so how about housing for subsequent years? I have a rough idea based on the statistics found on their webpage, but I want to check.

[CardTricks]

I only know as much as they told me, so I may be wrong. 

 

Most of the housing options allow you to retain and you can live there for the duration without going through the lottery. 

 

However, some of the housing options (I think Munger) don't allow you to retain and you have to go through the lottery again. The lottery system is just how it sounds, you may get unlucky and not get anything. However, as a first year they make sure you get housing so they actually subsidize off campus housing in apartment complexes to fulfill that guarantee. These apartments cannot be retained unfortunately, so you will have to go through the lottery again the following year. 

 

So if you're lucky, you will be placed somewhere your first year that you like and that you can retain. 

[ohhemingway]

Thank you all for being so helpful!

[Crucial BBQ]

I am from Nor Cal.  All I can really offer is that you will find cheaper housing in San Jose. 

[starofdawn]

I'm pretty sure that there are free shuttles to campus from the Palo Alto Caltrain stop. This opens your availability to live in other cities on the peninsula, if you are OK with taking the train.

 

Redwood City/San Carlos/Belmont/San Mateo are less expensive than Palo Alto and Menlo Park, although not significantly cheaper. Parts of Redwood City can be unsafe, be sure to check out the area before signing a lease. All 4 cities have fun things to do.

 

Avoid East Palo Alto.

 

Mountain View is just south of Palo Alto, with a nice downtown area. Cheaper than PA/Menlo.

 

Sunnyvale is just south of MV, but does not have a great night life. Probably the cheapest area to live besides Redwood City.

 

Here is the Caltrain website and schedule: http://www.caltrain.com/schedules/weekdaytimetable.html

 

Source: Lived in MV for 2 years and San Carlos for the past 8 months.

[ohhemingway]

Thanks! Very helpful stuff.

[maelia8]

Hi, I'm interested in this topic as I got admitted to Berkeley and was wondering if their funding package is going to be enough for me to live on - the stipend they offered is $22,000 per year (including GSIships/academic fellowships), about $15,000 of which is tuition and student fees. I'm going to the visit day in two weeks and I will talk with current grad students then, but does anybody who has lived in the Bay Area have any insight as to whether I will be able to live on this? Will I need to take out loans and get two side jobs in order to survive? Is it cheaper to sign up for university housing/co-ops, or look for a roommate situation in Berkeley?

[maelia8]

To add: I haven't submitted my FAFSA yet to find out what grants or loans I am eligible for, but I assume that's all I'll be getting in terms of funding from Berkeley itself.

[123hardasABC]

Hi, I'm interested in this topic as I got admitted to Berkeley and was wondering if their funding package is going to be enough for me to live on - the stipend they offered is $22,000 per year (including GSIships/academic fellowships), about $15,000 of which is tuition and student fees. I'm going to the visit day in two weeks and I will talk with current grad students then, but does anybody who has lived in the Bay Area have any insight as to whether I will be able to live on this? Will I need to take out loans and get two side jobs in order to survive? Is it cheaper to sign up for university housing/co-ops, or look for a roommate situation in Berkeley?

 

 

I went to Berkeley as an undergrad, and I'll tell you that it's pretty expensive. Most of the graduate students I know don't have part-time jobs; I don't think there's really time for it. So yeah...a small loan may be necessary depending on how much of your own money you're willing to contribute towards normal cost-of-living. Eating out is expensive, BART tickets will add up, and the sales tax is horrendous. I found university housing to be overpriced but it is the easiest option, close to campus, and safe. Co-ops are often competitive (for undergrads anyway) but if you can get in one, it'll definitely be the cheapest option. The best option in my opinion is to find your own apartment. Roommates are easy to find. It's a large university and in a very popular area; there are always people looking for a place to live. Just look around on Craigslist, ask around on reddit.com/r/berkeley, or even advertise yourself around campus. 

 

All-in-all. Berkeley is expensive. Most things in the Bay Area are expensive. But it's so worth it. Good luck and have fun!

[theonewhogrins]

I actually go to stanford right now as a masters. As long as you make the deadlines and stuff, you're guaranteed housing for at least the first year. The majority of the residences as well, as long as you don't pick a sept-june contract, let you pretty much stay in the same spot as long as you're on time about deadlines. On campus housing is some of the cheapest and most convenient housing around (as long as you don't get put into overflow?)

 

They're just opening up a new residence here, so that should mean more housing for grad students and less overflow housing. Cost-wise, I live in a 2BR apartment on campus and pay ~$950ish more like $1000 a month with activities fees and everything. Generally, housing costs around that plus or minus $100 unless you ask to be in the expensive places. Seriously, go with on campus housing. Looking for housing off campus is a headache since you're competing with all the silicon valley techies... and you're a grad student vs someone with a job. If you live on campus too, they'll put on events and stuff so at least you sometimes have the option of subsidized or free food/beer. (So much free beer.)

 

30K will definitely be enough to support you for a whole year if you don't have anything else to spend your stipend on. I'm actually only on a 15K stipend, and generally that's been enough to get by and still go out and do fun things occassionally... if you don't have to pay for health insurance. Seriously, that's like the most expensive thing I pay for right now. $1.3K a quarter, gone. I pay for housing and food out of my stipend, as well as books. This is assuming though, that your tuition is not coming out of your stipend...

 

East Bay is definitely cheaper than the South bay as far as everything else goes. (Farmers Markets in the east bay as far as I know are actually cheap to go to...) Palo Alto is unfortunately expensive. Cooking at home helps a *lot*. I'm told by guys too, that on campus eating places are actually worth the money cause I think like, all you care to eat dinners are around... 9-10$? They're cheaper when you buy them in bulk. A lot of my guy friends do that haha.

 

For food, Milk Pail is excellent if you can use your produce in a timely manner (for everything else, safeway or trader joes). Avoid the farmer's market in Palo Alto, it's kind of expensive. I try really hard not to think about how much I spend on food every month, but I would say anywhere between 400-800? I cook sometimes and I eat out sometimes. Most campus food is expensive. If you eat out it's really easy to spend $20 on dinner alone on average, unless you're actively hunting for cheap places.

 

Check out craigslist and supost (stanford's internal craiglist for students). You can get cheap/free things on there, especially around when people are moving out or at the end of summer.

 

Driving is expensive, but so is caltrain and zipcars. On campus parking fee actually was less than I expected.

 

But yeah, even if you have a car, as long as your tuition isn't coming out of your 30K stipend, you should be fiiiine.

Edited February 27, 2014 by theonewhogrins

[seeingeyeduck]

I second that move-out times are a bonanza. Someone I know always goes dumpster diving then and he literally finds multiple Apple laptops just thrown away, some which are working perfectly fine... Ridiculous!

Also wanted to point out - stipends are taxed, right? So you end up with 15% less than the stated stipend? I'm not sure though.

[maelia8]

This is probably a dumb question, but I have to ask … how do you know if your tuition is subtracted from your listed stipend amount on your fellowship offer, or if that number is independent of the tuition costs? My offer worded it like this:

 

$xx,xxx academic year stipend.

The department pays for your tuition and fees (including the student services fee, campus fee, class pass/transit fee, and

document management fee), estimated at $xx,xxx, and your health insurance, estimated at $xx,xxx. If you are not a

X state resident, the department will also pay for your nonresident supplemental tuition (NRST), estimated at

$xx.xxx.

 

Does this mean that my tuition is part of the stipend figure listed, or not?

[ohhemingway]

I actually go to stanford right now as a masters. As long as you make the deadlines and stuff, you're guaranteed housing for at least the first year. The majority of the residences as well, as long as you don't pick a sept-june contract, let you pretty much stay in the same spot as long as you're on time about deadlines. On campus housing is some of the cheapest and most convenient housing around (as long as you don't get put into overflow?)

 

They're just opening up a new residence here, so that should mean more housing for grad students and less overflow housing. Cost-wise, I live in a 2BR apartment on campus and pay ~$950ish more like $1000 a month with activities fees and everything. Generally, housing costs around that plus or minus $100 unless you ask to be in the expensive places. Seriously, go with on campus housing. Looking for housing off campus is a headache since you're competing with all the silicon valley techies... and you're a grad student vs someone with a job. If you live on campus too, they'll put on events and stuff so at least you sometimes have the option of subsidized or free food/beer. (So much free beer.)

 

30K will definitely be enough to support you for a whole year if you don't have anything else to spend your stipend on. I'm actually only on a 15K stipend, and generally that's been enough to get by and still go out and do fun things occassionally... if you don't have to pay for health insurance. Seriously, that's like the most expensive thing I pay for right now. $1.3K a quarter, gone. I pay for housing and food out of my stipend, as well as books. This is assuming though, that your tuition is not coming out of your stipend...

 

East Bay is definitely cheaper than the South bay as far as everything else goes. (Farmers Markets in the east bay as far as I know are actually cheap to go to...) Palo Alto is unfortunately expensive. Cooking at home helps a *lot*. I'm told by guys too, that on campus eating places are actually worth the money cause I think like, all you care to eat dinners are around... 9-10$? They're cheaper when you buy them in bulk. A lot of my guy friends do that haha.

 

For food, Milk Pail is excellent if you can use your produce in a timely manner (for everything else, safeway or trader joes). Avoid the farmer's market in Palo Alto, it's kind of expensive. I try really hard not to think about how much I spend on food every month, but I would say anywhere between 400-800? I cook sometimes and I eat out sometimes. Most campus food is expensive. If you eat out it's really easy to spend $20 on dinner alone on average, unless you're actively hunting for cheap places.

 

Check out craigslist and supost (stanford's internal craiglist for students). You can get cheap/free things on there, especially around when people are moving out or at the end of summer.

 

Driving is expensive, but so is caltrain and zipcars. On campus parking fee actually was less than I expected.

 

But yeah, even if you have a car, as long as your tuition isn't coming out of your 30K stipend, you should be fiiiine.

Wow! You live on a 15K stipend in Palo Alto?! That's amazing... How much do they take out each month in taxes, if you don't mind me asking? And no, tuition and health insurance and fees are paid for separately from the stipend. 

[astreaux]

This is probably a dumb question, but I have to ask … how do you know if your tuition is subtracted from your listed stipend amount on your fellowship offer, or if that number is independent of the tuition costs? My offer worded it like this:

 

$xx,xxx academic year stipend.

The department pays for your tuition and fees (including the student services fee, campus fee, class pass/transit fee, and

document management fee), estimated at $xx,xxx, and your health insurance, estimated at $xx,xxx. If you are not a

X state resident, the department will also pay for your nonresident supplemental tuition (NRST), estimated at

$xx.xxx.

 

Does this mean that my tuition is part of the stipend figure listed, or not?

The stipend should be separate money paid to you on top of your tuition/fees remission and health insurance.