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Hi guys,
I've decided to attend American University WCL. My family is paying for the majority of my schooling, with the condition I take care of my cost of living; I plan on taking out federal loans to finance that. I'm wondering, how reasonable are the cost of living estimates given by WCL, or any law school, for that matter? I'd prefer to take out as little as I can of unsubsidized loans, but I also don't want to back myself into too tight of a corner that I can't get out of. I haven't lived on my own for a little bit, and so I'm unfamiliar with my weekly or monthly expenditures on food, but 300/month seems like a lot to me, especially because I will be living with my bf and we'll probably eat/share some of the same food (he's in the same boat, going into LS so we're into splitting costs 50-50)..we'll also be living together so we'll cut costs there..I don't know if the book fees are reasonable, even--does this include recommended or superhelpful but not required books, or is it a strict price? I know I could start with the max and then scale back after the first semester to get a better picture of what I think is reasonable, but I'd prefer to be more informed than that before even taking the loans out so that I don't have to deal with the accruing interest on the unsubsidized loan. if any law students (esp. in the dc area) have anything to say about this, let me know. Thanks!

I go to American for grad school so let me help you with that COL question.

-Food is expensive, but if you keep it to eating out one night a week, I'd say you could get away with $200-300 a month.
-Transportation to AU WCL can be very expensive if you drive or commute from far away, say the other side of DC. My first year I spent $13/day on transportation costs. Not kidding. Assuming you live way closer and use metro, I'd say maybe $50/month. Having a car is unnecessary if you live in the district, but it is very nice to have if you live outside the district. That being said, you are gonna pay for that.
-Rent is anywhere from $1000 on up for a one bedroom 500sq ft apartment. You'd be better off sharing a 2 bedroom apartment. My best guess is that if your smart and share something, you will pay between $500-750/mo for rent.
-Utilities are going to be extra, so add in at least $50-100 for electricity costs (skyrocket in summer), $15 for water, $30 for internet, and $30 for cable tv. So if you are splitting everything, utilities may run you between say $60-100/mo.
-Add in whatever else you need to pay for, say clothes, oil changes, car insurance, dental insurance, stuff like that.

So I'd say at least $900/mo if you live frugally, probably more like $1200/mo, depending largely on your car, rent, and transportation costs.

So.. that equals around $15k/year, and thats really quite conservative. You might be able to get away with only doing unsubsidized. Good luck though.

cool, thanks, i appreciate your insights

Are you not eligible for subsidized Stafford loans?