Cost of living question Forum

[brianmck16]

I'm going to WVU in August. They estimate cost of living at about 11k a year. I've done a little math and don't find this to be realistic in my case at all. I pay $250 a month for my car (loan matures 07/2011) which will really eat into my loan money allotted for cost of living expensives. In addition I have a small private loan that I pay every month (less than $100) and also have a little credit card debt. I've been working all year to pay down some of my debt but the fact remains that I'll still have to be making these monthly payments for at least some of my law school career. I have some money saved up but it isn't going to get me very far, as I still need to furnish my apartment and pay for relocation costs. Factored with usual expenses (rent, utilities, etc.), I'm not sure that I'll be left with much (if any) money to work with to do things like eat. I'm under the understanding that one can sometimes get their cost of living adjusted in some cases, but not sure that any would apply in my situation. Are there other options, or is it easier to get COL adjusted than I am led to believe? I'm willing to sell my car and downgrade if I have to, but even still...I'm not quite sure that 11k is ample enough to live off of for almost a year, regardless if its WV or not. I appreciate any input. I'm a little lost with this whole process.

[romothesavior]

I think they are expecting you to live in their student housing:

[brianmck16]

I think they are expecting you to live in their student housing:

When in Rome...

[Doritos]

I am of the understanding that one can only increase their COA in specific circumstances like having children. The website says they increase COA for childcare and studying abroad and it seems that's it. --LinkRemoved--

edit: The only thing it seems you can get rid of out of the bunch would be the car. You save on insurance as well as that car payment.

[mugrad06]

For COL expenses they don't factor in car loan payments or credit card payments. I found this out during undergrad, federal loans can't be used for those, students did anyway or bought expensive toys with their refund. But I found the same holds true when getting loans for law school. Some even state on their financial aid pages that loans can't be used for those. Think its kind of stupid because that's an expensive we have to pay every month regardless of if we are in school or not. Also for housing/rent/ultities etc. they only calculate that for 9 mos (just for the school yr) and don't include summer.

[hank44]

Are you living near campus? If so, ditch the car unless you really need to be visiting family, etc more than once every couple months...even if they let you borrow more money to cover it, why bother? youre still paying it back, so id say borrow as little as you need to...i keep reading this a lot but its true: live like a student now, so you dont have to after you graduate...

I'm going to WVU in August. They estimate cost of living at about 11k a year. I've done a little math and don't find this to be realistic in my case at all. I pay $250 a month for my car (loan matures 07/2011) which will really eat into my loan money allotted for cost of living expensives. In addition I have a small private loan that I pay every month (less than $100) and also have a little credit card debt. I've been working all year to pay down some of my debt but the fact remains that I'll still have to be making these monthly payments for at least some of my law school career. I have some money saved up but it isn't going to get me very far, as I still need to furnish my apartment and pay for relocation costs. Factored with usual expenses (rent, utilities, etc.), I'm not sure that I'll be left with much (if any) money to work with to do things like eat. I'm under the understanding that one can sometimes get their cost of living adjusted in some cases, but not sure that any would apply in my situation. Are there other options, or is it easier to get COL adjusted than I am led to believe? I'm willing to sell my car and downgrade if I have to, but even still...I'm not quite sure that 11k is ample enough to live off of for almost a year, regardless if its WV or not. I appreciate any input. I'm a little lost with this whole process.

[Connelly]

I think they are expecting you to live in their student housing:

When in Rome...

...live in the best house in town, apparently. Not bad digs for WV.

[brianmck16]

Yeah, looks like I will definitely be selling the car/trading it in for an older one...NBD. The way that its looking though, I'm still going to be cutting it close. Between an electricity bill that will average out to $75 a month (so I'm told), an $80 cable/internet bill, an $80 cell phone bill and $650 a month in rent....still not quite sure where I'm going to find money for food and gas. From what I understand I'll be getting $1500 toward the purchase of a laptop. I already have one, so could that money go to other funds or do I have to document the fact that I got a laptop with receipts in order to get the money? Guess it worth asking the financial aid office about instead of expressing my concerns on a message board. If anyone has been keeping an eye on this thread, I'll let you know what happens. I've been wondering though: what do 1L's do for money over their first sumnmer, I understand a lot of people are only able to obtain unpaid internships?

[crw09]

Yeah, looks like I will definitely be selling the car/trading it in for an older one...NBD. The way that its looking though, I'm still going to be cutting it close. Between an electricity bill that will average out to $75 a month (so I'm told), an $80 cable/internet bill, an $80 cell phone bill and $650 a month in rent....still not quite sure where I'm going to find money for food and gas. From what I understand I'll be getting $1500 toward the purchase of a laptop. I already have one, so could that money go to other funds or do I have to document the fact that I got a laptop with receipts in order to get the money? Guess it worth asking the financial aid office about instead of expressing my concerns on a message board. If anyone has been keeping an eye on this thread, I'll let you know what happens. I've been wondering though: what do 1L's do for money over their first sumnmer, I understand a lot of people are only able to obtain unpaid internships?

I grew up in WV and am pretty familiar with Morgantown. Trade the car in for an older one if you need to, but you'll need a car to get around. The $650/mo rent sounds high, though, and you could find a nice enough place for considerably less than that, especially if you share -- that's more like the price of a relatively-cheap but not horrible 2/3 bedroom apartment/house. I think the 11k sound pretty doable for Morgantown for the academic year, but you probably wouldn't have much left over to life on in the summer if you are in an unpaid internship.

[brianmck16]

Yeah, looks like I will definitely be selling the car/trading it in for an older one...NBD. The way that its looking though, I'm still going to be cutting it close. Between an electricity bill that will average out to $75 a month (so I'm told), an $80 cable/internet bill, an $80 cell phone bill and $650 a month in rent....still not quite sure where I'm going to find money for food and gas. From what I understand I'll be getting $1500 toward the purchase of a laptop. I already have one, so could that money go to other funds or do I have to document the fact that I got a laptop with receipts in order to get the money? Guess it worth asking the financial aid office about instead of expressing my concerns on a message board. If anyone has been keeping an eye on this thread, I'll let you know what happens. I've been wondering though: what do 1L's do for money over their first sumnmer, I understand a lot of people are only able to obtain unpaid internships?

I grew up in WV and am pretty familiar with Morgantown. Trade the car in for an older one if you need to, but you'll need a car to get around. The $650/mo rent sounds high, though, and you could find a nice enough place for considerably less than that, especially if you share -- that's more like the price of a relatively-cheap but not horrible 2/3 bedroom apartment/house. I think the 11k sound pretty doable for Morgantown for the academic year, but you probably wouldn't have much left over to life on in the summer if you are in an unpaid internship.

When I was down the other week looking around, $650 was pretty standard. A lot of the apartment complexes were already full. I need to live by myself, at least for the first year, so that kind of limited my options. I also was just looking at their site and COL is now at $10,064, so they must have just changed it. I emailed financial aid so I can get to the bottom of it and also see if they do adjustments.