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Are schools' COAs typically accurate and based on similar lifestyle assumptions? Obviously people spend different amounts of money, but when it come time to compare costs at different schools, am I better off relying on the published COA or trying to do my own estimations?

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bee wrote:also, im sure you've seen this, but in case you havent, gulc's coa calculator: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admission ... geid=61621

Thanks; I think I'd seen that referenced, but I've never actually seen it.

From what I've seen they tend to be high. They assume you will live in an above average one bedroom apartment. You can live off much less than they assume.

bee wrote:

midwest17 wrote:Are schools' COAs typically accurate and based on similar lifestyle assumptions? Obviously people spend different amounts of money, but when it come time to compare costs at different schools, am I better off relying on the published COA or trying to do my own estimations?

interested in this too.

also, im sure you've seen this, but in case you havent, gulc's coa calculator: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admission ... geid=61621

The Georgetown calculator uses the old interest rates on Stafford and Grad PLUS loans. Here's a similar calculator from BU with updated interest rates: http://www.bu.edu/law/prospective/finan ... alculator/

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Maybe they do assume you live in an "above average" apartment and I'll admit that it's been a while since I was 22 so maybe I've made some bad spending habits in my old age. But...I wouldn't realistically expect that you'll spend significantly less than the COL assessments they give you. Absolutely it's possible to live on less but from my experience, realistically speaking, you're going to spend most of it.