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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, August 7, 2003

College cost includes much more than tuition

By Nishad Majmudar
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

You might be a student ready to head off to your first year of college.

You paid your tuition, you received your dormitory assignment, you talked to your future roommate and you're all set to get on campus and start the year. But have you thought about how much to budget for personal expenses?

Such expenses include parts of the college experience not covered by tuition: those $50 history textbooks, that late-night pizza, movie tickets and other discretionary spending.

Most colleges release "cost of attendance" figures, giving incoming students an idea of how much to budget for personal expenses.

The amount of money a student might want to carry depends on spending habits. Nonetheless, college planning advisers say it is better for students to have more money than what the university recommends for a personal expense budget.

The first thing to keep in mind is that such costs as textbooks, for example, are usually underestimated by colleges, said Timothy Hayes, president of Landmark Financial Advisory Services in Pittsford, N.Y. Hayes is also the executive director of the National Institute of Certified College Planners.

In his experience as adjunct professor at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., Hayes said, students expect to buy only one or two textbooks for each course. But they soon find out that each course requires multiple textbooks.

"Book expenses are normally double than what they indicate. It's not uncommon for a course to have several textbooks, and once those things start to add up, they add up very quickly," he said.

Transportation expenses also vary. A student who commutes to college, for instance, might have a higher transportation cost than one who lives on campus.

Other issues:

• Paying for personal expenses. Because of increased tuition, "students may be under more pressure to foot the bill," Hayes said.

For that reason, more students are getting jobs. The best student jobs pay around $6 an hour.

"Every office in the college hires students," said Rick Kincaid, associate director of career services at the State University of New York at Brockport.

• Using a debit card or credit card.

Hayes said this is the student's or parent's judgment call. He warned that credit cards introduce the temptation of spending more.