January 11th, 2010 by Natalie Hikel

Two years ago it was nearly impossible to get a Nintendo^® Wii^™, but I had to have one, despite the fact that it was a bit out of my price range. So I saved my money, searched Craigslist, and agreed to pay more than the retail price to have one in my hands right away. And then, there I was with my Wii… and the one game it came with… that I couldn’t play with anyone because I only had one remote. I quickly realized to achieve the level of enjoyment I had envisioned I needed more remotes and more games, an extra Nunchuk^™, a charging station, wheels for Mario Kart^™, an extra guitar for Guitar Hero^®, and the list went on and on. What started off as a $300 purchase quickly snowballed into a much more expensive entertainment investment. And that my friends, is a lesson in hidden costs—those extra expenses that never occur to us at first.

If I only had money to fill this mini-fridge!

When calculating the cost of college, in addition to tuition, you have to consider the hidden costs. If you are planning to go away to school, surely you have factored room and board into your budget, but have you thought about the added costs of pizza nights? And you are not always going to want to eat in the cafeteria so factor in money to buy the occasional groceries and a microwave and mini-fridge. What about decorating your dorm room? I’m not suggesting that everyone needs to have designer digs, but at a minimum you will probably need to buy bedding, a few storage containers, maybe a fan, and a lamp to read by. This of course implies that you will be reading in college, necessitating the purchase of text books and some office supplies.

When thinking about your costs of college, will you have a car on campus… a car that requires a parking permit and gas? How will you get home for breaks? If you are close enough to hitch a ride with a fellow student, you’ll want to pitch in for gas money. Otherwise be sure to budget for your plane, train, or bus ticket home. Most of you will probably do more than sit in your room studying all of the time, so plan to have funds available to attend social events and explore your new surroundings. Oh, and don’t forget about laundry money! (I can hear the collective groan!)

It might be a tad depressing to add up all these additional costs of college, but by thinking of them ahead of time and properly budgeting, you should be able to find all kinds of deals on dorm necessities and save money for those pizza nights. The last thing you want to do is arrive at school excited for your new experience and be unable to fully partake. That would be like playing Wii tennis by yourself… you can do it, but trust me, it’s not nearly as fun as playing it with friends!

Tags: college budget, costs of college
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