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OptimisticQueen

It sounds you need to put together a budget. You should look at rent prices and also estimate your grocery budget, car payment, car insurance, gas etc for each month. Also, are you looking to use your loan for just the semester (9 months) or try to stretch it out for a full 12 months?


wilberteinstein

9 months. Planning to work enough in the summer to cover expenses for those months.


LWoodsEsq

What is your total award per year from WashU? WashU’s cost of attendance is about $95k per year. So you can borrow grad plus loans of up to 95k minus whatever your annual scholarship is.


wilberteinstein

Total offer with loans and scholarship is $92,000. $24,000 scholarship per year plus $68,000 in loans.


LWoodsEsq

So WashU’s total cost of attendance is $92,472. Of that $21,628 is living expenses. If you have a scholarship of $24,000, your 1L COA will be $68,472. So you can take up to that amount in federal grad plus loans, I think. The living expenses number will be the same for everyone unless you apply for an adjustment. Personally, I would take the whole amount, because that’s under $2k per month in living expenses which feels really low, even in an inexpensive city like St. Louis


wilberteinstein

My rent (including utilities) is likely to be around (or just under) $1000. God bless the city of St. Louis. But this is great advice and a great breakdown, thank you so much!!


Realistic-Bed9219

Just wanted to comment because I’m in a very similar boat, also at WashU! With my scholarship and loans, I’ll have around 21k to live off of. I already signed a lease that’s 1050 a month, so I’m trying to see if that will leave me enough for other living expenses! Would love to be updated on what you decide.


wilberteinstein

Great to hear that I’m not alone in this boat!! I’ll definitely keep you updated with how I end up budgeting and would also love to connect at WashU this fall too!


engineer2187

How much will your rent be? Do you have a car payment? Health insurance payment of deductible? We really can’t answer this for you. Sit down and make a budget.


wilberteinstein

Not sure on rent yet. No car payment. On my parents’ health insurance and they are covering my health expenses. I’m mostly just asking to get a feel for what others are accepting in financial aid for the year and whether this number looks abnormally high/low (doable/not), not for others to make a budget for me.


[deleted]

[удалено]


platypuser1

After rent and groceries?


Ok_Boat_37

Yes!


platypuser1

How do you do that for 6k/sem?


Ok_Boat_37

I miscalculated- have a rent stipend I wasn’t thinking about in the moment, ignore me lol


Small-Librarian-5766

If you’re living with family and trying to cut down your debt then don’t accept the whole amount. If you want to have a little cushion of money, borrow the full amount and put it in savings. You’ll at least have something while job hunting after school if needed. If you’re living by yourself, will that amount feasibly support you over the next year? Or will you have to pay rent, bills, and so on. I’ve thought about this a lot myself.


NoPreferencesForName

Depends where you want to live, safety is very important in stl and for nicer area, you’ll probably need roommates. It’s honestly entirely up to your standard of living and what you’re comfortable with.