In today’s mailbag, I received a question that was a fairly good one. If you plan on staying on campus at a dorm room, you’re probably going to want to know how much they are going to charge you.
The reason that you’re going to want to know this is because it may be cheaper to get an apartment, rather than stay in a dorm. In my opinion, an apartment will be a million times. Before you do this though, you will find that some colleges don’t allow freshman to stay off campus, so please refer to your school’s rule.
What does an average dorm room cost?
In 2010 dollars, you’re going to find that it’s going to widely vary from college to college. I did some research on five colleges and listed them below on the costs. Hopefully it will give you a better idea on what a dorm room is going to cost you.
These numbers are based as of August 2010:
- Arizona State University: $5,616 per academic year
- Michigan State University: $8,138 including a meal plan for the year
- Cornell University: $12, 650 for the year
- Villanova University: $10,620 for the year
- Georgetown University: $13,388 per academic year
These are just a sample of schools and as you can see, they are going to vary from state to state. If you want to know your school’s dorm room costs, you can simply do a search for, [your school + dorm room costs] and you should come across the school’s official page.
What is included in the cost?
Again, this is going to vary but from the colleges that I looked at above, it’s going to include your cable Internet/TV, your electricity, as well as some include your meal plans. Every school is going to have it’s own meal plan pricing.
For example, Michigan State’s pricing up there included the Silver meal plan. This plan is obviously different from the rest. Some plans give you unlimited access, while others give you a certain amount of meals that you can eat.
On average, you’re going to find that you will have to plan on spending at least 3,000 – 5,000 just for one academic year at the minimum. As you can see, it’s going to add up fairly fast. If you plan on staying on campus, you may want to look over your options, as you may find that it’s going to be incredibly cheaper to stay at home, rather than in a dorm.
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