Family: Single
Student Loans: $11,000 so far
Credit Card Balance: $800
Goal: I’m thinking about moving out of the dorm and into an apartment. I have no idea what to expect in terms of expenses. Should I get a roommate? Do I need apartment insurance? I want to have fun, but I don’t want to graduate with tons of debt. I still want to go to dental school. And I know that I will be incurring a lot more student loan debt, like $150,000 more! Ahhhhhh!

Pete the Planner says: Settle down. There is no need to scream, or were you yawning? Anyway, let’s take a look at the main differences between dorm life and apartment life. A typical state school’s room and board costs are approximately $7,400. So the question now becomes, can you live and eat in an apartment for less than $822/month ($7400/9{months that you are at school})?

Lucy, as you are about to learn: money decisions rarely have anything to do with money. You can drive yourself nuts trying to figure out all the costs of moving across campus. You have to figure in distance to classes, energy costs at your new place, furniture for your apartment, and we haven’t even addressed the concept of roommates. Here are your main expenses to know about: rent, electricity, gas, water, renters insurance (don’t skip this), cable (you don’t need this), and food. I believe that you can easily save money buy renting an apartment, but there is more to think about.

College is such an incredibly unique experience. It’s a great time to develop some real world problem solving skills. Let’s work on those problem-solving skills right now. Clearly you aren’t paying for your room and board with your monthly income. You are paying for room and board with student loans. Okay, so what is a student loan? It is a loan to a student, a student that doesn’t have any money. The big problem with student loans is that most college students forget about the payback part while they are in college. The bottom line is that the less that you spend, then the less loans you will need. If the numbers work, and they usually do with roommates, then proceed ahead.

But no matter what, I encourage you to continue your frugal ways. You don’t want to have to fix 15,000 cavities just to pay off your pesky loans.