Going to college, meeting new people, living away from home, it’s something that a lot of people look forward to, but how do you enjoy yourself once you calculate all the required expenses and realize you might not have enough money for college in Florida?
Most people find themselves having to either save up once they are able to start working at Publix or Winn Dixie (which is very young because they start hiring at 14 and 16), but because it’s so expensive they turn to getting personal loans to cover the cost of books, tuition, etc. and in some cases put their expenses on a credit card. What if we told you there’s a way to avoid that? Applying for Florida scholarships and grants are important because they give you the ability to pay for everything, without graduating with tons of debt.
What are things a college scholarship pays for?
Tuition
Tuition varies depending if you are attending a private or public school. On average if you attend a public school aka a “state” school the actual tuition is significantly less than a private school. Public schools also tend to be a bit bigger, so if you’re looking for an ultimate college experience filled with stadium style lecture halls, rowdy football games, tons of clubs and Greek life this may be the route you want to take. The great thing about using a college scholarship towards tuition is that this is one of the biggest expenses, which relieves you of the financial burden.
Dorms
Onto the second largest expense and that’s dorms. Yes, if you didn’t know dorm costs are separate from tuition and it can be ridiculously expensive. According to My College Guide, the average cost of a dorm room per year is anywhere from $8,000-$11,000. Applying for a college scholarship helps reduce these costs and allows you a little extra money to make your room very unique. If you haven’t gotten to tour a campus yet, decorating dorm rooms is a tradition at any college, and one you should enjoy!
Meal Plan
Between studying for tests and worrying about tuition, you have to eat at some point. Using a local, Florida scholarship is a great way to cut out this expense. The other thing that isn’t terrifying about this expense is that there’s different tiers you can pick. If you aren’t a breakfast person you can pick a meal plan that’s a lower cost with less meals. The other thing is to just use your credit card or debit card to buy small meals on the weekend to save. Believe it or not, sometimes buying your own meals can be cheaper.
Books
Depending on what you study this cost can either be manageable or terrifying. Luckily you can rent books not only from the bookstore, but from discounted college book rental websites like Chegg and TextBookRentals. If you’re a science major (health, psych, poly sci) your books might be on the more expensive end (sorry!), however marketing and business majors have less expensive options. This is something to consider when applying for Florida scholarships so you know the amount of money for college in Florida you’ll need.
These aren’t the only things that a college scholarship pays for, but these are some of the biggest expenses you’ll incur while attending school. Just because they can be expensive, shouldn’t shy you away from going to the school of your dreams, it should encourage you to get out there and find money for college in Florida. There’s tons of Florida scholarships, so apply for as many as you can to ultimately come out debt free!