It could, but it doesn’t have to. Educational Housing Service, a major NYC private dorm company for college students offers a double room within a suite in Cooper Union’s East Village neighborhood for $5500 per semester, or $11000 per year, just a quarter mile, or a 4-6 minute walk from Cooper Union depending on which classroom building you’re going to. There are a lot of campuses where your dorm is farther from your classroom building than that. So, how much a student spends on food will then determine room & board cost. By most estimates students can live more cheaply off campus as long as room rents are kept within control, which EHS accomplishes for students. Will he spend more than $8000 per year for food? Unlikely. $19000 is the cost of on campus room & board for freshmen, so $8000 is what he’d need as his food budget to match that.
Let’s remember that when we’re talking about living in NYC for $30,000 per year that we’re not talking about living in the City year round for a college student but more like 9 months of rent and 8 months of food costs. These dorm companies maximize cost efficiency by renting out the rooms in the summer when the students are not in school.
And by junior year, tuition should totally disappear, leaving room & board + a small college fee as the only costs.
I agree that s/he needs a budget.