How Much Does Hopkins REALLY Cost?

ljbw
Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:03:38 +0000

Yes, $70,000 is quite a bit higher than most Hopkins students spend I would say. $55,000 sounds pretty accurate for an average student living on campus, maybe around $50,000 if you find a decent deal on off campus housing. This is without a car, mind you - I don’t have a car (and get along in Baltimore just fine with a bike/public transportation), so I really have no idea how much it would cost. It depends on your habits, largely. If you do a lot of eating out, going to bars, shopping, etc, it’s going to cost you. If you’re reasonably good at managing your finances though there’s no reason it should cost you $70,000.

In general, if you’re at a city school, you and your friends will want to go out and do stuff in the city (concerts, shopping, special events, trying out different bars/clubs/restaurants, etc, and of course all the cab fare back and forth) - which is more fun than hanging around a rural/small town campus, but also tends to be much more pricey.

As cities go, however, Baltimore has a pretty low cost of living. As an upperclassman, if you choose to live off campus, you can find a decent place nearby for yourself pretty easily in the $700-$800/month range, or $500-$600ish with roommates. Similar quality campus housing anywhere, or off-campus housing in other cities, usually is well over $1000/month. Same goes for groceries, eating out, bars, etc - in other cities, you’d be paying a lot more for the same quality of stuff.

In general, you’d probably spend more money at Hopkins than at a rural/small town private school, but less money than you would at most other city schools. I’ve also heard that St. Louis is crazy cheap. Stay away from New York and Boston though, if money is at all an issue.