Paying for college

Some other tips to make money/lower your costs: You may not be able to get a high paying job this summer, but your sophomore year (especially if you happen to be engineering) you can get a decent paying internship. I know someone who got a $19/hr, 40 hr per week with housing including. I was a psych major and got a $17/hr, 35 hr peer week internship in NoVA and just stayed with relatives in the area to save on housing. So you could make the above amounts pretty easily if you’re proactive and secure an internship.

Also, after your freshman year, you can move off campus and save on housing. If you search early with roommates, you could secure a place for $300 per month. I’ve even seen rooms in apartments going for $275 - just don’t go with the big rental companies. That would cut your housing cost to less than $4000 per year.

You also don’t need to get a meal plan after you move off campus. You could work in a dining hall if you need part time work, and each 4 hour shift comes with a meal in that dining hall.

There are also some jobs around campus that pay $10-$12/hr. Further off campus, I know of a place that hired pretty often that paid $15/hr for 16-20 hours per week.