I need a job…

Living off campus is definitely less expensive than living on campus, but it is far from cheap. The cost of living on campus is $4,750 for a traditional room plus $160 telecommunications fee. Add in a mandatory meal plan for $2,500 and you are looking at $7410 per year. A lot of people complain about the mandatory meal plan, but I know a lot of people who would have starved without it.

I live in a three bedroom apartment, and the rent is $1250 per month.  That comes out to $417 per month per person. You can round that off to $500/ month when you include gas, electricity, cable and internet. Since we are in school for 8 months out of the year, the cost of the room is $4000. Estimate about $2000 for food and the total is $6000.

Long story short: Price of living on campus = $7410, Price of living in an off-campus apartment: $6000 (estimated)

The estimated price is a very rough number though; there are a lot of hidden costs. The biggest issue is furnishing the apartment. All that you need to bring to a dorm room is blankets, clothes, and maybe a TV. Moving into an empty apartment can be really expensive if you don’t already have furniture for it.

This brings me to the title of my blog, I need a job... I have worked full time over the past 8 months and I have saved up a good amount of money. But my last internship ended two weeks ago, and I have been spending a little more than I would like. Too keep my savings from completely disappearing; I need to find a part time job quickly.

Earlier this week my professor asked me to be a TA for one of the plastics engineering labs! There is a slight time constraint with one of my classes, but hopefully we can work something out. I have wanted to be a TA for a long time. I also went back to an auto shop I used to work at to see if I could get my old job back. Everyone seemed excited to see me there, but the boss wasn’t sure if there was anything for me. I should be finding out about those this upcoming week. So for now I am keeping my fingers crossed.  I don’t want to go from blogging about my apartment, to blogging about being homeless!

-Guthrie Gordon