The Cost of My Education - Essay Example

The Cost of My Education YOUR FULL YOUR INSTITUION OR SCHOOL The Cost of My Education The purpose of this paper is to use a six step process to calculate the overall costs associated with my education and determine if I have enough income to cover these costs or if I am likely to graduate with student debt. Step one. The basic expenses of my education can be categorized according to the frequency of their payment. The most significant annual cost I incur is the tuition for my classes and the insurance expense for my car.

Because I've chosen to live on campus, every semester I have to pay residency fees as well as meal plan expenses, buy books, pay student activity and parking fees, as well as miscellaneous educational expenses such as lab fees. On a monthly basis, I have to cover expenses related to my car, food and snacks not included in the meal plan, as well as all extracurricular activity and entertainment costs. Step two. Having established my expense categories, I am now positioned to estimate the actual dollar amounts for each and obtain an estimate for one year.

By using a spreadsheet, I am able to view this information by category and obtain an accurate calculation. My annual tuition is $15,000 and the insurance for my car is $4,200. Accordingly, my annual expenses add up to $19,200. Every semester my residency fees cost me $3,500 and the meal plan is $1,250. I expect my books to cost $300, my student activity and parking fees to be $100, and my lab fees to be $75. This means that my semester fees equal $5,225. Because I will be able to walk to class, I don't expect to spend much money on gas every month, about $50.

The rest of my monthly expenses should not be more than $250, making my monthly total while in school about $300. During the summer, I'll be living at home and will not have monthly expenses. I can now accumulate this information into a one-year estimate by adding my annual expenses ($19,200) to my semester expenses for two semesters ($5,225*2 = $10,450) and my monthly expenses for the eight months I will be at school ($300*8 = $2,400) to obtain an estimate for my first year educational costs: $32,050.

Step three. I will have three sources of income during my time at school. The first is an academic scholarship that applies to my tuition in the amount of $12,500 per year. The second source of income is a government grant and the amount of $4,000 per semester, and I plan on working a part-time job. I am hopeful that I will be able to work 15 hours per week at a rate of seven dollars per hour net of taxes during my time at school, and 25 hours per week during the summer. Step four. After entering information from step three into my spreadsheet I add the value of my scholarship ($12,500), my grant for each semester ($4,000*2 = $8,000), and the money earned from my job ((School months: 15*7*4*8 = $3,360)+(Summer months: 25*7*4*3 = $2,100) = $5,460) to come up with an annual income estimate: $25,960.Step five. Based on an analysis of my income and expenses, I will be running in the red at a rate of approximately $7,000 per year.

This will necessitate my application for a student loan package.Step six. As a full-time residential college student, I intend to complete my studies in four years. While it is possible that the various categories of expenses noted here will change, I am not in a position to accurately forecast the price of gasoline or the possibility that I may be able to find a part-time job that pays better than the rate I've listed here. For the purpose of obtaining a conservative estimate, therefore, I will take the first-year expenses and multiply it by the current consumer Price Index of approximately 3% (Dept.

of Labor, 2006, 1) to determine my expected costs for the second year. I will repeat this process for each year in sequence. Once my degree is completed, it will be my hope to pay off my student loans as quickly as possible. ReferencesUnited States Department of Labor (2006) Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Indexes [online] available from < http://www.bls.gov/cpi/> [10 December 2006]