Have you ever rented a car for some really cheap rate, like $19.99 a day, and wondered why it didn’t feel like such a fantastic bargain when you paid the bill? Let’s see . . . the basic price is $19.99 . . . plus 20 cents a mile, plus the optional insurancethat’s $12.95 a day (that optional insurance isn’t really optional for you because you don’t have car insurance that will cover it).
We can’t tell you how much money you’re going to need for college; only you and your parents can figure this out. It would be foolish and unhelpful for us even to try for two reasons: (1) living costs differ throughout the country, and (2) everybody’s situation is different.
Maybe you’ve already got it all figured out down to the pennyyour living expenses for every week, month, or semester. Or maybe you don’t have a clue but aren’t too worried; maybe you’re just going to wing it because you have a built-in safety netthe parental checkbook.
But maybe, like most college students, you’re somewhere in the middleyou have a budget, and you need to stick to it. So now it’s reckoning time. The goal...