5 OT School Expenses to Consider When Budgeting
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post called 4 Things To Do Before Starting OT school. One of the things on the list was *drum roll please* budgeting! Of course. If you know me, you know one of the big areas I talk about is finances and specifically how we can set ourselves up for financial success before, during and after OT school. So if you’re working on your budget, what expenses should you include?
There is no right answer to this but I’ll share my top OT school expenses (outside of tuition & fees!).
Housing: If you are living/planning to live at home and commute, you can just ignore this one! For the rest of you, housing is so important to think about because trust me - this adds up. Especially if you need to pay for housing in a costly city *ahem Boston* for an extended amount of time. Basically, you should be aiming to live in the cheapest place possible. This might mean living in a “not so hip” area of town (but safety is important to consider!), this also might mean living with roommates. If you’re paying for housing with loan money (which money of us have to) you want to keep this cost as low as possible.
Transportation: Be sure to think about everything that goes into transportation costs including but not limited to: car note/lease, gas, registration, insurance. If you are living in a major city it may be cheaper to look into public transportation but you may still need a pass or to pay for parking. Speaking of parking, parking on campus can be really costly in some places so if you’re planning to drive to campus, check with your program to see how much it’ll cost to park. Fun fact: I actually used uber to get to campus. I would do the uber pool and it was only about $3-4/trip since I lived pretty close. It would’ve been hundreds to park on campus, and taking public transportation was roughly the same cost but a longer trip so Uber made sense for me!
Groceries: First rule here is NEVER grocery shop hungry. Anyone else do this and end up spending way more than they planned for? But seriously, groceries can add up. Try to find cheaper options to buy groceries (Aldi is an amazing option if there’s one in your city!) Sprouts and Trader Joes are also both popular places to save money on groceries. Try to create a shopping list and cook things that you’ll be able to take for lunch, too.
School supplies: This includes the staples: paper, binders, pens, agendas and planners, highlighters, bookbags, etc. However, it might also include some more expensive items such as laptop, printer, ink, and specific software (like microsoft office, etc.)
Personal spending: Be sure to give yourself a dedicated personal spending budget for when you want to grab lunch with friends, make a manicure appointment, you need a new pair of comfy leggings, or for that occasional late night amazon haul. We all have personal needs so just be sure to budget for them so that you make sure you’re not going over - those little spending sprees can quickly add up!
So just be sure to keep in mind all of the different expenses you’ll need to budget for outside of just your tuition. These things can quickly add up over time and your ultimate goal (especially if you’re paying for school with loan money) is to spend as little as possible during your time as a student so that you can sit back and enjoy your time as a clinician without a mountain of debt to pay back!