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Cost of living in NYC- a break down

Andy Nguyen

Andy Nguyen

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Kelvin asked this question and I think it will be useful if we can get all the important data in one place. Incoming students, specially those from abroad will find this extremely helpful to plan their finance.
  1. Tuition per semester: Depends on program
  2. Housing cost: this is the most expensive thing for some people. Depending on your housing arrangement, the cost may range from couple of hundred dollars to over one thousand dollars a month. Read other topics on housing for more information. The general rule is to find housing ASAP.
  3. Transportation: if you have a car, the monthly cost is very high. Here I will cover only public transportation as it pertains to most students. The monthly NYC public fare is $76. This will give you unlimited ride on MTA bus, subway for 30 days. This is the best thing regarding public transportation in NYC. If you travel from nearby area (NJ,CT, upstate NY) then extra cost is added.
  4. Food: it depends on your life style and the kind of food you favor. In general, home cooking is more cost effective than eating out even though it will take more time to prepare. The great thing about living in NYC is that you can buy any kind of ethnic food. If you plan to eat out a lot, it could run north of $20 per day. A meal at McDonald's will cost you $3-$6. Chinese food take out will cost around the same.
  5. Clothing: Unless you bring enough clothes for the next 2 years, you will spend several hundred dollars a year on clothing. There are so much sale, discount throughout the year that if you are inclined, you can find clothes at a very cheap price. Laundry should cost less than $10 each time.
  6. Cell phone,Internet,TV,phone card: this varies widely. You may share an apt that comes with Internet, TV. Cell phone service should cost $30-$60/month depends on your plan, how many minutes, extra feature,etc. DSL Internet should cost $20/m and Cable should cost around $50/m.
  7. Health care:I don't think health insurance is mandatory for CUNY international students as it is for SUNY international students. It's a good idea to purchase insurance from an international company that is valid in the US. You may find several health package for international students when you arrive. You may find that not all Americans have health insurance. It's specially true for CUNY students in general. Only those who are employed fulltime with benefits are insured through they company. The rest will either buy their own health insurance at premium or pay out of their pocket when they seek health care. A basic care plan will cost around $300 for a single person for 6 months. A dental checkup will cost from $30 to over $100.
  8. Other unplanned cost: movies tickets+flowers+chocolate+candle dinner,etc if you happen to find your love here. If you are a guy, these costs will be devastating :-
This list is just a snapshot of the cost of living in NYC. This is intended to be an example, not a blueprint to plan your budget upon. Your actual cost will be different and I shall not be hold responsible for any financial shortcoming.
Kidding aside, I welcome any comment, question and I'll try my best to answer.
 
Part-time

Does anyone obtain any part-time work? I mean for international students.

It looks like lucky enough I probably spend about 1000 - 1200 per month for housing and cheap foods. No girls.

Can I say tri-semester is about 18 months?

So I would say the entire program may cost about 40,000.

I need to save enough to meet you guys. won't be long from now.
 
Re: Part-time

kelvinkean said:
Does anyone obtain any part-time work? I mean for international students.
Click to expand...
Kelvin, as an international student, you are allowed to work 20h/week during school time and 40h/w during breaks (summer, winter break). You won't need any special paperwork to work on campus. You would need permission from the International Student Director if you work off campus (i.e if you can get an internship in the summer after your second semester).
After you graduate, you have 1 year OPT on your F-1 visa to find work and secure a H-1B visa. This is not that difficult considering the placement success in our program.
kelvinkean said:
It looks like lucky enough I probably spend about 1000 - 1200 per month for housing and cheap foods. No girls.
Click to expand...
It's doable. You need to find shared apt ($600/month) and stock up on Ramen noodle :).
No girl? I'm not sure about that. NYC is full of single beautiful ladies.
kelvinkean said:
Can I say tri-semester is about 18 months?
Click to expand...
Each semester is 4 months long so technically it's 12 months program but you need to get here before June for refresher courses so from June to Dec next year is 18 months. If you get a job on Wall Street then you'll spend your life here.
kelvinkean said:
So I would say the entire program may cost about 40,000.
Click to expand...
You can get by with this amount but to be on the safe side, I would say for foreign students, 50k is a good number. And it's USD, not AUD :)
kelvinkean said:
I need to save enough to meet you guys. won't be long from now.
Click to expand...
Yeap, it won't be long. Take GRE, prepare for the application, take any requisite courses to strengthen your chance, etc...
Goodluck mate.
 
Thanks

Andy,

I am not worry about getting a part-time work. I reckon NY should be easy to find a part-time position since I already have banking experience.
I also think that 50K is the minimum amount. The only worry me is the depth of the course. I did subjects like mathematic of options pricing, time series analysis, computing for statistical inference....i dont think my lecturers have taught me indepth. I will take the GRE test and spending these few months to do some self study based on the notes I downloaded from this forum.
My long time dream is to work in Wall St though I can study similar course locally. Aagain, Wall St is a my own dream. I want to make it.

Cheers,
Kel
 
Indian food: Most people here cook .... we bring rice cookers and non stick pans :) ... besides, depending on where you stay, there are indian grocers around ... theres one stones throw from college itself!
If you were to buy food everyday .... it might get expensive .... anywhere over $10 for north indian and $7 for south indian (a meal). If you were going for frozen, then packs of 4 parathas is $3 ....

You get the pic ....
 
If you are FT student and spend all day at school to study, there are several chinese, mexican restaurant around. Cost around $4-6. there is a jimmy restaurant next to Baruch and they give you load of food for $6 if I remember correctly.
 
Andy said:
If you are FT student and spend all day at school to study, there are several chinese, mexican restaurant around. Cost around $4-6. there is a jimmy restaurant next to Baruch and they give you load of food for $6 if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

I never tried any of those restaurants (in more than 4 years of my studies) :) should stop by next time I come to Baruch :)
 
other options besides Brooklyn

Jersey City
Weehawken
Union City

all have public transportation into NYC and tend to be cheaper than Manhattan and Brooklyn.

If you're international, many of these areas already have strong Asian communities already there.

(I live in downtown Jersey City, full disclosure)
 
And how about a married international student, with an infant too? Is staying in NJ and commuting a better option? What are the typical costs?
 
With an infant and wife, we are talking about doubling the cost easily.
You need to get a 1-br apt and it will cost up to 1K a month. Do a search on craigslist for a rough estimate.
 
rigken said:
And how about a married international student, with an infant too? Is staying in NJ and commuting a better option? What are the typical costs?
Click to expand...

Couple with infant, you need at least one br, or if you are lucky to find someone doesn't mind to share-----that would be around $1000. NJ/Brooklyn/Queens would be good choices, but since all our classes end very late of the day, public transportation will be less frequent compared with daytime rush hours. (I remember when I lived in Weehawken, NJ, it took me about 15 mins from my apt to Port Authority, NYC. But stayed in the bus station waiting for bus alone would take me ave 20 mins at night after class.) Except for that, rent is reasonable, communuty is not that bad. If you bring a fortune to USA, Manhattan is idea as per commute to Baruch.
Food won't be a big expense for household if you cook (at least for myself).

I am suprises that Andy didn't mention the expense of baby....:) You may also need to consider health insurance for the whole family....well, so many people live in the city without any insurance happily!

Except for that, just enjoy life in NYC. :)
 
I didn't mention the cost of having a baby because I didn't want to scare him and I assume he knows it already.
A baby will cost more than an adult per month specially in this country.
I feel for you.
 
Is the tax in new york like 45% of the income including all taxes?
then how do you live there even with 120k if 60k goes in taxes?
 
NYC income tax is progressively scaled. It depends on whether you are single or married, how many kids, how many allowance you claim, etc
A very good online calculator is at this site
For example, a single person making 120K gross that claims 2 allowances will take home $1467.83 weekly. It comes out to 76K net take home a year. So the tax is about 35%
 

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