With rising costs, many San Diego State University students are feeling a financial pinch with school expenses.
Many students cited housing as taking up a majority of their budget.
Shared bedrooms in off-campus student housing complexes can cost $1,100 or more per month. This price often does not include parking fees or electric bills. On-campus housing can also be costly for students, which non-local students are required to live in for their first two years at SDSU.
“I live on campus and the rent is ridiculous,” said Ruben Dominguez, an SDSU student. “I pay $1,450 a month to share a small room with 2 others.”
“For the amount we pay to live in the dorms, [my roommates and I] could get a real apartment that actually has a living room and kitchen attached,” added Sam Koche, a freshman.
According to students, the quality of campus dorms can vary widely. Some dorms have attached bathrooms and sitting areas. Others don’t have hot water consistently and have broken community facilities.
Students also said food expenses were another major cost for them. 
First-year students are required to have SDSU meal plans, which start at $5,500 per year. Meal plans are optional for students who are sophomores or upperclassmen. If they do choose to opt in, plans start at $4,200 per year. These plans give students an allowance for food per day and any costs over the designated amount become the student’s responsibility.
“Although I have a meal plan, it isn’t enough money for three meals a day,” said Corinne Davidson, an SDSU student. “Even if I only go over a dollar, those dollars add up, stressing me out.”
Some students also had the additional cost of out-of-state tuition, which adds just under $12,000 to an undergraduate student’s yearly tuition.
“I took out loans, but I still have fees that I have to pay out of pocket,” said Madeline Ries, a freshman from Illinois. “On top of it, there have been alerts going out to raise out-of-state fees.”
To accommodate for costly housing and food expenses, students said they took extra classes to graduate early, worked part-time jobs, skipped meals, and stopped going out to save money.
“As much as I want to enjoy living in the San Diego area, I cannot afford to do things because of how much it costs just to live here,” said Koche. 
Finance professor Andrei Andreev recommends students create a monthly budget and follow it closely by tracking income and expenses. One easy way to do this is to explore personal finance apps. He emphasizes that having savings is essential.
“In my opinion, if students are saving money then they can focus more on school,” said Andreev. “If they constantly need to look for a source of income, that might take away time and effort from their studies.”
As a student at SDSU, what are your biggest financial concerns?
– Natali Gonzalez is an MA student in rhetoric and writing studies at San Diego State University. See more of her work at: thedailyaztec.com/staff/_name/natali-gonzalez/.
