Single students? Minimum Cost of Living

[alQurayshee]

I plan on comming to Saba soon for Medical school. I am applying this week and will try to push for the January, if nto probably come over there May.

I am a single student 21 years old. I dont like to live in too much luxury, like to live very simple and am satisfied as long as I have sufficient food, a home to sleep, and clothes to wear.

I had a few specific questions-

1. Are the dorms offered by SAba a good option?? The website says its about 1600 bux a semester, which sounds pretty economical to me, unless living in apartments is cheaper. I have read the thread in this forum about living expenses but most talk about living with families.

2. Cost of food. I am estimating that i will be about 1200 a semester, is this too low?? Or is food very expensive on Saba?? seriously speaking I can live off fried eggs and bread or soemthing similar, but I have a this thing for chicken, just love chicken, specially wings. Also read soemwhere that you get mangoes that are grown on the Island, which is awesome., I really love Mangoes as well. So what are the prices for eggs per dozen, bread, chicken $$ per lb, milk(if you get that there), and mangoes???

3. Books? How much should one expect to pay for books? does 500 sound good??? or shoudl i allot more for books?

4. Tuition shoudl be around 8000-9000 maxxx.(just say it increases) is that right?

5. Transportation - does oen have to buy a car, can i just live int he dorms and walk to school or soemthing??? How much is transportation(public) and howmuch is gas per gallon?? shoudl I maybe allot about 200 per semester for this or more??

With all this considered according to my estimations per semester-
Tuition - 9000 bux maxx
+Books - 500 bux
+Living - 1600 bux
+Food - 1200 bux
+Transportation - 200 bux
that should be about 12,500 bux per semester??

I know soemone said they live off about 15,000 per semester but Does what i mentioned sound liek a good figure?

My interest in such detailed inquiry is because I am trying to see if I can pay for school out of my pocket or borrow money from family to pay for it. So i need to have a good estimat eof how much I am goign to nee, so I can ask them if they are wilign to let me borrow the money.

Thank you Very Much, you help is much appreciated.

[rdecastro]

Plan on $15K per semester total. You can only stay in the dorms your first semester, then you have to move out.

Food prices seem to have been impacted by the increase in fuel prices (to get it here), I doubt they'll be going down much.

[Nate-MD]

I am a single student 21 years old.




Yea buddy, stay single.... taking someone out on a date on a regular basis here can get pretty expensive, the nice places at least. I don't know how you are a mircowave cooking though. That will keep the costs down.

[Boulderunner]

I got approved for the 15K but now Im getting a lot of pressure from my parents to work a crappy job and save "as much as possible" before leaving in january because they dont think the 15k will be enough. I keep telling them that the 15k should be ample and that I would rather cherish the l;ast month or two of my freedom rather than working for scraps. My big question is if you guys think that the 15k for the first semester is enough for everything including getting a new computer for school. Thats the one thing i dont have the money for that im comcerned i wont be able to get with the loans. So do you folks think the 15k should be able to cover ALL my expenses for first semester including supplies and electronics. Also, saba uses the figure of 3200 for romm and board for semester one. Im getting a single in hillside(i hope) which is 2200 for the semester and that leaves only a 1k for food. That doesnt really sound like enough. Im budgeting 400/month for food. sound right? Oh anyone know about the meal plan. hows that work? Gracias Amigos

[KingMo]

I got approved for the 15K but now Im getting a lot of pressure from my parents to work a crappy job and save "as much as possible" before leaving in january because they dont think the 15k will be enough. I keep telling them that the 15k should be ample and that I would rather cherish the l;ast month or two of my freedom rather than working for scraps. My big question is if you guys think that the 15k for the first semester is enough for everything including getting a new computer for school. Thats the one thing i dont have the money for that im comcerned i wont be able to get with the loans. So do you folks think the 15k should be able to cover ALL my expenses for first semester including supplies and electronics. Also, saba uses the figure of 3200 for romm and board for semester one. Im getting a single in hillside(i hope) which is 2200 for the semester and that leaves only a 1k for food. That doesnt really sound like enough. Im budgeting 400/month for food. sound right? Oh anyone know about the meal plan. hows that work? Gracias Amigos

Firstly, is your loan coming through before or after you get here? If after, like for most people, you'll need cash to pay for your expenses until you get your loan money. $15 is enough for a semester. Figure 7 or 8g for tuition, 2g for housing. That leaves you 5g for food, internet, and anything else. It should be enough.

[Boulderunner]

So how bout that meal plan action? Mystery sauces galore? is there a meal plan available? I read that there is one in the student manual but it wasnt very descriptive and I wasnt exactly sure what it was.

[KingMo]

So how bout that meal plan action? Mystery sauces galore? is there a meal plan available? I read that there is one in the student manual but it wasnt very descriptive and I wasnt exactly sure what it was.

No meal plan, pay as you go.

[eljefe]

there is a meal plan for first semester students only at the the my corner place which is in the matthews dorms, again, only for first semester students i heard. you buy five meals a weak and the sixth is on the house. Son let me tell you one advice, do not sacrifice your diet too much, you need to eat well as the demand on school is high and you may have to sacrifice your sleep or other things in life , if you can, do not sacrifice a good meal in the island or your sleep....i think first semester will give you a good feeling for what it is to be here in the island. Food is relatively expensive and not much variety either. But you will survive and and very soon before you know, everything will be a just a bad dream, yeap! just a bad dream son.......HELP!, somebody please wake me up; or may be not, let me finish at least this semester first...........oh god do not let me wake up just yet........:bored:

[Nate-MD]

Or you can be like my fat **** and put on a crapload of weight and have your brothers call you "fatty mcgee" the whole break.

I've lost over 20 pounds since the start of this semester if anyone has noticed. Damn I miss bacon....

[Boulderunner]

I think I might send myself "care packages" of dry goods before I leave.

[wolfvgang22]

Or you can be like my fat **** and put on a crapload of weight and have your brothers call you "fatty mcgee" the whole break.

I've lost over 20 pounds since the start of this semester if anyone has noticed. Damn I miss bacon....
No, we haven't noticed (since your naturally slim-looking anyway), but the consensus is you are going to win the "biggest loser" contest!
Congrats :thumbsup: :exercise: :exercise:

[wolfvgang22]

I think I might send myself "care packages" of dry goods before I leave.
That's a good idea, especially for stuff you just can't get here and use all the time.
For example, I love the convienence of the little Folgers coffee bags (the one's that are exactly like tea bags, but are coffee). I also sent a bag of my favorite blend of fresh ground coffee. You can't get that stuff here on Saba. What coffee they do have is either nasty instant stuff, or marked up 200%. Other stuff I sent that I couldn't find on Saba cheaply at all:
Desk lamp
Cheap picture frames for snap-shots of my kids
3 speed quiet high-velocity fan
Blank DVDS, etc.

If you have a question about whether a particular product is availble here or not just ask. If I don't know somebody else here does. :cool: