estimated living expense

[CA willy]

Is it possible for any of you to estimate what the living expenses amount to, on average, for a semester on the island, that is, all expenses outside of tuition and other school-related expenses? Thanks.

[bevo]

its pretty much is variable.

depending on where you live and how often you visit james store and especially the bookstore.

rent can range from 250 (maybe even lower) up to $8-900 a month US.

and if you like to visit the bookstore for certain things, money will can fly buy.

if you dont get a dial up connection at home, you can save some money there.

I do have a dial up connection at home, eat out a lot, and live in a moderatly priced apartment off of the main road for $500 a month.

Ive used about half of my alt loan so far. Im starting to wonder if its worth it for me to get another huge loan out for the next semester. If I have enough savings to last me for another semester to suppliment what I have now.

And then go in for another alt loan in January.

[2ndyear]

I think you can live comfortably for about $1000 U.S./month.

p.s. 'comfortable' living in Dominica is a relative and subjective term.

[oc23]

$1,000US is enough to live on.

Here are average monthly prices in US dollars:

rent = $400-500
electricity = $150 ($200 if you have it on for 12-16 hours/day)
phone = $35-40 (includes dial-up internet connection, no overseas calls)
food = $200 (if you don't always eat out)
laundry = $15-30

expenses on food varies a lot on how often you eat out and where you buy food. it can be as low as $100 if you always cook or as high as $300 if you always eat out.

bring at least $2,000 when you first come down here. you'll need to pay pbh for a night's stay, pay rent and deposit (that's $800-1,000 already), buy your books (if you don't already have them), and get some things for your apartment. you're supposed to get your alternative loan check on registration day, but it doesn't always work out that way.

good luck!

[mdwanabe]

I am also very interested in finding out more about the living expense there. I am surprise that no one has mentioned anything about sharing apartments there. Is that not a common practice there? Seems a great way of saving $$$.

[mdwanabe]

I am also very interested in finding out more about the living expense there. I am surprise that no one has mentioned anything about sharing apartments there. Is that not a common practice there? Seem a great way of saving $$$.

[jim]

actually, most of the time wehn you are paying the rent, you are paying for a room, and part of the aparyment. when i was there, i payed $300US a month. it was a 3 bedroom apartment. i had acouple smesters where i had 2 roomies, and a couple with only 1. so technically, it was a $900 a month apartment, but even when short on roomies, i never had to pay more then my $300. by the way, any semesters you have cash left over, dont go wild, when you get to miami your expenses go up exponentnially. same with NYC or Chicago. my rent in miami for a studio was less then my house payment is now in SC.

[frustrated]

it really doesn't matter if you have roommates or not. like jim said, you just pay for the room and part of the apartment. for instance. a single could be around $550 and if you want a two bedroom apartment, each would pay about $500. it doesn't vary much. but if you are a girl, it's safer to have a roommate. it deters robbers and rapists. (even though crimes are minimal here, we really don't know exactly what the crime rate is since the students sometimes are kept in the dark about what happens, you should always use precautions.) My previous statement is based on upperclassmans so there is no way of comfirming it since I also HEARD (rumors) that the school sweeps some crimes under the rug and don't put it into the statistics. But I have heard from trustworthy friends that there were crimes committed, but never reported by the victims so the stats from ross are not very accurate. All in all it's pretty safe here...just make sure you get home before dark.