A common problem for college students is to figure out how they will pay for materials they need. This could include food and room decorations as options.
For the most part, college students pay for expenses like tuition, food and other needs from a savings account, a checking account or a student loan.
Susan Wendling, director of financial aid, gave great insight on components of financial aid. According to Wendling, merit-based aid is based off how well a student does in high school, which includes GPA, SAT and ACT scores. Need- based aid, on the other hand, is calculated once a student fills out their FAFSA form.
“Students who are considered in-state can get a PHEAA grant from their state agency, whereas Cabrini offers an out-of-state grant to students who can’t get their state grant across the state’s boarder,” Wendling said.
A way for first-year students to save money, is by finding out about which scholarship would be given to them based on different characteristics. Cabrini offers a variety of scholarships to first-year students, which are President’s Scholarship, Provost’s Scholarship, Dean’s Scholarship, Founder’s Grant and Woodcrest Award.
On campus, students have different places that offer them food. It’s stated in their tuition regarding the specific meal-plan that was selected. This way you can just swipe your ID and eat whatever amount of food at breakfast, lunch or dinner. This is an option for students who live on campus. This also comes with a pre-planned amount of Flex.
Tuition doesn’t just cover a student’s ability to obtain food on campus. It also covers the amounts of prints each student has a semester. Each student is given a total of 350 free prints every semester. The education department awards students who are majoring within their school around 200 extra prints due to the large amount of work they are doing.
Josh Cunningham, junior exercise science and health promotion major, talked about the changes in his spending habits. “I have to buy a bunch of snacks. It usually costs around 100 dollars, lasting one month,” Cunningham said. He is aware of the change in prices of food that CRU5H is offering, compared to Sandellas. He believes that it’s due to their portion sizes.
Another item that student’s room and board charge covers is the washing machines in the dorms. It is a flat fee of $75 and students have an unlimited amount of washes.
Brahk Morrison, junior marketing major, has provided information on spending habits. “I usually fill gas up in my car every two weeks and it costs $30 ,” Morrison said. His usual total for meals on a day is around $20. If he was going to use Uber or Lyft, it costs him $18.