The Cost of Living at MIT by Aiden H. '28

A couple months ago, I wrote about how to make money at MIT. Much to our collective dismay, there is another side of the coin: spending money. For most students, college will be their first experience largely handling their own finances in a day-to-day sense. As someone who notably does not have an Elon Musk-sized inheritance from my parents and who has to take care of pretty much all of their expenditures, choosing to live in a very expensive city was difficult.  Boston is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the US (see: Example A, Example B, Example C from a quick Google search). However, with enough adjusting to prices and scrounging for the best deals, I’ve found a way to make living work without having to eat instant ramen every day in the stereotypical broke-college-student way.

Curious to find how others think of Boston living prices, I sent out a poll on Dormspam⁠01 A mass email list/system to send stuff to everyone at MIT. asking students how much they spend monthly to see the cost of MIT outside of tuition. Out of 4535 undergraduates, I got responses from 72 (more than I expected! but still kinda sad). I asked for the average estimated cost of both essentials (toiletries, clothes, dorm stuff, etc.)–split by those who are and aren’t on meal plans–and non-essentials (“unnecessary” food/treats, going out money, concert tickets, general Boston stuff, etc.).

The summary stats⁠02 If any of you remember our super fun AP Stats rules, median and IQR will be better indicators of the data because it was highly variable, skewed, and has outliers (which are noted). I'm assuming there is no non-response bias even though it was an opt-in poll, mostly because dorm spam is not an indicator of class lol (no correlation between response on dormspam vs how much money you spend. are as follows:

Meal plan

Cook-for-yourself/no meal plan

Non-essentials

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Overall:

• if you are on a meal plan, the average student will spend about an additional $50/month on essential items, not including the cost of the meal plan
• if you are not on a meal plan, the average student will spend about $300/month on essential items, including food
• regardless of meal plans, the average student will spend about $100/month on non-essentials

Here are some key takeaways that I think people should consider.

Meal Plan vs. Cook-For-Yourself

Food is by far the most expensive, and variable, part of people’s budgets. Although students on meal plans/in dining hall dorms⁠03 If you live in a dorm with a dining hall, you are required to pay for a meal plan. If you live in a dorm without a dining hall, you still have the option to pay for a meal plan, but are not required. are spending about $250 less per month, they pay upfront for dining when they pay tuition. The two meal plans offered for freshman (and also the most common) both cost $3824.25/semester. This means that a meal plan adds $957/month, but most students will factor this into tuition costs and financial aid instead of their day-to-day budgeting.

Because of this cost, a lot of students opt to live in a cook-for-yourself dorm that allow students to be completely in charge of their own food. While these can lead to less financial stress, it does require students to manage their time to grocery shop and cook, or pay for take-out meals consistently, which can potentially be just as expensive, have smaller portions compared to buffet-style dining, and possibly less nutritious.

Notably, students on financial aid can have their meal plan covered depending on their aid. I’m not an expert on the aid process and everything should be confirmed with SFS,⁠04 Student Financial Services. but I know that students on full financial aid like myself do have the cost of a meal plan fully covered regardless of dorm type.

Thoughts from anonymous poll-answerers:

• “Food cost is low because most of my meals are free food from clubs, events, the mailing list, being swiped by friends, etc.”
• “meal plan is so overpriced”
• “I try to only eat in the dining halls. All the Boston restaurants that aren’t fast food are soooo expensive”

Fun Stuff

Boston is a major-ish city! This means that doing things cost adult-living-in-a-major-city prices. On one hand, I want to go full-crazy I’m-totally-living-in-like-Friends-or-Sex-and-the-City and go to like a concert⁠05 can't afford or nightclub⁠06 can't get in every night. Still, I’ve personally found myself a lot less inclined to go out and get a quick coffee/see a movie/go to a concert because the cost is so inflated compared to the Midwest.

Fortunately, this is the most controllable expense, and utilizing campus-run events and services also makes this easier. LSC⁠07 Lecture Series Committee runs movie screenings in 26-100,⁠08 The biggest lecture hall. dorm and frat parties are generally every Friday and Saturday, and a couple times a semester the school will just host things for students (recently, a trip to the aquarium, museum of science, and the Maseeh Boat Cruise come to mind).

Thoughts from anonymous poll-answerers:

• “I would consider fun stuff essential to remain sane here”
• “I usually go out to eat about once or twice a week plus other snacks ends up being about $50 a week. Transportation (ubers), concerts and other purchases end up making the total a month about $400.”
• “monthly nonessentials expenses have ranged between a mean of $30/month my freshman year to $900/month last semester…”

It’s Not That Bad

Finances are scary, and spending money makes me feel guilty no matter how little or big the purchase. Still, if you’re able to work even a part-time summer job and then find a way to work a couple hours a week on campus, that should be enough money to make it through a semester, as long as you’re smart with the money you earned. Also, students who demonstrate the most financial aid often get returns each semester, which is extra financial aid money sent directly to you to cover things like dorm essentials/flights/anything you might need during the semester. Depending on the student, this can be up to an additional $3000 to ease the pain of college prices.

More thoughts:

• “i have a spending tracking spreadsheet and i try to stay under 200 a month”
• “these numbers fluctuate heavily based on how much i’m getting paid per week lmao…”

Happy spending 🤑🤑