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College Life
FourNineFoxtrot:
Yeah, I don't know how the roommate-matching thing really works.
I had nothing in common with my dorm roommate... in fact, in was almost like some bullshit "Odd Couple" remake; I'm a slob, he was neat, I was introverted, he was gregarious as hell, we had different tastes in music and movies and everything. About the only thing we both liked was watching Simpsons reruns (times have changed; it would probably be Family Guy now). We were even polar opposites physically; he was a tiny, too-handsome, vaguely effeminate dude, and I'm a fat hulking ugly bastard. And he was a sophomore, while I was a freshman. Fortunately, we were both pretty easy-going. Then he changed rooms and bunked with a friend down the hall, and I had a double room to myself for the whole second semester, which was awesome.
You never know who you'll get along with as a roommate. Years later I shared a house with my best friend and his girlfriend. It should have been awesome, but it really sucked. We could never get a schedule of chores worked out, and his girlfriend would end up bitching at me for not doing things I didn't know I was supposed to do. Meanwhile I was pissed because I was paying half the rent on the expectation of using half the space, but they wanted my shit crammed into my rooms unless it was display-worthy. We all moved out by mutual agreement after the six-month lease was up, and it's a damn good thing it wasn't a yearly lease because we were at each others' throats as it was. We're all friends again now, but I'm never living with another person again if I can help it. As long as I can afford to live alone, I will.
--- Quote from: Barmymoo on 21 Mar 2009, 14:44 ---I realised with a jolt this morning that there's a major gap in my Necessary Grown-Up Knowledge (tm).
--- End quote ---
My Necessary Grown-Up Knowledge (tm) basically has more holes in it than a sponge, but without the ability to soak things up well. I've learned the hard way to find people who know things, and ask them as many questions as they will tolerate. While the question of credit cards and bank accounts has by now probably been answered, what I would suggest for someone who wants information is to go to a bank and sit down with a personal banker to discuss it. Explain your situation, and they will suggest an appropriate solution. Not much money going in, likely to have a very low balance at month's end? Get a checking account with no minimum balance and some overdraft protection if possible. That sort of thing. As for credit cards, I agree that debit/atm cards are much more useful and less dangerous, generally, but it can be nice to have a credit card with, say, about $1000 or so limit in case of emergencies. Also, they're useful for building credit; buy something on the card, not too big, and pay the balance down over time instead of just paying it off when you have the cash (which would seem sensible). Paying down a (reasonable and manageable) credit card balance will help you establish a good credit rating starting out.
Dazed:
Roommate matching systems = total crapshoot. Sometimes it works brilliantly, sometimes you get stuck with complete douchebags who have nothing in common with you (guess which one I got).
Hat:
Going back to the job thing there's something I've always been curious about the American college system. With no social security for students as far as I can tell, how is getting a job an optional thing? I get that living on campus, your rent is probably rolled in with your tuition and therefore part of your student loans, but how do you eat? How do you buy textbooks and stationary and all that? Do you take out loans for all that as well? How many hours would the average student (arts student+hard sciences student/2) spend in lectures and studying a week in order to make a job unworkable?
I'm just curious because I'm in an English lit major and probably spend about 12 hours a week in actual classes and then another 20 or so hours a week studying/doing assignments on average, and I still manage to work 30 hours a week and have a social life and I'm just wondering how batshit insane your workloads must be in the US.
I mean English lit is not as intensive as some science courses but it is pretty common for people in the sciences here to be at least holding down a 10 hour a week job while collecting centrelink to make ends meet.
Reed:
There are two main ways that you can avoid having a job in college. My grandmother had decided that she would help out all of her grandchildren, so for the first few years I was in college I essentially received a monthly allowance for rent/bills/food. The town I lived in was ridiculously cheap (4 of us in a 3 bedroom house worked out to be about $120/month rent + $100 in utilities) so I was able to live off very little. For most students it's actually parents who pay for their living expenses. When you get student loans living expenses are figured into it, so if you decide to take out all the loans the government will allow you get an "overflow" which is usually around $5000 that you have to stretch throughout the semester (Sadly, even as a grad student I am living off this this semester since my research duties keep me in lab more than 40 hours/week and the only jobs that I could have worked told me I am overqualified). A lot of students will have a balance, where they work just a handful of hours at some campus job for food/drinking money and use their overflow or parent's money for rent and utilities.
Dazed:
Speaking personally, I leech off my parents.
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