Can living in LA be THAT expensive?

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DentGuy

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Does USC really expect us to spend $21,120 on room and board alone? I looked at some of their apartments in central LA, near University Park, and I found some apartments for $690-750 per month. There's also the on-campus option right?

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My parents can afford it, and told me not to worry about it, but does USC really expect us to spend $21,120 on room and board alone? I looked at some of their apartments in central LA, near University Park, and I found some apartments for $690-750 per month. It'd be a shoe box compared to an apartment you'd get in Georgia, but still comfortable. There's also the on-campus option right?
I think 21k is low unless you live meagerly. I'm a socal native and it costs me much more than that for rent and food. That being said, you could live for less than 21k.
 
21000 if you live in a 600/month apartment and eat Morton's everyday.
 
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My parents can afford it, and told me not to worry about it, but does USC really expect us to spend $21,120 on room and board alone? I looked at some of their apartments in central LA, near University Park, and I found some apartments for $690-750 per month. It'd be a shoe box compared to an apartment you'd get in Georgia, but still comfortable. There's also the on-campus option right?

Yes... you can find apartments in the area for the $690-750 per month range you mentioned. On-campus really isn't an option. There are some university owned apartments that are available for grad students but these are also limited and a bit overpriced. Your best bet is the off campus locations you looked at.

I just did a rough calculation of my room and board and I am well under the estimated value the school gives. They keep that number high so that students have the option to take out loans up to that amount. I pay $925/month (the upper end for my area), but do not spend the remaining ~$9,000 on food. Time for me to start eating out every night!
 
I think that living in LA is kind of expensive, because u need to have a car and good apt is around "1100" for one bedroom. However, I love LA, and the weather is super!!!!!:love:
 
not really helpful comment to your Q, but there's good food aalllll over LA you'll like it ^^
 
It's been dropping into the 40's at night this whole week!!! :eek:

That temperature is just straight dangerous. ;)

How about 15 F near UW. I chose the right time to research schools. "Surprisingly," I have more Southern schools on my "interest" list :laugh:
 
Like you found yourself, you can pay about $600/mo, which is only 7200 a year. 21k is a huge overestimation in my opinion. Just live like a student and cook at home and you won't have a problem.

The mantra at all dental schools is live like a student now, so that you can live like a dentist later.
 
I want to live a little bit better than I did in undergrad. Does anyone know if I really do need a car? My plan was to just commute everywhere by taking their tram buses or by purchasing a bike.. LA traffic was horrible and kinda scared me.
 
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LA is unfortunately lagging behind on the public transportation thing. Everyone on SC's campus had a bike though, so it appears people get around that way. I went to UCLA for undergrad, so I can't specifically say how it is by SC, but it was hard to do anything without a car by UCLA.
 
LA is unfortunately lagging behind on the public transportation thing. Everyone on SC's campus had a bike though, so it appears people get around that way. I went to UCLA for undergrad, so I can't specifically say how it is by SC, but it was hard to do anything without a car by UCLA.

I thought UCLA transportation was fine. Plus, a walk to Westwood isn't that bad at all. God gave us legs for a reason. ;)
 
I thought UCLA transportation was fine. Plus, a walk to Westwood isn't that bad at all. God gave us legs for a reason. ;)

When I got to LA I was shocked that I couldn't take public transportation to go see my friend and guitarist who was going to a liberal arts college one town over. I was expecting something similar to Boston or New York, but I was sorely disappointed.
 
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Use that extra cash to get that BMW you all have been wanting.
 
I'm from LA and let me tell you it is very very difficult to live in LA without a car, distances are long and here you can not find taxis on the street like you can in New York or San Francisco. You need a Car, unless you get an apartement very close to the school and decide not go anywhere else. You can use the bus system but still you better have a car or it'll be really
hard.
 
I was looking at UCLA's dental webpage and they have the cost of living at around $13,000. USC estimates a far larger amount of $21k. If you use UCLA's numbers (and I'm assuming I can because they are in the same city) then the price of attending USC is around $85k, not $106k. UCLA would be cheaper by around $15k/yr (for an out-of-state student attending UCLA), but that's primarily due to USC's higher tuition.
 
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That's not good... if public transportation lags... I was planning to apply to some LA schools.

PS: If you want excellent public transport, go to UW. Seattle's public transportation rocks. You basically don't need a car here at all even if you live 5-10 miles away.
 
That's not good... if public transportation lags... I was planning to apply to some LA schools.

PS: If you want excellent public transport, go to UW. Seattle's public transportation rocks. You basically don't need a car here at all even if you live 5-10 miles away.

haha. I lived 7 miles away from UCLA (West Hollywood) for a year. It either took 1 hour via public transportation (had to walk for about 20-30 minutes to get to the bus stop) or 30 minutes by motorcycle :p I moved into an apartment in Westwood the next year.
 
Let me tell you what I think about living expenses in LA. I have been living in Westwood which is 10 minutes far away from UCLA for four years. At first, it is not cheap to live in this neighborhood. I can say that a nice place to live can vary form $1200 to $2500 per month. If you decide to live with a roommate, u can reduce the price 3 digits per month but not lower $800. If you are ok with living little bit (like 15-20 minutes by the bus) away from the campus, price range is very affordable. You can find places like $550 to $650 per month. You can take a bus to UCLA, and you can resolve transportation problem for UCLA. However, the car is a MUST in LA. Like everyone said, distances are long if you want to go from one place to another. In general UCLA area is pretty neat and safe compared to USC area. USC's area is downtown LA. I have not been in there a lot, but I heard terribble stories from my friends. I do not know the security inside the school, but the neighborhood is dangerous over there. My brother got his MS at USC and he loved his school, but I remembered that his car tape was stolen. I went his graduation and parked in meters next to school, someone hit my car and caused a minor damage without living a note( I remembered that I pay $300 to fix it).I cannot say nice stuff about USC's neighborhood. However you can stay little bit away from the campus, you should be fine. Also you can find cheap places($600-$700),if you decide to live with a or roomates. Living expenses are not bad compared other major big cities (like SF(super expensive), New York(expensive)), but it is still expensive compared to Irvine, Riverside(inland), S. Bernardino area. You need to think twice, if you want to be out of state applicant. Weather is wonderful here(even if it is little bit rainy nowadays) :laugh:.
 
If you decide to live with a roommate, u can reduce the price 3 digits per month but not lower $800.

If you do it college style (2 bedrooms, 4 people) you can get a nice place for $500-$600 a month in Westwood.
 
Well Southern California is developed differently than any other major metropolitan area due to the one thing they have to deal with that not many others have to...earthquakes. Since earthquakes obviously knock things down you do not have high rises, skyscrapers and penthous apartments dotted all over the downtown area. LA is an older city that was founded and developed back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Since they did not have the construction technology to deal with earthquakes then as they do now you have this huge spread out city. Walking and public transit are only viable if you only want to go within a few miles of where you live. If you want to go anywhere in SoCal you have to get a ride, through traffic often, around not just LA but all the surrounding counties even. Since you cannot build up on the land as in tall buildings, the price to live in more populated portion of the most populated state is a lot higher than normal. If you do find somewhere cheap then I must worn you that there is a reason no one will pay high prices to live there. USC is at the heart of the North Eastern portion of Downtown LA. It is actually not very expensive but I would advise you if you do not know the area to live as close or even on campus so you do not find your self in the wrong part of town. UCLA is on the NW portion of town town heading towards the beach and Hollywood so it is more pricey and a much nicer area. As you head farther to the inner parts of the city the prices do drop off, so the estimates of living can only be predicted if you live on campus on the higher priced apartments/dorms and not if you find a better deal elsewhere.
 
Well Southern California is developed differently than any other major metropolitan area due to the one thing they have to deal with that not many others have to...earthquakes. Since earthquakes obviously knock things down you do not have high rises, skyscrapers and penthous apartments dotted all over the downtown area. LA is an older city that was founded and developed back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Since they did not have the construction technology to deal with earthquakes then as they do now you have this huge spread out city. Walking and public transit are only viable if you only want to go within a few miles of where you live. If you want to go anywhere in SoCal you have to get a ride, through traffic often, around not just LA but all the surrounding counties even. Since you cannot build up on the land as in tall buildings, the price to live in more populated portion of the most populated state is a lot higher than normal. If you do find somewhere cheap then I must worn you that there is a reason no one will pay high prices to live there. USC is at the heart of the North Eastern portion of Downtown LA. It is actually not very expensive but I would advise you if you do not know the area to live as close or even on campus so you do not find your self in the wrong part of town. UCLA is on the NW portion of town town heading towards the beach and Hollywood so it is more pricey and a much nicer area. As you head farther to the inner parts of the city the prices do drop off, so the estimates of living can only be predicted if you live on campus on the higher priced apartments/dorms and not if you find a better deal elsewhere.

"For a security guard, he had an awful lot of information, don't you think?"
 
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