--- title: $4,000 for Pizza and Other Tales From College Debt Hell description: A financial aid expert does the surprising math on what happens if you borrow to cover everyday college expenses. authors: - name: Mark Kantrowitz url: https://money.com/author/mark-kantrowitz/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 2 covers: - Education former_staff: true published: '2016-04-22T12:00:03.000Z' modified: '2016-04-22T12:00:03.000Z' section: Education tags: - College - college costs - college loans - colleges - cost of attendance - cut college costs - paying off student loans - student debt - Student Loans word_count: 499 canonical: https://money.com/pizza-costs-other-tales-college-debt-hell/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![pizza in box](https://img.money.com/2016/04/160407_em_4000pizza.jpg) *Any way you slice it, the extras add up.* When people complain about the rising cost of a college education, they often focus on tuition inflation. But tuition and fees represent only about half the cost of an in-state public college’s cost of attendance, with living expenses accounting for the rest. Students (and their bill-paying parents) are often shocked to see how quickly those everyday expenses can add up. They might be even more shocked to learn that if they borrow to pay for them, their eventual tab could double. That’s because, as a general rule, every dollar you borrow in college will cost about $2 by the time you repay the debt, given the mix of interest rates, interest capitalization and repayment plans used by students. For example, suppose you order a $10 pizza once a week or so. Over the course of a four-year college career, that $10 pizza adds up to $2,000, assuming that you eat about 50 of them a year. If you use student loan money to pay for the pizza, the $2,000 initial cost will grow to about $4,000 by the time your debt is repaid.
One of theseThis oftenWill add this much to your student debt
Daily double mocha latte5 cups a week at $4.65 a cup$9,300
Cereal1 box a week at $5 a box$2,000
Pop Tarts1 box a week at $3 a box$1,200
Beer1 six-pack a week at $7 a six-pack$2,800
Red Bull5 cans a week at $3 a can$6,000
Cell phoneMonthly service at $100 a month$9,600
Laundry2 loads a week at $4 a load$3,200
Of course, you could always economize with that old college favorite, ramen noodles. At $3 for a 12 pack, eating Ramen noodles every day (including weekends) will cost you only $700—if you can stand it. And these aren’t the only—or necessarily the biggest—costs you could incur. Transferring colleges or changing majors can add a year of debt. [![Best college education image](https://content.money.com/wp-content/themes/money2018/img/college-site-banner-02.png)](https://best-colleges.time.com/money/search-colleges/?xid=cm-mcpFindTheCollegeWidget) What’s more, colleges impose a wealth of additional fees, such as the student health center fee, athletic center fee, student activities fee, technology fees (for printing costs and WiFi), photocopying fees, and debit card fees. Study abroad can mean added fees too. If you pay your college bills with a credit card (at schools that allow it), tack on a 3% convenience fee. I’m not saying that you should deny yourself your morning cereal or weekly pizza night. But just remember that if you’re borrowing to pay for it, it’s probably costing you twice as much as you think. *Mark Kantrowitz is one of the nation’s leading student financial aid experts. He is publisher and VP of strategy for Cappex.com, a web site that connects students with colleges and scholarships. He is also the author of several books about paying for college, including* Filing the FAFSA, Twisdoms About Paying for College, *and* Secrets to Winning a Scholarship*, and has served as publisher of the FinAid, Fastweb, and Edvisors web sites.* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/pizza-costs-other-tales-college-debt-hell/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Education", "item": "https://money.com/education/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Paying for College", "item": "https://money.com/paying-for-college/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "$4,000 for Pizza and Other Tales From College Debt Hell" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/pizza-costs-other-tales-college-debt-hell/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/pizza-costs-other-tales-college-debt-hell/", "name": "$4,000 for Pizza and Other Tales From College Debt Hell", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-04-22T12:00:03.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/pizza-costs-other-tales-college-debt-hell/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/pizza-costs-other-tales-college-debt-hell/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-04-22T12:00:03.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "$4,000 for Pizza and Other Tales From College Debt Hell", "articleSection": "Education", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/04/160407_em_4000pizza.jpg", "width": 5200, "height": 3467, "caption": "160407_EM_4000pizza" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Kantrowitz", "url": "https://money.com/author/mark-kantrowitz/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mark-kantrowitz/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-04-22T12:00:03.000Z", "description": "A financial aid expert does the surprising math on what happens if you borrow to cover everyday college expenses.", "abstract": "A financial aid expert does the surprising math on what happens if you borrow to cover everyday college expenses.", "@id": "https://money.com/pizza-costs-other-tales-college-debt-hell/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2016-04-22T12:00:03.000Z", "wordCount": 499, "keywords": [ "College", "college costs", "college loans", "colleges", "cost of attendance", "cut college costs", "paying off student loans", "student debt", "Student Loans" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Education", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Student financial aid in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_financial_aid_in_the_United_States" ] } ] } ] } ```