What I Spend Each Month as a College Student in Nova Scotia

SCHOOL: Nova Scotia Community College, Yarmouth, business administration, accounting concentration

AGE: 19

I GREW UP in the Northwest Territories, where a student financial assistance program provides $2,655 of funding per semester for tuition and up to $700 for books to study at a college or university in Canada. I also work a lot. In my first year, I worked 20 hours a week running a maker space on campus ($17/hour). Then I worked full-time over the summer as an administrative assistant for an environmental impact screening committee based in the Northwest Territories ($30/hour).

Rent: $590

I share a 1,000-square-foot loft with my girlfriend. It’s entirely open—we put a curtain up to create privacy for the bathroom. We split the $1,180 rent down the middle.

Utilities and internet: $130

My share of the utility bill is about $100 per month, but it can go up to $150 in the winter to pay for electric heating. My share of the internet bill is $30.

Groceries: $300

We didn’t cook much during the first few months in our apartment but we wanted to eat out less, so we started using meal kits. We change plans based on which company has a better offer. Right now, we’re using Hello Fresh because they offered 40 per cent off for two weeks, then 20 per cent off for two weeks, which works out to about $400 a month in total for four meals a week, two servings per meal. About once a week we go to Walmart or Sobeys to get bread and sandwich items for lunch. We buy whatever deli meat and cheese are on sale. We also buy cereal, milk, rice, pasta, granola bars and fruit. We try to keep ingredients around for quick, easy meals. We’ve been making gochujang buttered noodles a lot recently, since we saw it on TikTok. Sometimes we’ll get ourselves a treat from the grocery store, like brown sugar bubble tea ice cream bars.

Eating out: $75

We get fast food when we work late, which is fairly often. We go to McDonald’s and get a Big Mac meal with a Diet Coke and substitute a poutine for the fries, which costs around $15. My girlfriend eats the poutine and I eat the Big Mac. Occasionally we go out for dinner— last month, my girlfriend got a promotion at work, so we went to Boston Pizza to celebrate. The bill came to about $60.

Textbooks and other class costs: $162.50

I need textbooks for all my classes. Most of them use an online textbook service, like McGraw Hill Connect, which means we need a subscription. I spend about $650 a semester on textbooks, which, thankfully, is covered by the Northwest Territories student financial assistance program.

Entertainment: $50

My girlfriend and I love to watch action and horror films. We have a Cineplex subscription plan; for $9.99 a month we get a free movie ticket each month, plus 20 per cent off when we buy concession snacks. Extra tickets are just $9.99. We see two or three movies a month together, so it’s really worthwhile.

Transportation: $300

My great-grandmother passed away in 2018, and I drive her 2003 bare-bones Chevy Cavalier. The car is going on 21 years and only has 60,000 kilometres on it. It runs great, but there are some things that break down. I had to get the brake lines repaired recently, which cost $100. Other than that, it’s $80 a month for insurance and $220 a month for my share of the gas. My girlfriend uses it to drive
to work, and we also use it for grocery runs.

Streaming subscriptions: $30

We watch a lot of movies and TV shows at home too. We’re still on a bunch of family plans, but we pay for our own Paramount, YouTube Premium, Netflix and Prime Video subscriptions. I usually listen to music on YouTube Premium when I’m working.

Gym membership: $39

I go to the gym almost every day—sometimes twice a day. I typically do strength training for anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours.
I go to an independent gym and pay a student rate. I got an annual membership, so it was $419 plus tax a year or $39 a month, compared to $53 for the month-to-month student rate.

Pre-workout powder: $200

I stocked up on six containers of pre-workout powder recently. I bought them from Supplement King, and there are 200 servings in total, so it’ll last me eight or nine months. I mix the powder, which is infused with caffeine, with water, which helps power my workouts. Since I go to the gym in the morning, the powder helps wake me up too.

What I spent: $1,876.50

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