Student Affordability Toolkit (Free)
A small, open pack of calculators and CSV templates to help students (and educators) estimate realistic monthly costs and “hours-to-afford.” CC BY 4.0. No signup required.
Quick Calculator: Hours-to-Afford
- Total monthly cost = the sum of all your entries. Tuition and books are shown monthly, so enter annual/term amounts divided across months (e.g., annual tuition ÷ 12).
- Hours to afford = total monthly cost ÷ your after-tax hourly wage. If you only know your pre-tax wage, enter a realistic after-tax estimate.
- Weeks at your schedule = hours to afford ÷ the hours you can work each week.
- Status: < 80 h usually manageable; 80–120 h caution; > 120 h heavy load. This is a guide, not a rule.
Educational tool; actual costs vary by campus and aid. Educators: the CSV templates let you prefill typical amounts.
What’s inside the ZIP
student_budget_template.csv— monthly budget startergrocery_basket_template.csv— common items + placeholderscountry_student_cost_template.csv— inputs for US vs World comparisonscommute_cost_template.csv,meal_plan_template.csv, and more (v1.1 adds dorm/off-campus, textbooks, roommate split, etc.)README.txt&LICENSE-CCBY4.0.txt
License: CC BY 4.0 • Updated: 2025-10-21 • Contact: [email protected]
Quick Calculator: Hours-to-Afford
Meal Plan vs Groceries
Commute Cost: Transit vs Car
Dorm vs Off-Campus: Breakeven
Textbook Cost Optimizer (ShelfSaver)
| Option | Effective cost |
|---|
Roommate Splitter (FairShare)
| Name | Room sqft | Private bath | Weight override | Share (%) | Rent due | Utils due | Total |
|---|
Aid & Scholarship Impact
Emergency Buffer: Time to Save
Downloads (CSV + ZIP)
Prefer everything in one file? Grab the full pack:
⬇ thepricer_student_toolkit_v1_2.zip CC BY 4.0 · includes README & Data Dictionary
- student_cost_national_cpi_1990_2019_2024_2025_v11.csv — national CPI + wages snapshot
- student_us_state_inputs_20251.csv — state ACS rent (2023) → 2025 est. + min wage
- student_us_master_basket_v01.csv — master basket with scaled dollar columns
Tip: right-click to copy a direct CSV link for syllabi or library portals. Updated: Oct 2025.
How to use these CSVs
Open in Excel, Google Sheets, or LibreOffice. They match the calculators above, so you can audit our numbers or build your own plan.
- Build a monthly budget (student_budget_template.csv) and compute hours-to-afford:
=SUM(costs)/(hourly_wage*0.92) - Compare dorm vs off-campus (roommate_split_template.csv) and meal plan vs groceries (meal_plan_template.csv).
- Check commute trade-offs (commute_cost_template.csv) and textbook options (textbook_optimizer_template.csv).
- See your state’s rent burden (student_us_state_inputs_2025.csv):
=rent_2025/(min_wage*0.92)
- Run a 30-minute budgeting lab with hours-to-afford as the outcome metric.
- Assign a state comparison chart: sort by rent hours, discuss policy differences.
- Use the master basket to show 2019→2025 category changes with CPI scaling.
Tip: the same formulas power our live tools. Prefer interactive? Try the Hours-to-Afford calculator and other tools above, then export to CSV.