What were your unexpected costs in PA school?

[kioconnor]

Hello! I just got accepted to PA school and will be starting at the end of May. I've been saving money for when I'm in school for a while now, but I was wondering if any current students out there could talk about things they found they had to pay for during PA school that they maybe weren't expecting? 

Literally looking for any kind of advice here.. coffee money, random housing expenses, anything food related.... literally anything?? 

Thanks in advance!

Edited August 29, 2019 by kioconnor

[rev ronin]

Car troubles!

Didn't happen to me, because I had a brand-new Mac, but computer hardware issues.

One guy had a $5000 bike, and he got hit and the bike ruined by a driver without insurance. Thankfully, he was OK physically.

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

Second the car troubles. I didn’t have any, but others did. I did a full service and changed tires before school started. Main expense was travel to distant sites. Some provide room and board, others didn’t. I had to drive 8 hours to a site and pay for a months rent for one of mine. Partially self inflicted as I chose there, but lots had to pay for gas and travel 2 hours daily.

[Bubbles]

I agree with car troubles. Also consider vet bills if you have animals. I also eat out more than anticipated (even if just hospital food) because I stay late studying or am too tired to prepare food for the next day. 

[JD2012]

I had to chip in $2500 towards my gf's sister's house downpayment.  It was the house we were renting and the owner was selling it.

I used about $800-900 to fix a car after my dad rear ended someone, but the car is now mine and no more car payments, so it is currently saving me $200/mo now.

Fundraising your class might do through sales of shirts, etc..

There are a few of my classmates that need to get short-lease apartments for far away rotations.

[futurePA94]

I thought I could make it through school with my nearly 7 year old laptop. Turns out I was mistaken and I had to scramble to buy a new one after it completely gave up and died in the middle of a week of tests. I was lucky enough that my tax refund was unexpectedly high and I'd received it the week before, so that expense was "covered." (Do yourself a favor and buy an external hard drive too. I thankfully didn't lose everything, thanks to that.)

We also made and bought class shirts, crowdfunded a couple gifts for specific faculty, personally fundraised for a few charities, and had opportunities to pay a few bucks for things like Casual Fridays or group events we put together. Small stuff, but things I didn't exactly "plan" for.

Also, now that I'm transitioning to clinical year, certain things in my program changed and now we have added expenses of additional drug screenings, background checks, and potentially fingerprinting if we do a rotation at the VA.

[Guest thatgirlonabike]

The massive quantities of alcohol needed to make the hurt stop .

[Guest HanSolo]

Vacations. You'll likely end up with at least 4 weeks off per year, and you should do something with that time. Often, you need to physically remove yourself from your environment to give yourself a true mental break. It doesn't have to be extravagant, but costs can add up. 

[JD2012]

On 9/9/2019 at 6:13 PM, HanSolo said:

Vacations. You'll likely end up with at least 4 weeks off per year, and you should do something with that time. Often, you need to physically remove yourself from your environment to give yourself a true mental break. It doesn't have to be extravagant, but costs can add up. 

Absolutely! Every break I've had so far I made sure to be on a plane within 24 hours of the last final exam. 

On 9/9/2019 at 1:02 PM, thatgirlonabike said:

The massive quantities of alcohol needed to make the hurt stop .

YES! We always went to the pub across the street immediately after EVERY DAMN pharm exam.

Edited September 16, 2019 by JD2012

[LAE198]

This will probably only be a factor if you don't have a washer and dryer and have to go to the laundromat, but I definitely didn't bank on the sheer amount of laundry that is involved with PA school.  My school has a business casual dress code, so on the days that I have cadaver lab, I go through two sets of clothing in a day: my scrubs for cadaver lab and my business casual clothes for lecture.  Tack on a third set if I go to the gym that evening.  This means that, while I could often get away with doing laundry every 10 days or so before, my laundry MUST be done every weekend now.

[BLM8867]

COFFEE. OH GOD, HOW MUCH I SPEND ON COFFEE. If you brew your own batch regularly then this isn't a concern, but if you're the type of person that studies in coffee shops ( like me) you're wallet is gonna feel it.