One of the undeniable truths of living in the United States is that college is expensive, and for a good majority of students, college tuition is also combined with their own personal living expenses. Emily Coval, a nursing student at Indiana University Southeast, has spent the last year and a half living with roommates, splitting rent and working part time as a server at Texas Roadhouse. “When I started college, I knew I wanted my own space with my now fiancé, so that’s why we looked for apartments nearby,” Coval said. It is not uncommon for students to choose off-campus living, and it is not that uncommon for them to move out of their parents’ home. This kind of life can be difficult, as financial stability can decrease over time throughout the college experience.

“It has been a struggle balancing school, work and life, but I make it by.” Coval spends the majority of the time studying for multiple exams for each nursing class, and some of the other time they are at clinicals that can be early morning into the afternoon, or afternoon to late night. It is safe to assume that the nursing major can be vastly underestimated by those who have not considered going for that kind of career. Coval has said that it feels like there is not enough time to do things, because of time spent working on schoolwork, or working a part-time job at Texas Roadhouse. “Sometimes I have to post my shifts for other servers to take because I have so much schoolwork to do,” said Coval.

Coval said rent is close to $1,500 every month. This price range is regrettably cheap for a two-bedroom and two-bathroom apartment, especially in the southern Indiana area. “My fiancé and I try to save as much of the cash we make from work over the month and then deposit it into a bank account when rent is posted. There can be some months where we barely scrape up the last couple hundred dollars, but we haven’t had any worse issues yet.” Coval’s fiancé also works at Texas Roadhouse, and has had no issue working extra shifts just to help the both of them make rent. As they have stated, “We only work Friday through Sunday. The rest of the week we use to complete any assignments that need to be completed.” They also said that as long as they have each other, that there is no worries for what comes next.