These days, it is not cheap to be a college student. We have various expenses, many of which are school related but some of us have car payments, cell phone bills, rent, food and other things to worry about on top of school expenses.

With so much time committed to our studies, oftentimes part-time work is the only way many can hold onto a job while at school.

While the university does have textbook rental, which spares students from purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of books, certain classes also spring unexpected costs on students on the first day of class.

In English classes it is not uncommon to have anywhere from three to six extra books that are not available in textbook rental.

Those who are art majors know that buying supplies can be expensive.

Some students are expected to pay as much as $400 in extra supplies for classes.

Having extra expenses is part of being a college student.

However, the problem is that students are not being notified about these extra expenses until the day they get their syllabi.

While planning for school, many students have their expenses figured out early. Coupled with their loans, grants or scholarships, some make a budget for other expenses they’ll have during the semester.

Then they get their syllabi.

When a student realizes they may need to purchase several hundreds of dollars worth of supplies, they realize that sacrificing parts of their budget, such as groceries, may be a cold and unfortunate reality.

Although students can put certain purchases at the University Bookstore on their student account, some expenses, such as art supplies, cannot be purchased at the bookstore.

If the university required professors to alert students ahead of time that there will be extra expenses in the syllabus, students would have a chance to plan ahead for the upcoming financial burden.

An additional option the university could explore is outlining course costs in the course catalog.

The catalog includes the prerequisite for each course along with a brief description, but it does not list any costs that may come with the course.

While making a budget, students need to know ahead of time what they are going to be spending their money on.

While the university is very affordable, affordability is not relevant when discussing unexpected expenses.

If the university could find a way to alert students via D2L, email, course catalog, or another channel, many would not have to worry about sacrificing groceries and other necessities for books or art supplies.