Every number below is yours to enter. This tool does not guess what your rent is, and it deliberately does not ship a "typical Provo student budget" to compare you against — those figures go stale between semesters and get quoted for years afterward. What it does instead is the arithmetic that actually catches people out: converting money that arrives and leaves in semester lumps into the monthly picture your bank account experiences.
Money in
After tax, not your hourly rate times forty. If your hours drop during finals, use the lower number.
Money out — the lumps
Use the figure on your own account, not a published sticker rate — it changes with credit load, residency and program.
Contracted student housing is often billed by the term, and a term is not four months. Check whether yours covers utilities and internet before you enter those again below.
Money out — every month
Car payment, insurance, gas and parking — or a transit pass. UVX is not free to the general public; whether you ride at no charge depends on a qualifying student ID, so check your own status rather than assuming.
Your semester
Fall and Winter run about four months each at both schools. Spring and Summer terms are shorter — set this to the real length of the block you are living through, because that is what divides the lumps.
Enter your numbers above and the breakdown appears here.
Why this is not one number
A generic calculator averages the whole semester and tells you that you are fine. The month tuition is due, you are not fine — and the two facts are perfectly compatible. That gap is the thing worth seeing in advance, so this tool reports the averaged figure and the worst month separately, and never quietly blends them.