I do know the costs associated with renting a residence as I did so with a roommate for several years recently, and that was on $18k a year take-home. My degree will be in mechanical engineering, and median starting salary is $65k before taxes. I'm assuming $50k, so the monthly take-home for that tax bracket is just north of $3k. Assuming I even expand a bit and my portion of rent is $750, all my other bills, necessities, and typical spending would total out to roughly $1500 a month, leaving $1500ish to split between loans and savings.

Sorry, wall of text. And no, opinions have differed, and I'm taking them all into consideration. It's funny. The people who are also going to school right now typically suggest I stay home. The people who know my mother strongly recommend I move out, lmao.