Planning an education in Florence Italy at The Florence Academy of Art for 4 years. Will be paying for it with my a summer job/career in Alaska every summer. I'm hoping to be making 25000 to 30000 every summer.

Tuition is 12700 USD every year. That leaves me with 12200 for the 9 months living and going to school in Florence Italy.

Planning on going in Fall of 2010. This means I have 2 summers of working in Alaska and about 9 months working a regular job. So at the end of all that I'm hoping for close to 50000 dollars after taxes and all.

Most of my money will probably be in some sort of short term investment till and while I go to Italy however.

Any thoughts would be well appreciated.

Would also like to hear about Florence expenses, especially long term (9 month) rental costs of apartments in Florence.

Well I've heard it's a good school,a friends husband went there and he makes his living from his painting and he went there anyway!

If you find a room in a bigger apartment you will probably pay about €300-400 a month. Some may include utilities others not. I have a feeling the school will be able to tell you where to look anyway. If your food tastes aren't gourmet you will be able to live fairly cheaply if you stick to pasta, veg etc. Eating out can be expensive. A delivered pizza is pretty cheap at about €6. If you have to pay for Utilities they can get expensive, which is why you should look for somewhere that includes them in the rent if possible, then that headache is taken away. Winter can be cold, so heating bills are high.