That’s good to know they have been so accommodating already! My middle has health issues, just had a bad scare this past week, and missed her Bio midterm. The professor was so kind and understanding. My oldest had mono last year… the same experience, from the doctors at the student health, to the dean… they completely put everyone and ease and made stressful situations much better! @KaMaMom
I have a question about how soon they need to vacate their dorms after taking finals. Does anyone know how it works? She will have a final the last day. Do they expect them to be out by Sunday? Just trying to figure it out so she has time to move her stuff and make it to the airport for her flight home.
Looks like the dorms close May 2 @9am.
Spring Break is over and we are leaving Nashville for home today. I have to say my son picked a great place to go to college. We enjoyed seeing him and visiting Nashville. We attended 2 men’s basketball game, one women’s game and a baseball game in below freezing weather. We toured the Jack Daniel Distillery, the State Mueseum and the State Capital. We got snowed out of our reservations to the Bluebird Cafe on Thursday night, but the Bluebird called and offered us tickets to the Friday night show. We definitely traded up to Women in the Round with Amy Grant added at the last minute. It was awesome! I can’t wait to come back.
I am jealous. Love Amy Grant! She left Vandy with only 2 or 3 classes left to degree completion. In her book, she says she promised her mother she would finish, but she hasn’t yet.
My girls are on their way back from London… they had a great time with their classmates at Oxford. Trip of a lifetime that we’d never be able to afford without the generous VU FA! I found out on Friday my very best friend in the whole world’s daughter got into to VU and will be joining my middle next year!!! She got the email on Friday : ) She’ll be a Blair student. So excited for her!
So my son has been accepted to Vanderbilt… he even got the CV Scholarship. But NOW he has to choose whether to PAY for room and board, or accept a full ride at a lesser school. I post this on the parents thread because I was wondering if any parents here are willing to post just how much they are paying per year in real dollars. I know travel expenses vary, but are Vanderbilt’s online estimates pretty close?
I found their estimates to be right on the money. My son is a first year student and we spent about $1,200-$1,300 in books and supplies (buying several books used on Amazon, etc.) I gave him $1,000 on his Commodore Card and he will probably have $200-$300 left over. He has been spending quite a bit of his own money mostly eating off campus, attending events (concerts, etc.), and using Uber to get around. I would say their personal expenses number is a bit high for most people but not too far off. Travel expenses will definitely vary depending on where you live.
I have a 2nd year engineering student. The room and board is a set amount and the website is accurate. Since Vanderbilt is a 4 year residential university, the room and board is set and there are really no other options that would vary the price. The board cost can go down each year as you purchase less meals, but then your student is buying food elsewhere. Each student is different when it comes to spending money and travel costs. But that really shouldn’t be part of the comparrison since you’ll pay for that where ever he goes. Congratulations on the CV scholarship!
@Zen2015, my son is a freshman and received the CV scholarship. When I first looked at Vanderbilt’s cost estimate on line, I thought to myself that I can do better than that by buying used books etc… Well, it turned out that we are spending very close to the estimate.
I’ve done better on the books than the estimate. Virtually all the books are either bought or rented online. Amazon is our primary vendor. Then the books are sold back as soon as possible. In a few cases, we actually made money selling back a book that was bought used. S has had a few classes that require an online account. In those cases, I have not found a way to not pay full price.
S found out last night that he’ll be in Morgan or Lewis Hall next year. He is really happy about it. I’m also glad to see that he will have a small kitchen. It’s time to learn a few more life skills.
Go9ersjrh–My D has loved living in Morgan this year and has enjoyed cooking for herself although she has to depend upon friends with cars to get her to the grocery stores. Other life skills: she has become the expert on finding events on campus that are serving free food but had a fit when the campus custodial service didn’t come to clean their bathroom for over 2 weeks, LOL. Guess she still needs to learn how to clean a toilet herself 
@LHSCary - Is campus custodial suppose to clean their bathrooms? I was hoping that was the case. Otherwise given how his room looks, I won’t want to walk in the bathroom.
Go9ersjrh–yes, the campus custodial staff will clean the bathroom and leave a supply of toilet paper and trash bags, supposed to be done weekly. (This is in contrast to my son’s situation at a state school where they have to clean the bathrooms themselves (and they are “fined” if the bathrooms don’t pass inspection) and supply their own toilet paper–guess that’s part of what we’re paying the big bucks for at a private school 
) The kids have to keep the kitchens clean and throw out the trash from the rest of the suite/apartment so they have some real world responsibilities!
Hi Guys! My son will be heading to VU in the fall and I am wondering if you guys use the Commodore Cash? Is there any benefit to loading CCash? We had planned for him to put all college related purchases on his personal credit card.
lorielliott1, my daughter used only about $300 Commodore Cash the whole year. I will be getting quite a bit back at the end of the year!
By end of the year, my son will use about $300 to $350 Commodore Cash. I recall we had to put some money in the Commodore Cash. I thought it was required by Vandy. However, any money leftover in the CC account is fully refundable.
Counting Commodore Cash used for books from B&N, taxis to and from the airport, and any other incidental expenses, I will have used ~$1000 over the course of the year.
That said, I think how much you use is very personal. I’ve met people that started with $5000, and people who had barely any. I think if you’d prefer for him to use his personal credit card, that’s fine, but Commodore Cash is always an option.
i’m also thinking that you had to put something on the Commodore Card. We’ve always put the minimum and only a small amount gets used because he uses his crediit card. I figure it is refundable at the end, so we can get it back.