Sorry, hit that 9 instead of zero. Tend to do that. $80,000 Though, really, the point is the same. A lot of money for college If increases stay apace, we’ll hit $89,000 in just a few years.
That’s just incorrect. Drew’s enrollment actually had increased 27% in the three years preceding the price cut.
COA doesn’t include a lot of things that can crop up. The figure is an average. It’s the maximum one can borrow from federally backed school loans for the school year. It includes those students who may have to travel a half hour from the school along with those who have a full day’s plane ride.
For families not used to stinting, it’s easy to go over COA.
COA at my Jesuit/private university alma mater is $77K this year. As a full pay family, we had to turn down D17’s acceptance. COA was $72K just two years ago when she applied and it went up another $5K? As much as I loved that place, we could not justify when we knew she could get a great education elsewhere for significantly less.
I’m as sympathetic as anyone to rising college costs, but really- parents weekend? My parents attended zero parents weekends- not for me, not for my siblings. It wasn’t in the budget, and neither of them were taking a day off to get to campus for the 3 pm welcome reception.
I don’t recall feeling aggravated- that’s what it means to stick to a budget.
I’ve got neighbors who seem to be living right on the edge financially-- overextended everywhere-- and the blowout weekends they take (not just parents weekend- but for major football games) to see their kids astonishes me. Hotels, meals out, flights-- seriously? Your kid is coming home for Thanksgiving, but you need to show up two weeks earlier for homecoming?
Not impressed by this particular form of conspicuous consumption.
One of our kids went to a pricey school on the other side of the country. I took her there for move in and orientation. We never returned until graduation. She knew that going to this college would mean a plane ticket home at Christmas, and one home in the summer. Thanksgiving week and spring break were spent either at a relative’s near the school or doing a school sponsored service program.
It all worked out.
@blossom - while not a necessity, it is a cost that is not considered in COA. I have also found the “travel” numbers to be very low. For example, I believe Notre Dame’s “travel” budget was under $1000 for the year. If I lived in Chicago or Indianapolis, that would work. I live in California. I could spend that much getting him to and from school for Thanksgiving. We typically try to get him home for Fall Break, Thanks giving, Christmas and Spring Break. There is no way to get all 4 trips in for under $1k. This is not a complaint, simply stating a fact that COA is an estimate and you are likely spending more than the amount estimated in the COA.
Then again, when calculating the full cost of sending a child to college no one considers the savings to not having that child at home. Food, utilities, extracurriculars, transportation to school, etc… It may only make a small dent in the COA but at least it’s something.
USMA, you are a generous parent. My kids understood that coming home for Fall and Spring breaks would not be in the budget if they went somewhere that required an expensive plane ticket home. They ended up at Amtrak/Greyhound bus distances-- which was nice- but I tried to “pay it forward” by having the kids friends who lived far away come to us for any break where they couldn’t go home. And our garage housed some kids stuff over the summer, and a kid moved in with us in between graduation and the start of his job because he couldn’t move into an apartment until he got a paycheck!
We visited our kids quite often while they were in college. Did that instead of vacation. Wanted to do do and enjoyed every bit. Reasons for each one, an athlete at one, performing arts, the other, visited close friends and an old stomping ground and for the youngest, just because it was so different. We enjoyed the visits, part of our fabric of life. We were fortunate to be able to afford the trips.
For families who want this sort of connection, and whose kids support this too, it’s something to take into consideration. Sometimes there are compelling reasons, such as health—that of student and of parents and other family members.