<p>A word to all the colleges out there from a time-stressed parent: don't hide your cost.<br>
DD and I are at the "where should we apply" stage, casting a wide net.
Schools that take 45 clicks to find this year's tuition, fees, room and board (re: cost) are getting put into the "don't apply" pile.
Why? Because it says something about your school if you are so ashamed of its value that you force prospective students and parents to knock themselves out just to figure out if you're in the financial ballpark.
Same goes for 23 different "fees": anything mandatory should be included in tuition.
Compare Univ of Toledo with College of Wooster (one does it right, one wrong).
Lots of hidden fees and lots of policies scream "bureaucratic nightmare" and "institutionalism over student welfare" to me, having endured that myself years ago.
There, I feel better now.</p>
<p>I completely agree… except:
Some schools like Wooster are primarily residential colleges whereas a school like Toledo has a lot of part time students etc. Clearly a fee structure like Wooster’s would seem pretty tangled. However, on the whole it bugs me that there are all these little random charges that dont seem to make sense, but I imagine it’s similar to an activity fee by semester. When you consider the cost of attending one is at least 1/3 of what the other is, even WITH all those broken out charges, it’s hard to believe this is the reason it’s off the list. Plus, while I can’t say this is the case for Wooster, but most schools have different meal plans and dorm costs if you continue to use university housing. It’s my understanding that Wooster “encourages” students to live on campus.</p>
<p>Ya know, I cannot find a link on CMU’s website for the deadlines for UG FA applications anywhere…maybe they don’t want students w/need to apply? It does make me wonder!</p>
<p>Same thing happened to me yesterday - was on a school’s website and could NOT find tuition and fees in any of the main page clickables. Had to go to google and do a search for the schools name and tuition. Very frustrating.</p>
<p>Somewhat related - the college websites should make it as easy as possible for prospective employers to post jobs and review the specific curriculum of various degrees.</p>
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<p>I used to feel the same way, but my S attends a public college where the tuition charge is equal to the fees, and though I complain when I see mandatory fees for all manner of useless stuff, I have found his school to be free from bureaucracy, and student welfare its chief priority. I think public schools are required in many cases to spell out where various mandatory fees are spent, and private schools have more latitude to roll fees into a comprehensive charge each year. I have also found that public schools don’t tend to know their actual charges until advised by the state legislature, which often happens well into the summer, so they aren’t hiding the costs so much as waiting to report current costs.</p>
<p>Yes, costs should be easier to find. I was also amazed at how many schools don’t put a physical address on the home page. A kid hears about a school, looks it up, and it takes 8 clicks to even discover what state it’s in!</p>
<p>Another tidbit about public colleges… I know of at least one case in which a public univ must get permission from the state legislature to raise tuition but can establish and raise fees on its own.</p>
<p>I’m used to seeing “tuition and fees” from our state U’s. They are separated in the chart sent with bills- all full time students, instate and OOS, pay the same fees and different tuition, less than 12 credits gets a prorating of fees. No mandatory health insurance or other fees I hear about from CC. Maybe it’s because so many public U students need to be more cost conscience? The flagship U also posts where the the ISBN of textbooks can be found in the website and several suggestions about where one can buy them, unlike tales I have heard on CC about some private school bookstores.</p>
<p>MSU, I found the easiest way to find info quickly is to use the search function on the school’s homepage. Typing in “tuition” usually brings up the right page on the first try!</p>
<p>I’m not sure I’d put a school in the “do not apply” pile because the tuition and fees are difficult to find, but I’ve got to agree with you that it can be VERY difficult to find that important information on some college websites. There have been schools where I didn’t readily find the tuition even after typing “tuition” into the website’s own search engine. And with additional tuition for certain majors and lots of little fees, at some schools I’m still not sure I know the full COA. It can be very frustrating.</p>
<p>I must admit, the OOS Flagship university my daughter will be attending in the fall has no hidden fees (as of yet). I was pleasantly surprised, because I heard horror stories from her friends who are going to other schools.</p>
<p>I would not knock a school off the list because it was hard to find the COA on the website. To me, it is a reflection of poor website design and it would be a shame to knock off a school that may be otherwise a very good fit for a kid. I understand the frustration, however.</p>
<p>I found one school that had $2,663 in “fees”; thereby moving it from one class of affordability to another.</p>
<p>Fees are one way that colleges get around tuition promises and avoid the headline of “Big State U raises tuition 9%.”</p>
<p>Let’s put it this way: every school understands that cost is one of the top 2 or 3 issues every single parent will have - yet they hide the information… what does that tell you about the administration of that school? Again, if one is looking at 5 schools that might not be an issue, but I’m looking at 200 at this stage and poor administration seems to be at least as solid a rating guide as, say, # of books in the library.</p>
<p>Counting-It looks like 2/15 is the CMU’d preferred date for FAFSA completion. Check out the bottom right of the first page.
<a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/admission/forms/10/Apply_Financial_Aid.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cmu.edu/admission/forms/10/Apply_Financial_Aid.pdf</a></p>
<p>I would definitively knocked down a school for this reason or any other administrative flaws. If you, as a parent, cannot find information, such as tuitions, imagine your student trying to deal with the administration, once on his own. As a matter of fact, I have also knocked down all schools that did not want to answer my questions. Believe me, I had a lot of: “We like to discuss this with the student at orientation.”</p>
<p>MSUDad:
I would not assume that they are hiding the information. If you CAN access it, then it is not hidden but was simply difficult to find. That may be poor website design. If the information is not made available at all, and is truly hidden or not accurate, that would be a valid complaint. Hard to find is a complaint too but it doesn’t imply that the costs are hidden.</p>
<p>type cost of attendance or cost of education into the schools search box.its usually associated with the financial aid pages of a schools website.</p>
<p>eucalyptus…as the parent of two recent college grads as well a one also who applied to and is now attending grad school which we are funding, I have never even noticed a thing about this with their schools. It was not a factor in choosing the schools (how easy or not it was to find the cost). </p>
<p>By the way, my kids ran into no problems dealing with administration at their schools. </p>
<p>As far as questions go, I don’t recall my ever asking a college questions. My kids had the contact with their colleges. I did line up the appointments for tours but they are the ones who talk to their colleges.</p>
<p>soozievt: it’s fun to play these semantic games… so, if something is eventually found, it was never hidden in the first place? </p>
<p>Not my definition of “hidden.”</p>
<p>Kind of brings back bad childhood memories, when I’d play 'hide ‘n seek’ and then my family would leave to go to Baskin Robbins.</p>