Colleges now offer a variety of on and off campus living options, some of which are social in nature, and some of which have an academic component, such as learning communities. Common examples of academic residences include houses dedicated to learning and speaking a foreign language. I’ve read that many of our elite colleges have committed themselves to ensuring that every student can participate in the extra-curricular opportunities the school offers, regardless of their personal financial status, and therefore have even included items like eating clubs and fraternity and sorority dues in their financial aid calculations. I would imagine that perhaps then they might also help with, say, a French House, an Environmental Sustainability House, the Casa Latina, or the Rainbow House.
So, does your child’s college offer financial assistance to cover the additional cost of any kind of special interest housing? If so, what types are included? Just wondering if this is now common practice or not.
The colleges my kids attended did not have differential pricing. Some of the dorms were “eh” in terms of the physical plant, some were really nice; some of the specialty houses had incredible amenities but the actual rooms were tiny and cramped, and some of the specialty houses didn’t have that much going on but the rooms were attractive.
Everyone figured it out. But finances did not figure in to it. I have heard anecdotally that the Deans maintain “slush funds” to help kids in the residence halls with emergencies, or with purchases that aren’t covered by financial aid (a tuxedo for a kid in an acapella group which needs formal wear). But those funds were apart from financial aid and were handled confidentially.
My own state flagship maintains differential pricing on housing and it makes me very uncomfortable… but what can you do? My kids didn’t go there, I don’t know that as a taxpayer I have standing to object to it.
My child’s college charges the same housing fee no matter what kind of housing students choose (and all but a handful live on campus all 4 years). Theme houses have an application process but no additional fees over any of the other dorm options.
Our eldest is at U Richmond that has sophomore learning communities. They can apply for a variety of options. They live in regular dorms just a wing is devoted to those in that particular program. They take a class and they travel someplace. The room and board costs are the same as usual and the school covers all the travel costs associated with it. They have programs that go all over the world and some in-state. Mine did a program on immigration and so she went to San Diego and into Mexico. It was a great experience and nice that it didn’t cost us extra.
Our local university requires honors students to live in an honors dorm first year. It doesnt cost MORE than a regular dorm BUT, it’s a great frustration to local families as their kids can’t do honors AND save money living at home (and in our area. College room and board is more than twice the cost of tuition.)
D’s college’s FA office responded to my question about this, and no they don’t help with this additional cost. I wish they’d use the model of dedicating a wing of dorm to a special interest, since that way the cost for the rooms would be the same. D had wanted to live in a house related to her major. I don’t expect for my kid to be able to do everything wealthier students can do, but given this is a more academic program it would have been nice–especially considering the Paying for the Party thread. So a wealthier student majoring in, say, a foreign language can live in a special house with perhaps international students who speak that language and receive a mini-immersion experience on campus, but her middle or lower class counterparts with the same major cannot. It’s unfortunate, but there’s only so much money to go around.
I don’t know why, but my daughter was very against living in a ‘freshman interest group’ dorm assignment. All the housing cost the same so that wasn’t a factor, but the school really pushed for students to live in the FIGs. This kid is quite the joiner so I was surprised.
Best decision ever!
She ended up with a roommate with a related major (D was theater, roommate was dance) and they got along fine. Roommate was in the honors program and also could have chosen to live in honors housing but she didn’t want that either. They had a third friend who was in the FIG and hated it so spent most of her time in their room.
Why did they dislike the FIG? 24/7 with the same group of kids. Classes together, discussion groups together, eating together, football games together. Too much together! D’s theater major group was about 30 freshmen and she was just sick of them at the end of a day of classes.
D is a freshman now. She is researching housing for her sophomore year. The way her school does their freshman seminars, some are just regular classes and some are learning communities whose participants live in proximity to one another. The freshman seminar topics D liked the best didn’t happen to be learning communities, so she didn’t apply for those. For freshmen the price was the same regardless.
My kids’ colleges charge the same, regardless of housing type. My daughter lived in French House her last year at Wellesley, and the price was the same as her first two years in a crappy dorm, and her junior year abroad living with a French family. One thing that did cost less her senior year was meals, because she went off the meal plan entirely. It was actually cheaper to have Whole Foods deliver her groceries twice a week than it was to pay for W’s expensive, one size fits all, meal plan.
@TheGFG , is there a way to offset the higher cost of the language house with a cheaper meal plan (see my post above)? Cooking one’s own meals can be a lot less expensive and may make up the difference between the regular and special interest housing costs.
Princeton requires all Frosh and Sophomores to live on campus in a Residential College. Housing is the same and there are 3 dining meal options with cost only a couple of hundred dollars different. Junior/Seniors that get need-based aid and join an Eating Club get additional Financial Aid to cover the increased cost Eating Club dues.