@HeliMom74 That’s fantastic! @Torveaux I agree that OU has a good thing going, and am glad to hear your s2 has been doing well. Madison can definitely be tough to swing OOS, though “college” and “affordable” are words I hesitate to put in the same sentence in any context. Even from in state, we only had a solidified way to make it work due to specific circumstance, though DS might otherwise have pulled some scholarship funding. As far as I can tell, though, he is happy with his decision to go OU. It was those connections you mention that they sold him on. Despite all the academic fees, the estimated net cost will work out.
Since I have d’s class list now and the new fees are posted I did the math and her course fees (mandatory fees, technology fees, course fees and Academic Excellence fees) looks to be $3,982 for Fall semester for 17 hours. Thankfully she has some outside scholarships that will cover the balance and she’ll have bit left over to apply towards next year.
Does this look right?
C S 2334 Programming Struc/Abstractions 4 ($300+$224= $524)
HARP 2000 Freshmn/Soph Secondary Harp 1 ($75+ $41= $116)
MATH 2513 Discrete Math Structures 3 ($225+ $64.50= $289.50)
METR 1111 Orientation-Prof Meteorology 1 ($75+44.50=$119.50)
METR 2011 Intro to METR I Lab (HONORS) 1 ($75+44.50=$119.50)
METR 2013 Intro to Meteorology I(HONORS) 3 ($225 + $133.50=$358.50)
MUNM 1113 Understanding Music(HONORS) 3 ($225+$123=$348)
MUTE 2271 Chamber Music - Harp 1 ($75+ $41= $116)
UNIV 1210 Freshman Mentoring Program 0.000
First semester academic excellence and technology fees total $1991+ mandatory fees $1901.25 = $3,982
Will there be extra charges for labs in addition to the regular fees? Where would I find them? In addition to room and board and books, I know she’ll have a parking fee, and charges for camp crimson, a fee for her bike locker, any other fees/charges that I might not be aware of?
@3scoutsmom I haven’t dug into this too much yet, but in briefly looking at the website, it also appears that there will be $126.50/semester to cover the fees for health center, cultural and recreation activities and academic advising.
I think you’re correct @WImom94 Thanks for pointing that out! I’ve added that one in now. These fees are just killing me. We’re still waiting on a long shot scholarship (only two given for the state! and DD doesn’t have a ‘hook’ but I can still dream). I just hope they don’t keep raising fees every year or DD will have to take out loans for Junior and Senior years, which we really wanted to avoid!
@3scoutsmom Those fee totals look to be reasonably accurate.
A few things I would tell you to keep in mind:
- Assume tuition and fees will increase every year. The state government is not supportive of education right now and that doesn’t seem likely to change. While it may, I wouldn’t count on it. In addition, rising fees is a trend EVERYWHERE right now, which is exceptionally frustrating.
- There are additional scholarships to be earned once your DD is on campus. These typically come from the colleges themselves. (For example, College of Engineering, Arts & Sciences, etc.) These applications are available to the whole university during the spring semester. These are generally not large scholarships (ranging from a couple hundred, to a couple thousand dollars), but can offset the cost of fees. A large number of these scholarships are given out as well, so they are not exceptionally competitive. I'm in the College of Education which is far from the richest college. I believe there were over 100 recipients of scholarships in our college last year. I've received one every year that I've applied for it (didn't apply my freshman year, because I'm stupid). Basically, this is a long way to say that your daughter should be on the look out for additional scholarships and awards while she is on campus. Take the app process for them seriously, because not as many students apply as you would think. None of my awards have been need-based either, so don't let that prevent her from applying.
- Freshman year is the worst, fee wise. My parents now only pay the bursar $1-2k per semester and that is with me being on the old NM scholarship. There have been multiple semesters where my parents have gotten refund checks, because scholarships, fellowship stipends, on-campus internships, etc. On the new scholarship, that should be even less.
All of this is to say that for capable and motivated students, there are a wide-variety of ways to get additional money to counteract the rising fees. I’m happy to be more specific about some of them if you’d like to PM me (that offer goes for everyone, of course). Honestly, a lot of these forms of funding have led to my favorite experiences at OU, both developmentally and socially.
@WoolScarves thank you so much for your reply! It’s good to know that departmental scholarships can be used to offset fees! I was under the impression that they were mainly “tuition waivers” that would not apply to NM.