<p>In my dd's search for a school, we've come across several policies that strike me as downright annoying. Examples:</p>
<p>One school charges "overload" tuition fees for anything over 16 credit hours per semester. But the degree requires 132 credit hours, which means you can't complete it in four years without paying overload fees.</p>
<p>Another school requires students to buy a full meal ticket all four years. For that matter, many schools require the full meal ticket for freshmen. I know my dd will not eat enough to make this a good value.</p>
<p>Have you seen similar annoying practices at the schools your dc have considered?</p>
<p>if a school had a lot of user unfriendly practices like that- I personally thought it was great- it made it that much easier to weed them out of the list :)</p>
<p>My two children in college have multiple meal plan choices. They rarely are up in time for bkft and eat out frequently as the dorm food is repetitive. The have fridges, microwaves and kitchens in their rooms and dorm floors to do their own cooking. I buy the cheapest meal plan.</p>
<p>There are charges if you take more than the alloted credits, but mine have never wanted to. Your daughter can probably do that extra class during the summer someplace cheaper.</p>
<p>There are all kinds of add ons when the bills come. Dorm fees, athletic fees, health insurance fees, etc. I have found a lot of the fees will be negotiated or dropped with complaints. Remind them that your child will be a contributing alumni one day, but not if they are ripped off.</p>
<p>Mandatory health insurance..no opting out even if your child is still on parents' insurance. Its nearly $2000 a year for the mandatory insurance. And on top of everything - only freshman had to pay last year. Next year I believe freshman & sophmores will have to pay. Grr.</p>
<p>oakland mom, i got out of that mandatory insurance with the threat of child won't contribute when an alumni. It was a struggle, believe me.</p>
<p>Another big add on is extracurricular activities, lab fees, books always cost more than expected, some special classes aren't included in the regular tuition. It is endless, now that I think about it. Be prepared.</p>
<p>My S gets a certain number of meals each week plus a set amount of "campus cash" to be used on campus and around town with his meal plan. Since he is very frugal/cheap, he doesn't come close to spending all the cash each semester. I have to pay a $15 fee at the end of the school year to get a refund rather than let the cash carry over. Why would I let it carry over when the amount will only increase at the start of the new school year? A really stupid fee, IMO.</p>
<p>At Stanford, they sent out monthly bills (for $10 or something) to us for dorm internet hookup. I tried to pay the whole year at once ahead of time, but somehow got a credit of $20 or something that took years to get straightened out. I think they may have ended this practice finally (now that my son has graduated :) ), but it was so ridiculous. I have no idea why the $100 or whatever wasn't just added on to the huge room and board bill!</p>
<p>I was unhappy that when my Ds applied for and received outside scholarships that the school would then reduce their awards. I think kids should be rewarded for their initiative.</p>
<p>beforelgo, Merit Aid was reduced $ for $ by the amount of an outside scholarship?? That is nuts! So basically, the outside scholarship organization gave nothing to your kid; they made a cash award to the school. I would go back to the outside organization and tell them to send my kid a certificate, but keep the money.</p>
<p>I can sort of kind of barely see this practice with need based aid, but not merit aid.</p>
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Merit Aid was reduced $ for $ by the amount of an outside scholarship??
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<p>Standard practice at many, but not all schools. Athletes on full ride scholarships pretty much cannot get any other scholarships since it would put them over the cost of the school which is a no-no under NCAA rules.</p>
<p>NJres, and beforeIgo, are you talking about full-ride merit aid? In that case, I guess I can see the argument of not having a student "profit" financially to go to school. But, if they still have to pay room/board, the outside merit shouldn't affect the $$ from the school? Do most outside scholarships always pay the school directly (as opposed to a check to the kid)?</p>
<p>One kid has a full ride and while the merit award org. was willing to "earmark" the award for study abroad travel, etc. even a donation to the school for special progamming the school would not allow it so we told them to keep the $.The other kid's $ was reduced dollar for dollar.</p>
<p>Both kids' schools use Tuitionpay plans. However, the first payments are always due BEFORE the school sets the tuition and room and board costs for the following year. So we have had to do estimates every year...why can't they just set the costs early enough to know. For that matter, freshman year, DS's school didn't set their total cost of attendance until AFTER they sent out their acceptances and finaid offers.</p>
<p>Re outside scholarship reductions - good reason to pick the school that doesn't do this. Interesting that these schools who don't reduce seemed anxious to tell us that -- so if you don't hear anything, that may not be a good sign. One school did tell us they would reduce, when we asked. </p>
<p>S's school did not reduce his full tuition (not full ride) scholarship after he rec'd 2 outside scholarships -- to the contrary, the univ. president sent him a letter of congratulations!</p>
<p>Scholarships are generally paid to the school directly. School will ask for info, and you provide univ. contact to scholarship donor. There's a system!</p>
<p>Maybe this will help someone understand why institutional aid is reduced when students have outside scholarships....</p>
<p>Many of these institutional scholarships and grants are actually just discounts on the tuition cost...there is no real money there...the school isn't making any money...they are just reducing the cost by the amount of "monopoly money" which is listed on the award letter.</p>
<p>Nikki, I understand what you are saying....but it seems to me that is all the more reason to NOT touch those grants. Simply put, when a student has an outside scholarship sent to the college, the college IS making money. It's money in the college's pocket from a source other than college money. As long as it doesn't exceed the cost of attendance, I can't see why the colleges would not allow students to add onto aid, instead of deducting institutional aid when a student receives outside aid.</p>
<p>For the schools(MIT, Caltech) my son considered and was accepted to last year the practice was that outside scholarships first reduce either work study, loans & student contribution from savings/work and then any institutional grants/scholarships. The family's contribution was the very last thing to be reduced by outside scholarships. My sense from reading these forums for the past year is that its the more common practice - and the schools that reduce the family contribution before reducing institutional grants are not as common though it might be an interesting thread to start to see if info can be gathered to see how various schools apply outside scholarships.</p>
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and the schools that reduce the family contribution before reducing institutional grants are not as common
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<p>There is a good reason it is not "common" ... it is not allowed. The federal guidelines do not allow the total financial resources to surpass the COA. For an outside scholarship to reduce the EFC, it must add to a 100% merit aid package.</p>
<p>xiggi,
Thanks xiggi. I actually thought it was rare if not never that schools reduced the family contribution before reducing institutional grants but other comments on this thread seemed to say that it did happen. I wish it was that way for my son. Then getting the ACG would have mattered (but it just reduced the institutional grant - workstudy, loans and family contribution all stayed the same & we thought the Academic Competitiveness Grant would be something "extra"). Is it correct to say you can't get more than your need? Unless of course you get a full ride? Yikes, this confuses me.</p>