Yes, getting them to understand your thinking is an important first step and helps them frame their own realistic views, not the dream school stuff.
Respectfully, friends, the back and forth about international colleges might flourish on its own thread.
MODERATOR’s NOTE:
Ahem. Moderator here. Why are two users who’ve been around for a while, and should know better, having an off-topic debate on this thread? 10 posts deleted. Please keep to topic.
@rwmannesq One thing you may be able to do if your son is indifferent as to options other than the one reach school is pick a baseline cost and offer to give the difference to your son for whatever college he chooses which is less than the baseline. He could use that money for grad school. Or a down payment on a house. I have a few friends who have done that with their kids looking at OOS publics and full pay privates. Only one kid has pursued the full pay private but at least in part its because he has a pretty good guess his parents will pay for grad school and provide a significant down payment on a house.
@saillakeerie: Good thinking and we did something like it. S18 MUST be on West Coast and in a major city, just in case something comes up (which is explained a little, elsewhere.) So, I discussed with him that it’s going to be difficult to pay full cost to these private colleges AND pay for his study abroad program on top. He really wants to study in London. So, gave him the option that if he chooses the UC’s (or I guess the CSU) then he’s guaranteed travel to London, even if it’s not for study abroad but just for fun. He’s thinking about that.
You don’t need to pick up the tab for foreign travel. One of my kids was not able to do a semester abroad due to scheduling/sequencing reasons. Went to favorite professor to lament. Professor picked up the phone and an hour later, kid was in the fellowship/internship office filling out an application for a fellowship which paid travel costs, a living stipend in the city kid wanted to study in.
I was a sport and paid for the overseas cellphone plan. I think there were two applicants that summer for the fellowship, both of whom got it.
It’s amazing what kids can figure out on their own (with help from interested Deans and faculty).
@blossom: Good info! But keep it on the QT, I want to see what he decides first. :-"
And at some colleges, their programs are covered by your ordinary tuition/RB. My kid did a semester that threw in a stipend.
But gads, when you get to study abroad, there are many factors that can affect cost. Again, you get to do some research, ask some questions, and decide wisely.
I came across this pretty good article on reasons for rising college costs which hits on the rock walls and non-teachig admin costs.
https://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/16/why-college-costs-are-so-high-and-rising.htm
Also, OP, if you want to disclose the LD during admissions, you may find it beneficial as it would provide context and you’d get services while in schools (untimed tests, note taking support etc.) if needed.
Good article and for some reason, doesn’t alarm me. But you need to follow where he’s talking publics.
“Among the most selective schools, amenities have become an important part of the race for the best…” Among some, it’s felt it’s students driving the amenities- nicer dorms, air conditioning, more campus bus service, more open pool hours, white board tech, best labs money can buy, mental health support, academic help centers, full career planning centers (my college had one lady and her secretary, ) etc.
On some threads, kids at mega U’s complain about the wait for academic help appts or to get face time with admins. It goes on. Of course, kids at other places can complain, too.
But “you” generally want these things - and when you want them. I sometimes joke kids don’t want cinderblock buildings, all work and no play.
Everyone has a part in this surge. Look at how many complain about their local comm colleges, which ofyen aren’t the pretty package, tied with a nice bow.
Those things I’m happy to pay for. The sales pitch at least at LMU did NOT indicate that any of these are particularly available. I do need to go back and see if UOP and USD have enhanced student services and career services as that’d be money well spent for me.
BTW, the link didn’t work for me.
LMU and many other middle tier private colleges offer preferential financial aid packages (i.e. merit discounts). However, in order to qualify for preferential financial aid, students should typically be in the top quarter or top third of the applicant pool. If a student is closer to the middle of the applicant pool most of the financial aid is going to come in the form of loans. This is explained in the Muhlenberg College article “The Real Deal on Financial Aid”:
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/main/admissions/therealdealonfinancialaid/
^interesting…merit based FA!
Administration has exploded for regulatory compliance reasons. All the transparency or title 9 info is expensive to collect. Policies and training to ensure compliance are expensive to implement. FA is super expensive to implement. And of course if the school gets 50k apps, people need to be paid to read your kids too.
The rest are the folks who feed and clean up after your kid, keep them safe, guide them, break up roommate issues. Think of it as a small city they are running!
I have to admit, I get a little confused when people include admissions packets and dorms as reasons for higher costs. They charge an application fee, and they charge room & board separately. I don’t think those are, then, reasons for higher tuition.
Now, rock walls and telescopes? That completely makes sense. 
You’d think that each section of the bill should support that part of the overall budget. Meal plans should support the cafeterias and delis on campus, but is the trash removal part of the ‘board’ costs or overall maintenance? Who pays for the sidewalks to be cleared around the cafeteria after a snow storm? Should students who don’t have a meal plan but do walk on the sidewalks have to chip in? Does tuition only go for classroom things? Administration costs? The student union only covered by the student fees?
My daughter’s tuition has gone up a steady $2k per year. Her fees have not gone up at all, and are overall very low. the room and board has increased, but I no longer pay it so don’t know the percentage of increase. Other daughter’s fees are significantly more, double, yet they have similar facilities (the climbing walls, swimming pools, admission to sporting events and campus activities). I think it is just a different way to do the budgets. From a tax standpoint, it is better to have it all called ‘tuition’ so they you can offset any scholarships for AOTC or reduce the student’s taxes.
At many schools, including my daughter’s, STEM students pay a higher tuition to cover the more expensive cost of educating a STEM student - higher salaries for the professors, labs costs, high tech classrooms, etc.
The $ from application fees does not cover all the costs involved at all.
Line item budgeting makes sense, but not a usual way for schools. They need the fungibilty.
Reg compliance: it’s killing many types of businesses with these admintrative costs!
Telescopes in the “absolute best/biggest/most wonderful telescope in the entire world” class are paid for by government grants etc and are typically jointly operated by several universities. The University of Florida is a joint owner of the Great Canary Telescope, which is currently the biggest optical reflecting telescope. So @twoinanddone if that’s where you were touring, they were right. (Though DS’s college is a partner in planning one 3 times as wide.)
DS’s school has several big ones on their list of telescopes, but it would be more than silly to locate them on campus near light pollution and close to sea level. They are on Mauna Kea, Mt. Palomar, the Owens Valley of California, Chile, and Hanford WA + Livingston LA. I certainly don’t expect my tuition dollars to pay for those!
(It took me awhile to find a list of telescopes actually located on his campus. It was on the local astronomy club’s web page. They have 6 small telescopes up to 14" on the roof of the astrophysics building.)
You don’t want your tuition dollars paying for the telescope-- but what about paying for the professor who leads teams of students to actually USE the telescope? What about paying for the technology grid which allows your kid to get internet access everywhere on campus AND makes the telescope actually useful by being able to share information with other teams of researchers? What about paying for the people who mop the floors which keep the telescope facility clean? What about the lawyer who reviews the contracts for the shared facilities and makes sure that your kids college will be fairly compensated for any commercial applications/patents/technologies which may result from the use of that telescope?
I don’t buy the “I don’t expect my tuition dollars to pay for that” argument in the context of a university. Your kid goes to a U which has a world-class archive of literary materials on Herman Melville including rare early editions and ephemera from the period. Your kid doesn’t know who Melville was nor does he care.
Do you get to the subtract $50 from your tuition which is your share of the heat and a/c which protects the archive for future scholars?
^that