My daughter is highly considering ASU. She was accepted OOS with a fantastic merit package for aerospace engineering. I am looking at costs and on the Barrett FB page and it looks like it is increasing to $1000/semester. That doesn’t include the pricier housing and the pricier meal plan.
Tooker House $8200 year for shared room and shared bath
Barrett Housing is $8400 for the same thing and other options are in the $9000’s
Meal Plans:
14 meals a week is $5000 for Tooker House and $6350 for Barrett. That seems insane.
So for the first year, we would be paying $3550 (minimum) more for her to stay at Barrett Honors than staying at the Tooker House.
Now, looking at the stats, ASU doesn’t have nearly as many woman engineers than the east cost schools do. So my concern is Tooker will be a ridiculous amount of boys and just for housing alone Barrett would be a better option for socializing.
Anyone else out there know about the girls in Tooker and how they like it. Does Barrett offer enough that it is worth the cost. I realize upper classman from Barrett move into Vista and that ranges from $7-10K a year and you don’t have to get a meal plan. Where do upper class engineers tend to go?
Hi @newsr1 , My D will be a freshman going to Barrett ASU in the fall, also OOS. My D is not an engineering major, so I can’t really comment there. Are you in the FB group “ASU Barrett Parent Group”? I am, and have seen a lot of information there. Some good and some bad, I have to admit I am not sure I want to see all this information yet! Lots of parents of engineering students in that group,so if you haven’t asked your question there yet, go for it.
I did hear that the dorms at Barrett are a bit more spacious, you would have to take a look online and compare w/ Tooker. I did find several videos on YouTube, both official and student-made to get an idea of what the Barrett dorms look like. My D is in a quad setup with 3 other roommates already. It was crazy how fast that process moved. In a quad suite you get your own room, and share one of two full bathrooms with one other roommate, and there is a small living area and kitchen-like area w/ sink.
We heard from several sources that the food at Barrett is better, but I also read on the FB group that lots of kids in the nearby regular ASU dorms have caught on and can eat at the Barrett food hall for a few dollars extra, making it very crowded and nowhere to sit. So that concerns me. :-SS
Hope this helps!
I don’t have any skin in this game, but my vote would be for Tooker House, and it really has nothing to do with money. I think your daughter will find that there are not that many engineers in Barrett and she would be more at home in Tooker with other engineering students. They form a bond because they are all going through the same ‘torture’ together. Yes, men outnumber women, but most schools are working hard to change this. I think your daughter will easily find her crew. Also, Beware of piling Honors on top of Engineering. Engineers have tons of work. In my opinion, graduating with a degree in engineering carries much more weigh than a non-engineering degree with honors. If you are one of the super-kids who can do both - good for you. But I think MOST engineering students find that the extra work and time necessary for the honors program is detrimental to their engineering studies and end up dropping out of honors. These engineering students need many many hours a week to keep up.
Don’t get me wrong, Barret is absolutely incredible. They are often ranked as one of the best public honors college in the country. They truly make a huge school feel small. I just don’'t think its a good fit for engineers. I hope someone can give a good explanation why I am wrong.
And by the way, you can’t beat that Tooker House as far as comfort and newness and community.
Just wanted to note that my son and I took a tour of Barrett a couple of weeks ago (he’s been accepted and Barrett is currently his top choice). We ate in the dining hall to try out the food and it was of excellent quality and they had a fantastic variety.
Hi! I’m a current freshman at ASU living in Barrett. Not an engineering major but here’s my two cents:
I have friends who are majoring in a couple different particularly-difficult things (variations of engineering, architecture) and there are definitely times when they don't think that Barrett is worth it because their major is already so difficult, and honors coursework through Barrett just adds more stress. I know of one person (architecture) who is attempting to drop Barrett because it is too much in combination with their major.
The community that Barrett fosters is unbeatable. Truly. It really, really does make ASU feel like a small school and starts to feel like home really quickly.
The dining hall and the dorms at Barrett are both really nice, but I've heard that Tooker's dorms and dining hall are also pretty sweet since they're newer as well. Barrett's dining hall is often very very busy especially when it's cold so you can't sit outside. I can't speak for how busy or not busy Tooker is.
All of that being said, there’s not getting around the fact that Barrett is pretty dang expensive. You can be sure that there are a lot of very upset Barrett students right now over the proposed fee increase. I think for an engineer, the “is Barrett worth it” question comes down mostly to personality and preferences — will she be more comfortable in a smaller, more community-like setting, and does she want to be challenged and think deeply (through the Human Event), regardless of whether or not she needs to for her major?
I’m a current freshman in Tooker! I believe there are 12 girls to 48 boys per wing (25 wings), I find that I can still make a good amount of female friends both in Tooker and around the north side of campus. Next semester I’m staying in one of the apartments off campus that ASU is involved with (University House) but she can also stay in Tooker or off-campus in an apartment or other upper division housing like Vista del Sol (as far as I know Barrett students have first pick, but anyone can live there). Most of the people I know that are in Barrett are dropping out due to the price hike & she can also eat at Barrett by spending a bit more M&G ($2-3 I believe) but the walk across campus has prevented me from doing that so far. I liked the idea of having a personal room, but Tooker is very nice for freshman housing!
@lizzoot thank you! She decided on Barrett for her first year - if she decides on ADU. We visit in 2 weeks. She wanted to meet kids in all other majors too. Not sure if she will stick with it after freshman year though. Do you like the enginerring dept? She was torn between aerospace engineering and some SESE majors.
@NewSR1 - I am a two-time Barrett parent. Both sons, so I can’t speak to the daughter aspect. I am a huge fan of Barrett. I like the smaller community within the larger university. It is my sense that there are a large number of Fulton students in Barrett. I am not sure about the ratio. I would suggest seeing if you can get an appointment with a Barrett advisor during your visit. They can provide the most accurate information. Barrett students are guaranteed housing for all 4 years if they want it. The apartments in Vista are nice. They are mainly single bedrooms with a private bath and shared kitchen and family room.
Tooker is only a year or two old. So, new and from what I understand, very nice. It is also on the opposite side of campus from Barrett and Vista.