<p>I recall getting a notice that some of the admitted student days at some of my kids’ schools in the past carried charges. Since the kids get food, housing, entertainment and usually t-shirts, decals or other stuff, I didn’t consider it a big deal. Especially with most schools’ budgets in trouble and endowments down, this nominal fee lets the school offer a great program at a very nominal cost. They clearly aren’t making money from this charge.</p>
<p>It also helps to weed out the admitted students who are just looking for a fun weekend away from home from the ones who are willing to go an extra step, as others have noted.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, this is not for a fun college weekend away. This is for a mid-week overnight stay, arrive in the early evening and leave the next day. I would be fine to pay a minimal fee to cover expenses. I can’t justify what could cost $75 per student. I would even agree if this was for a reservation commitment with a partial refund if you attend, this is not. Lastly, if they wanted to weed out the serious students they should have charged an application fee.</p>
<p>I’ve definitely heard of this. I’m not surprised, though, and don’t think $75 is outrageous. My sister had a mandatory orientation, mid-summer, that cost $300 - and we had to drive 8 hours to get there. Now that was a pain. With these programs, admitted student overnights and orientations, if the fee is a problem (if you are on financial aid at the school), they are usually receptive. They will waive the fee.</p>
<p>I don’t think this is “rare” to charge for an overnight visit. Even though I’ve been looking at college bills for several years I’m always amazed at our the $25 fee for this, the $50 fee for that etc. adds up. A small charge for an overnight and food doesn’t surprise me in the least. And yes, the charge for orientation is also not “rare.” I suspect that for the short term economy we will continue to see these small charges for all sorts of things. My son’s school just added a charge if he prints more than 200 pages in a semester. I also do agree that perhaps this is a trade-off for “free apps.” Not so long ago kids paid a fee to apply, now they can apply to 10, 15, however many colleges they want to apply to for pretty much no money…but they have a fee if they want to come and spend a night, etc. My oldest son three years ago paid for almost all his apps. Three years later S2 paid only one college to apply, all the rest were free. I’m not sure I see a difference when the “fee” is paid. Get used to fees they are rapidly becoming a part of life for those small customer services in life that used to be…free.</p>
<p>Yes, Scranton does charge $75 for their overnight experience. Both of my kids took part and I didn’t think twice about it. If I am planning on making a large monetary investment for a college education, $75 is a very small amount to see if the student and college truly fit each other. </p>
<p>Scranton offers the overnights to all accepted students who have a choice of three different nights. They host 150 students per night. When my son participated, it was well organized with a nice reception on arrival, 4 meals, flex money, movie tickets, other activities, plus they gave him a personalized schedule of 4 classes that he would sit in on. These were courses related to his major. My D did overnights at 2 other schools as well - one then fell to last on her list, and Scranton’s overnight cemented it at the top. It was a very valuable event for her.</p>
<p>I agree that it may help weed out those that don’t have a strong interest in Scranton. Since they are limited in the number they can host, they would want the students that are not just looking for a free fun night on a college campus. I have never found Scranton to be “nickel and diming” with fees. There are actually very few fees compared to our public universities. For example, one of our state colleges charges all undergrads an athletic fee, student activity fee, general service fee, information technology fee, health and wellness fee, science facility fee, campus facility fee (don’t many of these sound the same?) and certain course fees. Granted, Scranton’s cost is more, but at least it is more inclusive. My D is finding out now how good she had it at a private school as she is now battling the bureaucracy at one of our state schools where she is trying to complete a graduate degree. She and I are headed there this afternoon to take them on. She has received totally wrong information, lack of communication, they have lost or can’t find things she has submitted, they changed the requirement for admission to the program and didn’t tell her. The list goes on and this has only been since last July!. I’ve been telling her to consider going back to Scranton to do it and depending on our experience today, she may well do that!</p>