Considering that you have to take summer classes to make up for time lost during the co-op is the co-op program even affordable for someone accepted with the bare minimum financial aid needed to go? Is any financial aid offered for attending during the summer?
My daughter’s financial aid package is for 8 semesters. (2 summers equal one semester.) When she is on co-op her financial aid isn’t applicable since tuition isn’t paid. She has to pay her own housing during co-op and housing in Boston is expensive. She’s engineering so she’s gotten paid co-ops. Her roommate is International Relations and has had no paid co-ops. Since the co-ops run for 6 months (rather than a semester), it does interfere with your potential to earn over the summer.
Financial aid is offered in the summers - you get aid for 8 in class semesters, no matter when you take them. A summer session is half of a full semester.
Co-op pay usually offsets room and board, and in some cases you even make money while on co-op, though that is dependent on your major. Some majors can pocket as much as $10k on a single co-op. For the purposes of considering the price, assume that during co-op you neither make nor lose money.
Basically, the cost is just like any other school - co-op does not make attending more expensive.
To be sure, triple check with the financial aid office and you can ask them any additional questions while you’re in touch with them in terms of affordability.
Hope that helps!
My D’s coop always was paid enough to cover her living expenses and save a bit for the next semester. As explained, tuition is for 8 semester so the same as a traditional 4 year university. Also some students are able to select coops jobs near their home town so living expenses drop way down.
Her roommate’s first coop was in Boston and they hired her to continue part time during the semester, and some coops offer to extend through the summer, increasing earning potential.
As noted the basic advice is assume a break even with coop earning/cost of living. It is somewhat major dependent as some majors have higher earning potential and some are lower paid( engineering vs arts).
It depends. My son’s coop in France pays far more than his living expenses. He is planning to save enough during his coop to cover his living expenses next year. One of his friends did all his coops in Ohio where the living expenses are lower and he is making in the mid-$20 per hour (engineering). If you are staying in Boston, coop is enough to cover living expenses DURING the coop, but not more. And like TexasCollegeMom noted, some arts majors have unpaid coops.
As everyone is talking about… living expenses on co-op eat up most of your money, major dependent. While you DEFINITELY should not plan financially on doing this in case you aren’t chosen, I highly recommend applying to become an RA if that interests you. The workload is variable weekly, but it is overall manageable, and yup… free housing & food, even on co-op (so long as you’re in Boston). It has allowed me to pocket all of my co-op earnings, which will be between $25-$30k.