Should I consider income from co-ops in deciding whether NE is affordable? I’m thinking that students can cover their own housing and board during co-op semesters. Is it normal to expect students to use these earnings to contribute to college costs?
The general rule is that you should consider co-op a break even period - your pay should cover your room and board, if not more, but to be safe, assume you break even on the dot. The cost of NEU should be the same as any other year school (yearly COA * 4) regardless of how many co-op you do or when you do them.
Also it depends what field/major you are in. Just like in the “real world” coops in engineering/comp sci/business pay more than arts/journalism/comm.
My D (finance major) covered living expenses during coop semesters, with some savings for spending $$ during following semester but not enough to put a dent in actual tuition costs.
The one way it can really help is to find a coop in your home town (or near ant friends/family who will let you stay with them) and save most of your coop earnings. That presumes you would get hired by that coop also. It is an application/interview process also.