<p>It depends on the school. I guess we paid a tidy sum for our son to go to accepted students days since they were all pretty far away. This year, we paid for a plane ticket for our senior to go visit his first choice. They did charge a discounted amount for meals at the various meal centers. There were 800 prospects theirs, most with parents so it didn’t occur to me that they would pay for everyone. I was delighted with the coupons they gave DS. Son also bought hoodie, T shirt and if we had gone with him, we would have rented a car and had to park it somewhere and, yes, paid. Also, we happened to have friends who hosted DS, but otherwise a hotel would have been in the picture.</p>
<p>Now, DS went to another admitted student event where they picked up the whole tab other than the cost of going there. But this is a suburban school with plenty of parking and a much smaller group of acceptees there. Still spent for stuff, and if DH had not gone up the morning after to pick up DS and go for the Saturday Parent events, he would have paid for a hotel. They did put up the kids in the dorms, but parents were on their own if they came up Friday night which many of them did. We only live an hour away so, DS just took a train up there and a cab and DH drove up the next day. </p>
<p>Schools do charge for orientation, however, and those costs can be much heftier.</p>
<p>My D got a free lunch at admitted students day, but I had to pay $8.50 for mine at Elon and felt I was trapped into doing it since it was part of the official tour and activities (lunch with a student). No, that isn’t a lot for lunch, even cafeteria food, but I thought it was really tacky and it certainly turned me off.</p>
<p>This was around back in 2009 when my D was going through the admissions process- one of the schools sent the info with the acceptance, stating that it was charging “$150/per parent” to come to the Admitted Students Weekend.
Despite this intriguing offer, she chose another school!!</p>
<p>Tufts waves charges during the admitted students weekend at least. Many school will have some sort of waiver on parking for visiting students, but the urban schools often tell you to park in public garages.</p>
<p>Maybe that was their way to keep parents from hanging around…</p>
<p>I still remember touring Pomona–kid AND parent lunches were free in their gorgeous dining hall…and the food was fabulous (I’m sure they put the dog on while the parents were there). But still–sad that D wouldn’t even consider the school…</p>
<p>just a note: There is parking available at Rice for only $1 per day…Greenbriar Lot, an economical alternative for Rice parking, is west of the football stadium and may be used by visitors coming to Rice for meetings, activities, events, and business. Enter the lot from Greenbriar Blvd at campus entrance 13A, 13B, (or 16 from Rice Blvd.). The Greenbriar Lot’s rates are:</p>
<p>^^Thanks anxiousmom! This will be especially helpful since most of my married life involves driving around looking for the absolute cheapest parking space.</p>
<p>IIRC, Carnegie Mellon charged $50 for their accepted student weekend visit. Didn’t think much of it as it covered DS’s meals. And after paying for 2 cross country flights (DH wanted to see it), rental car and hotel room for DH for couple of nights, $50 was nothing. They did give out a long sleeved shirt that I have now inherited as he is not attending there :). The trip and the fee was well worth it though: No regrets although DH <em>loved</em> it there and DS liked it well enough but chose not to attend.</p>
<p>DS and I just returned from Wildcat Days, the admitted student program at Northwestern. The program was well done. Everything was based out of the main student center although other venues were used for some of the group sessions. At check-in the students received a lanyard with a temporary ID along with a basic Northwestern t-shirt and a folder full of information, schedules, maps, etc. They provided a continental breakfast during check-in and early morning tours. Following the morning sessions they split our group and half had meetings with professors from many of the major departments (we were at the Arts & Science College sessions), and the other half went back to the student center for a boxed lunch. They offered several types of sandwiches including ham, chipolte chicken, a veggie offering, plain turkey, plain chicken and an asiago roast beef. The lunch included choice of soft drinks, water, tea and coffee. There was a sandwich, pasta salad, apple or tangerine and a cookie in the box. There were more breakout type sessions in the afternoon along with the option to visit classes. During the afternoon they kept a full buffet of snacks and beverages available for students and parents. The student dinner was covered by a voucher provided to each student in their registration folder. They also included a 20% discount coupon for the book store. Parents were on their own for dinner but were provided with a brochure listing many local restaurants and attractions in Evanston.</p>
<p>Sorry this was a bit long but in summary, we were not charged for anything during our visit. The program was well organized and the school made a very positive impression on the kids and their parents. We are heading to another admitted student program this Friday and Saturday and I will be making a lot of comparisons.</p>
<p>The student run overnight program from UC Berkeley charges $95/each including $95 per each parent accompanying the visit. They also charge ~$300 for freshman orientation too. (The parents have to look for local hotel to take care of their own lodging not covered with the $95/head fee)</p>
<p>The irony is that we are paying them for all those information sessions with them selling us how great the school is. Totally biased and hardly informative.</p>
<p>Has Berkeley always charged for these events or is this a new twist, possilby due to the UC fundung issues? My position is that the schools should be wooing you and your student in an effort to sell you or convince you that they are the place for your student. I agree with other posters that the nickel and diming is in poor taste.</p>
<p>USC charges $50 for a full day visit. They charge parking for all visits. And yes, I did find this to be a big turn off compared to other colleges.</p>
<p>I was going to post the same about USC’s admitted student event. We were surprised by the $50 pp fee and, with 3 of us attending, it wasn’t insignificant! I don’t mind paying for parking (which we’ve paid at other schools) nor did I mind paying for my meal at Elon (D’s was free)…I can imagine that these events are pricey to hold but $50 per person seemed excessive and was a turn off. I have only sent one D to an orientation thus far but it was an overnight event and the fee seemed reasonable.</p>
<p>If the charge is not worth it, don’t pay it, don’t go. Go visit on your own and save the fee. You and the kid will get a better idea about a typical day at the college when you don’t go to the Accepted Student Day carnival anyways. </p>
<p>I am more miffed at the orientation fees that are more substantial and are pretty much requred. You can end up visiting a school for an idea of what colleges are like, visiting again for the purpose of putting it on your list or not, visiting for an interview, visiting for Accepted Student or trying to decide to go there or not when accepted, visiting for Orientation before you drop the kid off there only to find the Family Day invite in your mailbox. It’s getting ridiculous. </p>
<p>My son will have made 3 trips to his away college before moving in there. The Accepted Students Day would not have happened for him if the charge were substantial to us. The plane ticket alone was enough money spent, and we’ll be doing this again this summer for the Orientation with one of us going with him then. As it was, we got a cheap flight (still around $200) and friends who picked him up and hosted him for 2 nights he stayed there. The meal cards they offered were incidental in cost and he paid for them personally. If there was a charge of $100 for this event, I would not have paid it. </p>
<p>Now the other school he was considering picked up the tab for absolutely everything for the student other than transportation, and paid for parent meals too. And my college son even got a travel allowance that paid for his plane ticket to his school a few years ago for Accepted Student Day. Found out later only certain kids go that, however, those who got merit money.</p>
<p>This sounds like a very strange practice. My school doesn’t even charge for orientation over the summer.</p>
<p>The money isn’t so much the issue to me, as the message the school is sending: “Hey you get to pay for the privilege of visiting us.” Maybe that’s just the attitude though, since colleges are so competitive to get into.</p>
<p>The school D chose is charging for the kids to attend orientation in June. Each parent (or sib) who goes is charged, and also the student. </p>
<p>Some of this is meals & lodging, and some is “materials.” I don’t understand the need to charge each parent for lodging—they would not be putting a stranger into the room with me if I go alone, would they? So why charge 2 parents twice for staying in the room?</p>
<p>If it was Accepted Student Day they were charging for, I would not have gone. Tha is the day they are suppsoed to be trying to sell the place to us. Charging us a fee for being pitched to – forget it.</p>
<p>JRZMom, I’m actually surprised that you are staying on campus in a dorm or school facilities. I’ve never heard of that before, and the two orientations where I’ve gone along, I’ve stayed in a hotel or motel nearby.</p>
