<p>From what I can find, a high school senior costs a household $11,445 every school year (which means not including summer) for everything from food to books to heating her room at home.
When that student goes to college, costs change, but I can't find out to what they change.
For example, the cost of feeding them changes from meals cooked at home to meals cooked by commercial kitchens (dorm cafeterias and restaurants). Certainly, this is a higher cost in college. The cost of clothing goes down, though, because they stop outgrowing clothes, and frankly, don't have parents around to see they need new clothes.
Can anyone point me to a web page that shows the overall cost difference?</p>
<p>Can’t point you to a website, but noticed a significant lowering of the water bill and the electricity usage also when my S went to college and took his electronics with him.</p>
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<p>Let me guess: you don’t have any daughters. 
:D</p>
<p>You’ll really need to look to your own household’s spending patterns and budget to see how much you’re spending on your kid. Our heating/cooling costs didn’t go down, but water usage and gas usage dropped. The food bill dropped slightly. We are no longer writing checks for extracurricular activities/lessons. Clothing costs went up because D1 is from Southern California and is attending school in the northeast, so she needs a winter wardrobe.</p>
<p>“Can’t point you to a website, but noticed a significant lowering of the water bill and the electricity usage also when my S went to college and took his electronics with him.”</p>
<p>I did, too. </p>
<p>My grocery bill is a lot less but DH and I are eating out more. </p>
<p>It’s probably all a wash.</p>
<p>You will have fewer trips during the week for events but that could be offset by the once in a while long trips to bring them back and forth for vacations and any weekends. Big difference in water usage, electricity use. Food bills down unless you eat out more often. Your HS senior costs may not be the same as you quoted. Also, the costs of room and board vary with the college attended- I’ve seen some huge differences between our flagship and some private schools , especially those with mandatory meal plans.</p>
<p>We paid high school tuition, but we don’t pay college tuition. Wooooohooooo.</p>
<p>I think the water bill has to go down when DS takes off next year. Plus, I swear he thinks I am an ATM, so I think that will change.</p>
<p>Oops! Maybe I wasn’t completely clear.
It costs a certain amount to have a child at home in high school. It may cost a different amount to have that child at college.
Yes, your home water, electric, and food bills go down, but you are paying for water and electricity at college via rent and food via a meal plan. Another example is that in high school, text books are free, while in college, they cost a lot.
So, except for obvious things like tuition and fees, what is the cost difference during a school year for a child?</p>
<p>This is something that is going to vary a lot from one family to another. Which means that your own best estimate will be your own best estimate.</p>
<p>I didn’t have to pay additional housing costs when the kid was in high school. Nor did I have to pay tuition.</p>
<p>The drop in food and utilities at home was a drop in the bucket compared to what I paid for her to attend and live at college.</p>
<p>I get it; the article is trying to suggest that living costs may be close to wash or at least not as bad as one might imagine. However, I’m going to heat the kids’ room whether or not she’s in it. In other words, I disagree that there was significant real “cost” to having her at home.</p>
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<p>SlitheyTove, that was my thought exactly!! :D</p>
<p>OP, this is so individual, it would be hard for anyone to give you a set answer.</p>
<p>Private school tuition for D2 senior year was almost $25,000. If she stays in-state like I think she will, and gets a scholarship like I hope she will, we could be looking at less money to send her to college, or worst case breaking even.</p>
<p>She needs no reminders to ask for clothes, however, so it’s anybody’s guess how things will turn out. :)</p>
<p>Car insurance will go down if the student is attending school X miles from home and doesn’t have access to a family vehicle. </p>
<p>However…when that student’s college GPA falls below the threshold for a “good student discount,” the car insurance premium goes up a little. Learned this the hard way. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>We have two boys in college now. Yes, our water, gas and electric bills are way down. Yes we spend much less on food here at home. This fall, for the first time in twenty years, we bought a half gallon of milk, which lasted a week. When both boys came home for the winter break we were back to three to four gallons a week. We are no longer paying for their three sets of music lessons every week, and buying a bit less gas for the cars. So expenses are down, but do not offset the room and board/rent and groceries money that we are paying, not to mention the costs of books. And our fixed expenses aren’t changing. Still the same mortgage regardless of how many people are living here. Same property taxes. Pretty much the same insurance costs.</p>
<p>My older daughter didn’t get her license until the day before she left the country for a year. While that might have saved us some on insurance premiums, I’m sure my husband is putting many fewer miles on the car now that he doesn’t have to chauffeur her places. She didn’t have many costly activities, but did take private voice lessons (so, lessons, adjudication fees, accompanist fees, sheet music) and attended religious school and took an evening language class at the community college. All that did add up. Plus, we were paying for summer camp right up until the summer before senior year. I’ll have to look into whether we are actually coming out ahead this year! (Or, at least, if the savings offset the cost of going to visit her abroad.)</p>
<p>My younger daughter has a pricier activity schedule (voice lessons, dance classes, theater company fees, show choir fees, summer theater programs), and her busy schedule also means SHE eats out a lot, even if we, as a family don’t. I can imagine we’d really notice a difference if these expenses stopped.</p>
<p>We spend less on D’s personal and entertainment expenses. When she was in high school, she didn’t work during the academic year so we bought all her toiletries, over-the-counter medicines and vitamins, school supplies, etc. We also subsidized things like eating out, movie and event tickets, presents for birthday parties attended, etc. Her summer earnings went into savings for college. Since we now have tuition payments and plane fare to cover, and since there’s no room in her suitcase to cart back lots of extraneous supplies, D is using her summer and term earnings to buy these things near campus. She also pays for whatever she does for fun while at school. </p>
<p>Since D is an athlete, her university gives her some workout clothes, pays for her training shoes ($90 every 3 months), and covers medical expenses related to athletics. She can also have her practice clothes washed for free, which she sometimes does. I definitely do less wash, since athletes make a lot of laundry. That all represents a small savings.</p>
<p>But sorry to break it to you, beolein, you aren’t going to come out ahead!</p>