<p>Looks like there is a 15% hike over last year's cost. I just looked at my son's bill and it shows that the anticpated cost of attendance is 28550 for OOS. Last year I believe that the cost was 24800 (and increase of $3750 for OOS). Ouch!</p>
<p>My son who is a junior is looking at JMU. The website states the 2007-2008 cost of attendance per semester for OOS are
Tuition & Fees 8,693
Room&Board 3,418
We thought a year would cost about $24,222. Which is about four thousand less than your bill. Any help in understanding the real cost of attendance would be appreciated.</p>
<p>One stack, yes, those are the fees listed for 07-08. There seems to be 15% increase from last year. When I visit the ecampus website (this is a site one has access to as a current student and it contains all kinds of personal information) it shows the cost of attendance last year as 24778, and this year's anticipated cost as 28554. The college website is showing tuition, and room and board. It is not accounting for transportation, books, and personal expenses. Those are included in tabulating the "cost of attendance", which would be added onto 24,222.</p>
<p>northeastmom thanks for the info. We hope to visit the campus sometime this summer. Do you have any suggestions of where to stay?</p>
<p>onestack, we like the Hampton Inn in Harrisonburg. It is very close to the school, and we find the beds to be comfortable. Continental breakfast is complimentary. We have also stayed in a newer hotel, Country Inn and Suites, also in Harrisonburg. Everything looks newer (opened up last year), and room is a nice size, but I find the mattress less comfortable. They also offer the free breakfast. </p>
<p>When we visited we took a tour. We had 2 excellent tour guides. They were seniors who were graduating the following the week, so they wanted to give their last tour as a team. We did not see the entire new section of the school on the tour. We only toured a portion of the school, and it made me feel that the school was a lot smaller than it actually is. They did not mention that we were only going to look at a part of the school. We saw the rest of the school when we revisited on an accepted student's weekend (took a JMU bus and stopped in several areas of the campus on our own). When I saw how large the campus really was, I got a little bit nervous about sending our son there. He really loves it, and he does not find the school to be too large.</p>
<p>You have been a wealth of information. Will make sure we explore the campus on our own after the tour so my son can get a good feel of the campus.</p>
<p>It is a good idea to explore a bit on your own. It will give you a better sense of the campus. The tour was very worthwhile too. I would not have known where to begin without it. We also ate on campus twice. I would recommend that too. The food BTW, is rated in the top 10 or so nationally (don't know the exact figure, but the food is excellent for a university and certainly is not the glop, aka food, that I ate as a student, LOL).</p>
<p>I believe that the tuition had increased for all the VA state universities for the 2007-2008 school year. You could probably learn more by checking the VA Dept. of Education website.</p>
<p>LBP thanks. I expected an increase. A FA rep last year let me know that she has seen a price increase of 5-6% every year for the last 4-5 years (as long as she has been there). I was not expecting a 15% increase. That is really hefty.</p>
<p>Looks like OOS tuition went up by 7%, room and board (14 meal plan) about 5%. Does the anticipated cost of attendance include personal expenses, travel and books? Almost $4300 there.</p>
<p>I believe that COA does include personal expenses, travel and books, and the grand total is 28554 for OOS. They estimate travel for OOS students is 1700. We spent at most 1000 on transportation. I am including our hotel stay moving him in and out. We could have saved more if we let him ride share. He did ride share when it worked out better for him, but I always reserved a ticket home on the charter bus (which meant that I paid for that, and then gave him $ to share fuel costs with another student where applicable). I certainly did not want to drive 6 hours in each direction on Thanksgiving weekend :eek:, if his ride did not work out at the last minute.</p>
<p>BTW, when I got the bill, I remember calculating a 15% increase, but that would also include increases in the entire COA (books, transportation, and personal expenses). In any event, a significant hit to our purse strings.</p>