Does anyone have insight regarding why room and board is so high at Bard? It is more expensive than every single other school to which my kiddo applied. It is more expensive than the University of San Francisco and Barnard, schools located in two of the most expensive places in the country for housing. This is especially confusing to me given the generally poor reviews of food services and complaints about housing quality. Are they just upcharging because they can?
Could you clarify? I don’t understand as I just looked at Univ. of SF and Barnard’s websites and the cost looks pretty much the same as Bard’s - albeit higher, actually. At least for the available numbers online.
Are you looking at the Bard Freshman numbers? If you investigate, the price comes down for returning students. This is because there are 6 extra weeks of school for freshman (L&T and Citizen Science.) Also, one can change the meal plan after the first year. But looking at Barnard’s site their room and board is actually higher than it is for returning students at Bard. Are the numbers significantly different for next year than what I see online? The price I see for the current year looks quite ordinary.
Quite ordinary indeed. I did not realize that the price decreased for second year and beyond, but Barnard is still cheaper for returning students given meal plan flexibility. The numbers are a bit higher, not significantly so.
There is meal plan flexibility at Bard, as well. It’s been a few years now, but we cut back significantly on the number of meals in the dining hall versus a flexible amount - which my son used almost exclusively at Down the Road. Lots of wraps! And then a small fridge in his room, and artisan cheeses from the Hudson Valley. There went all the savings…
Also, if your S/D moves off campus after sophomore year - rents are shockingly reasonable - compared to what I’m used to in the Bay Area.