In the case of International students plan about 2k for medical insurance to cover your child at BS per year.
@Golfgr8 I don’t know if schools themselves offer driver’s ed, but in our case a separate company provides a drivers ed class for students during the school year (and at other BSs throughout CT), including driving hours with an instructor. I am working on this now and learned, however, that what’s offered on campus is a condensed course that’s provided on Sundays. They had info available on registration day but I ignored it till now since DS just turned 16.
@Golfgr8: only day student seniors are allowed to have their cars on campus. But this student was wealthy and had a second home nearby where he kept the car. The day students are allowed to have their cars on campus only to drive back and forth to home.
But flaunting of wealth was not uncommon. As you can imagine all of the premium brand names are on constant display: Canada Goose, Nike, Apple Macbook Pros, etc. Boys are less susceptible to fashion pressure, but it still exists.
@ChoatieMom , yes, I was thinking of the costs that I might not think of when considering a BS.
Thank you to all of you for your thoughts on this conversation!
SMS now offers drivers ed. It’s funny because DS isn’t old enough to take it but all of his former classmates in Tx have their licenses and are driving. I guess Mass has different age limits for learner’s permits.
I like the idea @skieurope provided about splitting the cost of a storage unit… he may be on to something there!!!
Do parents pay for dorm feeds, munch outs, and sports team snacks at most schools? We’ve never been charged for any of those. (Maybe it is more common at schools with larger day school populations?)
^ we have not either. When we visit, we try to contribute to team snacks for the game we attend. Unfortunately, we are so far away, that is only one or two per year. We are very thankful for local parents who help with those additional items!
@CaliMex: I recall that house feeds were also quite common at Deerfield. But I think that the school pays for the feeds without asking for extra money from the Parents. We also visited Andover, and they had a similar system.
But Lawrenceville, for whatever reason, asks the parents to chip in for these weekly feeds. Because of proximity, mainly the local parents contribute and organize these events. But we had several parents from the other side of the world (Hong Kong, China, etc) who sent money to the House Parent to buy some pizzas.
@CaliMex None of this at SPS, probably because everyone boards.
@Calimex, we don’t pay for “dorm feeds” or anything like that. Kids have the student center or can order food, and they have a lot of special “fun” meals through the dining service. When sports teams are coming back in the evening, school pays for dinner on the road.
@buuzn03, it’s 16 for permits in CT and I believe MA, with good reason!
No pay for feeds at Deerfield. I assume that the dorm parents have a budget for this sort of thing. Stops on the way home from some sports required purchases but coach always said there was a slush fund for students if needed. In another sport, parents pay an amount each season that feeds the kids pizza on the way home. There’s also a snack sign up list for events. Spring break and post school in June trips to near and far away places are a big thing as well.
We never paid for dorm feeds either. And school cultures differ as to the necessity of “keeping up with the Joneses,” luckily. There were a few extra fees tacked on here and there, also some t-shirts handed out to the kids and charged to parents. Music lessons were extra, and weekend day trips (those were very reasonably priced, btw). Transportation to and from the nearest train station or airport was quite expensive. Our own visits to the school added some expense. And of course, the laundry and snacks and occasional meals out as mentioned. Expenses for extracurricular activities were minimal - just my son’s sports gear, I think.
When kiddo & teammates are on the road returning from a game and pass civilization ( Chipotle, Starbucks, Panera, any yogurt place), they beg the coach to stop :((