<p>I want to remind parents to look at "fees" and total cost of attendance when considering schools. I would not just look at tution and R&B, as schools may have additional fees that can be significant!</p>
<p>I agree. Strangest fee ever: Bicycle sticker fee. They often cost $60 or so and if your bike is not stickered your lock will be cut and the bike impounded. It costs as much as having your car towed to get it out.</p>
<p>Back in the early 70s UConn had NO tuition charge. You paid FEES plus room and board. The fees were fairly substantial. Sometime in the mid 70s, the state added a tuition charge. IIRC it was about $200 – or 10% of the total COA.</p>
<p>cnp, that is interesting. </p>
<p>Today “fees” at Rutgers appear to be over $2,600 (could vary depending upon campus, and student choices, etc.).</p>
<p>At UIUC, the fees start at $3,310 per year for full-time students. And that’s before you add the course fees - and there’s a very long list of those, though many are in the trivial range.</p>
<p>We had a bike licence fee back in the stone ages when I went to college. Was also a way of identifying the owner if it was pinched (before we used the engraving gizmos). That said, it wasnt $60, but in todays dollars it might be.</p>
<p>Massachusetts has ridiculous fees for state schools. Tuition is $857 per semester, whereas the ‘mandatory fees’ are over $6300, plus the added “college fees”. Add in the room and board, which can bring the gradn total to well over $24,000 a year.</p>
<p>I believe that it is a method for the state to say that ‘tuition’ is low.</p>
<p>My D chose not to go to UMass, and is going to a private school, where the total fees are approximately $1500.</p>
<p>gsmommma, we don’t have fees nearly as high, but our cost of attendance is very high in NJ. </p>
<p>Our son also decided to attend a private school. The fees are very minimal in comparison. There are fees for certain classes such as $450 for horseback riding, or $50 for a science lab, and $25-50 for some art classes. I have not had to pay these fees when he was a freshman. We might have to pay $50 for a science with lab this year, but that’s it for fees.</p>
<p>@jym That reminds me i need to engrave my bike! I never think about it.</p>
<p>UW-Madison added a fee for undergrads as a way of getting more money for undergrad teaching - hired more people. The fee is waived for those instate with family incomes below a certain level, something they couldn’t do with a tuition hike. Other fees are the same for instate and OOS while tuition varies- the fees pay for many nonacademic things such as the student unions.</p>
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The fees might be only $1500 but what is the tuition?</p>
<p>Our total bill for first semester at UMASS will be just over $10K (S has a tuition waiver and we don’t need to pay the health insurance fee). While not cheap it’s a bargain compared to what we would have been looking at for a comparable private school.</p>
<p>That said I agree with the OP…you can’t just look at tuition costs.</p>
<p>Yea, and you also have to consider how long the student is likely to remain at that U until graduation. For my niece, she has been at various CA CCs & CSUs since she graduated HS in 2005. She will finally be receiving her BA & education credential this December after quite a few years & semesters! Part of it was she was working while attending school and part of it was she couldn’t get the courses, so it has extended the time needed to get her degree. Her BF at a CSU who is getting a BS in design engineering will be taking even longer because he can’t get courses and HAS to take them in a specified order!</p>
<p>Agree that fees can vary widely. D has had high cinema fees for her courses and S had some high fees for engineering courses as well. Still, their tuition dwarfed all of these fees, but they do add up!</p>
<p>northeastmom - thanks for posting this article. I do agree that many families focus on tuition, room and board and neglect to investigate the fees. My older son attends a pricey private - where the fees are tiny in the scheme of things - but with younger son looking at a few publics - timely reminder to check this out.</p>
<p>My older son attends GWU - one of the most pricey privates, and with his grants and scholarship, will cost around $10k this semester. I keep telling people not to get hung up on the “sticker price” - see what the school will offer and what the total COA is!</p>
<p>For us, private schools with lower sticker prices (not that ANY were low, just lower than others) ended up being the lowest bottom line as well. I think that EFC and stats as compared with other students on that campus will also make a difference in outcome. My son was a B+ hs student. There were a few private schools that were either slightly less expensive or equal to instate tuition for us.</p>
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<p>We didn’t look at sticker prices when my S applied to schools…and only one of the privates that he was accepted to offered a merit scholarship. For that school the overall cost still would have been several thousand more than the public school.</p>
<p>The reality that we saw was that unless the school was a low match or a safety that the financial aid wasn’t there.</p>
<p>*I keep telling people not to get hung up on the “sticker price” - see what the school will offer and what the total COA is! *</p>
<p>That really depends.</p>
<p>If you have a high EFC, then you’ll be paying full sticker unless your child is awarded some kind of merit.</p>
<p>For kids in the gray area (good stats, but not high stats), they also end up paying full or near full freight because their stats aren’t high enough for the schools that give great financial aid or big merit scholarships.</p>
<p>If your child has high stats, you have more choices.</p>
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<p>Since notions of “good stats but not high stats” will vary all over the lot, this statement is by definition too general to be of much use.</p>
<p>It is useful- good enough to get in, but not above the pack. Such as being in the top 25%ile, but not the top 10%ile, range will be a match but not merit money status most likely.</p>
<p>Good stats are A average with a decent SAT score 2000 plus, 2100 to 2200 even better plus good extracurricular activities make you a desirable candidate. You should either aim high (for schools with large endowments) or aim low - for schools where you are above-average and see what you are offered. In our case, living in NYS, a state college would run about $18,000 - and with a generous financial aid package from a top LAC, the LAC was less expensive. The decision was a no-brainer.</p>