<p>I read somewhere about some schools charging a flat rate per semester rather than per credit hour, but I am not sure how common that is, or how it works. My D is currently interested in schools that offer a wide variety of interesting courses (Wellesley is at the top of her list right now), but, of course, private schools are expensive, so I wonder if she would be able to afford to take classes just because they are interesting. I know she can take the classes that will directly count toward her degree, but beyond that it seems it would get expensive unless it is a per semester fee.<br>
I understand you might not want to load up on academic courses, but there are also art, music and athletic courses that might be great additions to an already full schedule. Can you really do that without extra expense?</p>
<p>I think most selective privates (note that I’m defining selective very loosely) practice flat rate tuition for students taking 12-21ish credits per semester. At both schools I’ve attended, Emory and U Oklahoma, full time students are charged the same price irrespective of whether they’re taking 13 or 20 credits. </p>
<p>At some schools, particularly publics, certain classes require extra fees. For instance, one of my major courses requires a $200 fee for a week long field trip. Even if the extra class seems to be free, it might turn out to have extra fees (however, this is very rare at rich institutions). </p>
<p>Liberal arts colleges and universities where just about everyone is a full-time student on the four-year plan generally charge a flat tuition rate per semester and require students to take a standard course load, usually 4-5 courses. At many colleges you need special permission to take a 5th or 6th course. However, these colleges also have broad distribution/gen ed requirements, so students can experiment with interests outside the courses in the major and still have those “outside” courses count toward degree requirements. </p>
<p>Usually there’s a semester rate for full-time students - so the rate is the same for 12+ credits, but there’s a cap on how many you can take, typically around 20-24 per semester. Most students at places where classes are about 3 credits register for between 15 and 18 credits a semester.</p>
<p>Wellesley is one of those colleges: their tuition is a flat $41,000 per year (will be $43,000 next year). Also note that Wellesley has pretty excellent financial aid - I did an NPC there with my parents’ at-the-time income of $65,000, because I was curious, and they basically would’ve covered the entire cost of attendance for me. (Wish I had known that when I was 17, although I love the college I went to.)</p>
<p>Lastly, realize that most colleges require students to take divisional requirements and some electives to round out the 120 credits she’ll be required to earn, so it’s not like she’ll only be taking major classes even if she does go somewhere where you pay per hour or pay higher costs for more hours. For example, when I was in college I had to take at least one class in each of our four divisions (social sciences, humanities, fine arts, and natural sciences) - this requirement gave me the opportunity to explore things I wanted (like an acting class satisfied that fine arts requirement, a class on the history of the modern world satisfied the humanities requirement, and a class on the biology of women satisfied the natural science requirement. All of these are classes I would’ve taken alone!) I also had to take an international studies class (women in Japanese society, another class I would’ve taken alone)…you get the point right? </p>
<p>Plus some of those 120 required credits will just be free electives - classes you can pick from any department just to reach the 120. Generally your required major will be about 40 credits and your general ed/core curriculum requirements may be about 30-40 credits. That leaves over ~40 credits (or 10 courses) that are “free electives.”</p>