<p>For example, for Miami University (OH), tuition, room and board, and additional fees costs about $29,000 for in-state residents. Will I be paying that? Or less? Or more? In general, do students end up paying less than what the website/school estimates??</p>
<p>Yes, you can pay your Bursar’s bill through the college’s web site using an electronic check. They will typically charge a convenience fee if you want to use a credit card through the site. Another option is to send a paper check through snail mail.</p>
<p>The Bursar’s bill will normally include tuition, campus housing, selected dining plan and all fees payable to the college. It will NOT include books, personal expenses or travel allowances even though these items will often be included in the published Financial Aid budget.</p>
<p>If it makes you feel better, you should know that only half the amount is due before the start of the fall semester with the other half due before the start of the spring semester.</p>
<p>Yes, you will be paying that amount UNLESS your kiddo gets some form of need based or merit aid. That will be deducted from the amount you owe.</p>
<p>Check and see if Miami has a monthly tuition payment plan. We were members of that for YEARS. With that, auto deductions were taken from our bank account each month.</p>
<p>What is your situation? what is your EFC? </p>
<p>Yes, many people have to pay all the costs. some only get a small student loan of $5500. </p>
<p>Most schools do not have much free money to give away. </p>
<p>Most students can NOT afford to go away to school because they CAN’T pay the sticker price.</p>
<p>Edited to add…I see that you’ll be a transfer student. What has been your FAFSA EFC for your 2 years at a CC.</p>
<p>What state school can you commute to from home?</p>
<p>Muzik?..are you instate for Ohio…or Indiana? You have both state schools listed on posts as potential places to transfer to.</p>
<p>I believe on other threads you have already been advised to speak to the transfer advisor to find out which schools IN YOUR STATE have articulation agreements with your community college AND potential aid for CC transfers. Have you done this?</p>
<p>At most public universities, OOS students receive little aid. And if they get it, it usually does NOT cover the differential between instate and OOS costs.</p>
<p>Miami University (the one in Ohio) is an excellent school. They do NOT guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students, and offer no guaranteed merit awards.</p>
<p>If you are wondering about net price after financial aid, use the school’s net price calculator to get an estimate of financial aid and net price. That will help you much more than having forum people guess at how much financial aid you may or may not get.</p>
<p>Thumper1: I’m in state for Ohio. I’m looking at many state schools though. I know which schools have articulation agreements with my school, but most of them are for certain majors (business, nursing, accounting, etc.). They are majors that I am not interested in.</p>
<p>Ucbalumnus: i’m not really wondering about net price. I’m just wondering if the price it says online is usually how much students actually end up paying.</p>
<p>Yes the price online is the price. What else would it be?</p>
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<p>Does that matter? What matters to you is how much you will pay if you go there. Check the net price calculator.</p>
<p>Of course you care about the net price. That is the amount YOU will pay. The other people will pay full or less depending on the federal and institutional aid they get depending on their income and any merit aid they are awarded. Focus on the cost for YOU, not for other people.</p>
<p>i’m not really wondering about net price</p>
<p>What do you mean by that? Why aren’t you wondering what your net price would be???</p>
<p>You’re concerned about costs…so you’re concerned about how much you’ll have to pay.</p>
<p>You’re a transfer student. Unless your parents are going to pay the OOS price for OOS schools, then don’t bother with those schools. They charge those high prices to OOS students for a reason…their parents don’t pay taxes there. They don’t care how low your EFC is.</p>
<p>What has been your EFC while you’re at your CC? </p>
<p>How much will your family pay?</p>
<p>The amount that your family will pay will largely determine where you should apply and where you can attend college…especially as a transfer student. </p>
<p>What is your major? What is the state univ that you can commute to?</p>
<p>Okay. What I’m trying to ask is, just in GENERAL, for any school, do students usually end up paying what it says on the website? I’m not concerned about other students’ tuition or what they’re paying or whether or not they’re getting financial aid or scholarships. My question is: In general, is the sticker price what people pay? I have talked to other students who say “yes, I pay what it says” and then I have talked to others who say that they pay a few thousand less or so (without scholarshps/aid). I guess I was just confused as to why some of my friends are paying less than what it says on the website even though they are not receiving any type of grant or scholarship. So, this is not a personal question of how much I am going to pay or how much tuition will be for me, but more of a “in general…” question.</p>
<p>Some students, because of their very low EFCs qualify for a Pell Grant, so they would pay less. Some might qualify for some state aid. Some get loans in their FA pkgs.</p>
<p>That said, you don’t “pay” your COA to the SCHOOL because some of that is books, transportation and personal expenses…so maybe that’s what they mean.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that anyone is paying less for the school billable costs without need-based or merit aid. Perhaps they just don’t want to share with you that they are getting aid. Or perhaps if the bank of Mom and Dad is paying, they really don’t know how much is being paid.</p>
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<p>Miami does have guaranteed merit for stats, for freshmen. So some number do in fact pay less than full price there, even without financial need.</p>
<p>There are transfer scholarships available but not guaranteed to be any specific amount, as I read it: [Scholarships</a> | Transfer Students | Financial Aid | Admission | Miami University](<a href=“Costs, Scholarships, and Financial Aid | Miami University”>Costs, Scholarships, and Financial Aid | Miami University)</p>
<p>Your friends may be paying different amounts because of different meal plans or housing arrangements too.</p>
<p>This question has a couple of aspects. One is how much various students get their costs reduced from the listed COA by financial aid and merit aid. </p>
<p>The other is how accurate is the university’s COA at predicting YOUR costs, separately from any FA/merit aid you might receive?</p>
<p>The answer is that the COA is a sort of average cost the university publishes. Your costs will likely vary from this.</p>
<p>Room and board is for a particular type of room and meal plan the university deems ‘average.’ If you choose a more/less expensive room or meal plan, or live off campus, you may spend much more, or much less than that number. You can look around at the prices for various options on housing/dining pages to see this. Off campus living can be really cheap or very pricey, depending on the school and its surrounding neighborhood, and your level of frugality and appetite. There are lots of variables.</p>
<p>Tuition/fees are also some kind of average. Individual programs within the college may have extra semester fees of $100s per semester. Engineering, music, business, typically, but also sometimes others. You may pay more or less than listed. You need to poke around in registrar, bursar, sometimes online course catalog to find lists of program fees. On top of the basic tuition and your program fee, if applicable, and the laundry list of mandatory fees that everyone pays, there will be extra class fees beyond the regular per credit fee for some classes. Some universities use these more than others, and some programs more than others. A few universities have a single list of all the course fees, but usually you have to check individual course listings in the catalog. Even basic classes like calculus might have a $30 fee tacked on. Noticing your name, if you are in music, you may pay huge course fees for studio classes, moderate fees, or nothing. D pays $150/semester for studio, $50 for piano class. Among the schools we looked at, that is moderate. You may have locker rental fees, or not, fees to access certain practice rooms, or not. You need to check these things in advance to avoid surprises. Fine arts majors have all kinds of costs that can add up. Accompanist fees, dress clothing for concerts. Tickets to attend semi-mandatory concerts if not free for students. You should check if students get free admission to certain kinds of events. Other majors have their own sorts of hidden costs.</p>
<p>Some universities charge more tuition once you go above a certain number of credit hours/semester, like 18. Don’t know if this is common, but we did see this at a couple of schools we looked at.</p>
<p>Transportation costs vary widely. If you have a car, you’ll have all the regular car costs, but also may have large costs to park on campus. If the campus is large and you’ll be taking a bus around, need to check if bus pass or free campus bus is included in tuition/fees, or is it purchased separately. Plane tickets cost money. Etc.</p>
<p>Book costs vary of course. You have some control over this. You can rent cheaper than buying. You can price shop and get books cheaply by ordering from amazon or knetbooks rather than from the school bookstore.</p>
<p>If you are far from home, your health insurance may not cover you and you may be advised, or required, to purchase health ins from university, which can be very expensive and usually not included in COA.</p>
<p>This is not complete list of things to consider, just the first that come to mind. But all these items will probably not total more than +/- a few thousand/year, unless you live at home for free and have no room/bd costs.</p>
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<p>Do you pay by the credit at your school? That’s how my UG was and the COA was based on 15 credit hours. So if you were taking 12, you’d be paying much less. </p>
<p>There are also differences in room prices, meal plans, etc.</p>
<p>Happykid transferred to a state U after community college. She has to pay extra tuition and fees for credits over 16, so tuition has always been more expensive because she takes more credits than the minimum for her major. She lives off campus, cooks from scratch, and doesn’t have a car. Her living expenses have been significantly less than predicted in the university’s COA. This year her apartment is nicer and cheaper than last year, so even though tuition is more expensive, her overall costs actually are lower.</p>