<p>Sorry if this has been previously discussed but I don't often visit the Parents Forum</p>
<p>I'm wondering from the families of students currently in college - When a school lists the estimated cost of attendance and includes tuition, room and board, personal expenses, and travel, etc., how accurate have you found this estimate to be? Should I budget in an extra 10% because the amount is low? or is it pretty close? My spending habits are more middle of the road, don't need fancy things or eating out all the time, but I will go out occasionally, etc. So anyone want to help me with how your experience has been with this? </p>
<p>Thanks. I'm just trying to determine which colleges I really can afford to go to.</p>
<p>well tuition and room and board are going to be set rates -- they will go up every year. to figure out the right room and board, you need to look at what meal plan you are likely to select and what type of housing you think you'd get. you may also want to look at on-line listings of off campus apts to see if they are more or less expensive than the dorms -- often you can save a lot if you are able to prepare your own meals. i would not recommend doing this until soph or junior yr at the earliest so you first get to know people -- but it can help you see if you'll be able to do better than the schools' room and board rates in future years.</p>
<p>for travel -- can vary a lot -- think about how you are likely to get to and from school and how often you think you'd go back and forth -- then look up fares. remember that the earlier you book, usually the lower the fare, and fares for peak travel times (eg thanksgiving) are likely to be higher).</p>
<p>expenses -- a lot of schools have where you can go online to the bookstore and look up what a course's books are without actually ordering them -- sample around for some courses you think you might take -- see how the costs tend to run -- remember this is something that can vary quite a bit based on what courses you take -- you can also save a lot by buying on line sometimes, but it'll give you a rough idea.</p>
<p>personal expenses -- this varies greatly by student -- you just have to think what you are likely to spend -- put yourself on a budget if necessary. don't forget to factor in cell phone costs.</p>
<p>the bottomline is that a lot of these factors will vary by individual student so it may be best to look into what you are likely to do at a given school.</p>
<p>We have found that the estimated costs are pretty accurate. My D spends a little extra going out to eat but saved some money on books. Last year she spent an extra $100 taking a spring break trip with college friends.</p>
<p>The big extras can be alcohol and drugs. If you are interested in these activities, plan accordingly.</p>
<p>pretty accurate, but if you are a hard science major, then books will exceed the estimated costs. OTOH, if a history-lit major, books s/b less than estimated averages.</p>
<p>But, personal expenses can be high or low, depending on how much movies, non-dorm food, and outings (weekends in the city, skiing, etc.) one participates in.</p>
<p>For our family, estimated expenses at USC were quite accurate. We have let our son scrounge around for books, as he decided the ones at the bookstore were overpriced. As was said, travel varies a lot. Also, if you have a meal plan & live in the dorms, it's a lot easier to calculate food expenses as well as housing. When you live in an apartment & have to factor in utilities, groceries & dining out, there may be considerably more variability. It's best to allow for a small "cushion" just in case there may be expenses that weren't budgeted for--in our case it's my son's grad gifts & summer earnings that we told him he should use for his spending money.
Also, entertainment & personal expenses vary widely. If you mainly stay on campus & bring up most of the stuff you need, they would be lower if you go out to the theater, overnight at friends' places, need to buy lots of "stuff," etc. I agree that school budgets don't account for medications, expensive partying, frat/sorority fees, etc.</p>
<p>It can vary all over the place. My first son just did not spend much money, and found free food easily, so he went under the COA. Visiting him was cheap for us because we had friends in the area, and never stayed at a hotel once they found out he was there. </p>
<p>My second son is in theatre. Rehearsal run late alot of times, and they'll go out for food and drink thereafter, and that costs money outside of the COA. He often wants to see shows or events that are expensive even with student discounts, and for his major, this sort of exposure is useful and important. He has asked for additonal money for private lessons for voice and dance, and when he got a role that required violin playing (he used to play), he wanted some refresher lessons for that. Needed special shoes for dance. We have gone up there to watch performances and since we are 7 hours away, that involves a hotel room each time, and we have gone out to eat, taken some of his friends out as well and spent money on sundries while there. So he has gone over COA, but not a lot because he has a cheap dorm room (a quad), I think book costs are lower for him, we have gotten some outstanding deals on flights, and Marriott points have gotten us hotel rooms a few times, he has gotten rides home for half the gas cost from classmates. But I can see how someone in his situation would go over COA, and next year when he gets upperclassmen housing which usually means a single in a suite arrangement, the cost of board will go way up, and he seemss to be going off campus for events more frequently as time goes on. He also wants to do off campus auditions which will bring up costs. His campus is extensive in offerings, amenities so there is not much reason to have to leave except for the shows, so that has been a factor in keeping within range. For kids going to schools like BU, NYU, GW that may use the city as an extension of the campus, the costs can go waay up there.</p>
<p>I was going to take exception to experiences related above, but then I checked the college Web site: $44,893+transportation. That's pretty close to D's actual, so I'd have to say the college's COA estimate is good.</p>
<p>When DD was admitted to schools several years ago, the COA varied widely in the allocations for books (range varied several hundred dollars), travel (allowances varied several hundred dollars), personal expenses (varied by 4-500 dollars) - some of the schools seemed to deliberately lowball the expenses, others were more generous in their allocations. For students getting Financial Aid, a generous (or realistic) allocation is better! DD picked a school that estimated more generously.</p>
<p>The estimated cost is close, but does not figure in summer programs which can add substantially to the bill. A summer at Harvard or abroad can run close to $9,000 or $10,000 with everything. (Of course this varies and there are grants, but personal experience and a little survey among friends found this to be fairly accurate.)</p>
<p>The estimates are based on averages, so it can vary also due to special circumstances. For example, we west coasters often have to spend several hundred on warm winter clothing when we send our kids off to the midwest or northeast for college. Lifestyle plays a big part, especially if a kid is attending college in an area where there is a lot to do of interest that may cost money. I mean - my kid is in New York and I don't think she gets to attend all those ballets for free .... but I'd hate for her to have the opportunity to live in NY and NOT be able to take advantage of the cultural opportunities there.</p>
<p>My advice is to take the COA and then add in travel costs, which will be specific to your circumstances. S's university estimates approximately $400/yr for travel expenses. We live a minimum of 2 plane rides away, with no realistic bus or train options. S's travel expenses exceed the $400. So, I consider the travel allocation amount as wiggle room in the estimate (he is in engineering, so his books cost more than estimated) and add the actual travel costs to come up with a budget figure.</p>
<p>I read somewhere to add $5,000 above the cost of tuition, room and board to cover books, travel and personal expenses to avoid student credit card debt. This $5K might be covered from a combination of student summer work, work-study during the academic year, monetary high school graduationgifts from friends and relatives, local and regional scholarships which send the checks directly to the student designated as a book, computer, travel stipend.</p>
<p>No one has mentioned this yet, but definitely budget EXTRA for the first year. I have yet to see a college COA estimate that mentions all of the freshmen-specific first year costs.</p>
<p>Setting up a dorm room adds up, even if you stick to the bare essentials. Then you also need to consider other things like the cost of winter clothing (if you are coming from a warm area to a cold area), a computer, shipping stuff to the school (if necessary) and even the cost of extra phone calls home from homesick kids. Don't forget to add in your travel expenses (airfare/hotel/rental car/gas) if you plan to accompany your child to school at the start of freshman year. And, check out whether your child will need to travel to campus for a separate orientation over the summer before school even starts, which can also add costs to the first year expenses. Some schools do also charge some fees for orientation programs so consider that as well.</p>
<p>We were surprised at how costly it was to get our daughter launched, and she didn't exactly equip herself in luxury. I'd say realistically budget between $800 and $1,000 that first year for those one time costs, although we spent more than that when our travel expenses accompanying daughter at drop off are factored in. Some folks, of course, will spend more, some less.</p>
<p>My daughter's "personal expenses" however have turned out to be far less than those estimated by the college's COA formula. I think if her school was located in a more expensive part of the country, or an urban area, she'd be spending more. So take the location into account as well when deciding whether the school's estimate of personal expenses is reasonable.</p>
<p>My son has spent much less then what the college estimated, but I guess the year is not over yet. They estimate $1,000 for transportation, $750 for personal expenses and $850 for books. I think his books were about $200 first semester but haven't heard about this years yet. He has spent maybe $200 for personal expenses but earns $50 or $60 a week at a campus job. When he came home for Christmas break he finally deposted about 4 checks from the job. He's just not a spender. Transportation is a tank of gas each way for two trips home plus a good deal on a flight I got for him from Student Universe and that was $200.</p>
<p>My daughter otoh, flew back and forth for her winter break (thank goodness for Southwest airlines) and tends to get out and do a bit more off campus. But she works two campus jobs so is also self sufficient. Havent' heard anything about books for her this quarter either, so I guess she got them somewhere or is doing without.</p>
<p>I do agree with Carolyn about a one time launch fee. I'm not sure it was as much as $1000, but that's a good round number that would cover most students.</p>
<p>I believe expenses may change over time as well. For example, after the students move from dorm to apartment, costs may go up or down, depending how how expensive/cheap both are, & especially meal expenses.</p>
<p>I agree that "launching" the child does cost some $$, especially if the famiy will be accompanying the student. We made it into our family summer vacation. Our S tried to think of all the little things he could for us to pick up before we left him on campus. It filled up the entire car by the time we were done, but mostly it's consumables. :)</p>
<p>It is good to have some "cushion" in case your estimate is too low & if your estimate is too high, you have some money toward the next year.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the COA figure is generally something calculated for purposes of determining financial aid -- it is not intended to be a guide to families as to how much they will need to budget for their individual student's needs. Obviously, it should be roughly in the same ballpark -- but there are some differences. For example, there is no way that any college should, or will, include the costs of the parents' travel to accompany the student when she arrives in the fall, their local hotel stay -- but I'm sure that at least half the time, the parents do come along.</p>
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The big extras can be alcohol and drugs.
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Related: Fake ID expense, expensive clothes required to fit in, car expenses, cover charges and drink tabs at clubs. Time spent figuring out story to tell parents when grades come out.</p>