Yes, we are “in network”. However, many of today’s health insurance is a High Deductible with HSA and you pay the “negotiated” rate until you hit the deductible.
There are less cases today of PPOs, etc.
The point being - there are myriad ways kids can and do spend $$ - alcohol, food, uber, farmer’s market (mine goes) - there are tons of ways.
Your kids may not have spent any extra - and that’s fine.
I see lots of kids spending extra - a family has to decide a budget for themselves - but I personally think it’s going in blind to assume the COA is legit - unless of course, there are things baked in such as travel that are overestimated based on expected vs. listed expense.
Another thing for parents of musicians to consider…think about what you are paying now for private lessons, precollege ensembles. Or whatever. Some of that money can be diverted to college and associated expenses.
Our musician took private lessons on two instruments, plus played in precollege orchestra and wind ensemble. Nothing was free. Kid also participated in honors ensembles (multiple) every year…and those also weren’t free.
The costs really can add up…and those things you no longer will need to pay separately might be included in some of your actual college costs now.
THIS! Our S was in a children’s chorus with tuition for 10 years, and private lessons for 2 years. And (pre/post pandemic) there was an expensive summer tour. Now all of that is part of the tuition, even tours, and including a per diem when they travel.
And I second/third (?) the cost of books and music- it’s way less now than when we were in school. They’re mostly available in digital format and some they can ‘rent’ for the semester, which is even less.
I’m glad someone mentioned church gigs-- mine has one with some classmates and he loves it. He is also paid to assist with admissions and picked up a one time solo gig, so he has found neat ways to make money to spend how he chooses.
You can probably ask ahead of time if your family health insurance will be accepted, because that can be a pretty big expense. Or…even ask for additional financial aid to cover it, if it is a school that is already offering generous financial aid.
But…be aware that a lot of colleges have a mandatory student health center fee which can run close to 1k a year (depending on the school) and which is in addition to the health insurance requirement and which cannot usually be waived with your own insurance. Sigh.
We are looking at OUR COA being tuition and room and meal plan to keep comparisons equal (after deducting merit). Excluding “extra costs” right now but will factor in final decision based on location/flight miles/off campus costs, etc.
Accepted: merit and COA both per year
Xavier (OH). 25k merit. COA 33k
Gustavus Adolphus. 41k award. COA 25k
Ball State. MSEP tuition. COA 25k
U of Dayton. 27,500 merit. COA 35k
Western Michigan. 2k merit. COA 29k
Jacksonville U (FL). 45k Fine Arts Merit. COA 16k
U of Louisiana Lafayette. 27,696 Live Oak Scholarship. COA 8k
Loyola New Orleans. 32k
Esports Scholarship. COA 28k
Waiting for admission decision:
Syracuse- email from music department said at least 10k fine arts scholarship but no formal admissions yet.
Are your COA numbers your net costs after your financial aid awards? If so…wouldn’t those be your out of pocket costs or net costs…not the COA of the college?
Here are my thoughts. As a family (well…parents) you need to determine how much you can and will spend annually for four years of undergrad school.
Then…look at your kid’s acceptances and aid. You will have a net cost. Add in any additional costs you think you might be willing to pay…get a grand total.
Then see which colleges meet your price point.
And a reminder…this thread is about students who are musicians…and plan to major in music in college. Looking at job opportunities, and time available to work could be part of your discussion.
Thank you all! I just redid my spreadsheet to do net direct costs billed by the school, after subtracting scholarships and aid. Then, I did columns for the other costs, then how to pay for the balance. (That’s the part I’d rather not calculate. LOL)
Yes, expenses at home went way down when we weren’t paying for private lessons, honor ensembles, audition trips, etc., so that helped offset some of the college costs.
On the expense side, some other things to consider.
Private Lessons - Not included in COA / tuition at D’s school, but added on as an additional fee every semester. Be aware and check how your target schools handle that.
Travel - The travel allowance in our school’s COA was laughably, unrealistically small.
Health insurance - We waived the school insurance. On the other hand, as @MMRose noted, there might be a student health center fee in the COA that can’t be waived. It felt gratuitous and annoying–until we needed it. D had a lingering infection this winter and got great care from the student health center. We ended up feeling really grateful.
Lodging - Another one to watch. The COA listed a dorm cost on the low end of the housing options, but D was given a more expensive dorm, so we ended up paying more than we budgeted.
Personal expenses - Some of our examples: D often got comp or student tickets to hear the symphony downtown, but if she couldn’t get a ride, she always Lyfted back to campus because we didn’t want our young female riding public transportation alone at night. Also, sometimes even a frugal kid has reasons to eat out. For example, D’s studio typically goes out for pizza after a performance, so I consider that an “expense” of sorts.
Gigs/Work - Limited opportunities her first year, but gradually more in following years.
I haven’t added them to my calculation, but I’ve thought about these very real savings. My kid’s lessons have not been as expensive as some y’all have listed here, but we do spend about $500/month on music. $6000/year is nothing to sneeze at. Not even counting grocery savings, it would almost make up for the whole balance at one or two of his accepted schools. More than 1/3 of what we need to raise for his current favorite school. If that school gives us FA and we consider the savings of him not living here, it gets a lot closer to a reality in which my H and I can do some fun things, too. We’re looking forward to moving!
Here’s where we are now. They all sound high to me. We have some money saved but absolutely not this much, and this is just the net to the school, not counting other. It looks bad when I write it out, but we are going to figure this out.
For reference, our EFC is 22K, although that doesn’t matter to most schools–certainly not those last 2. Loyola will hopefully get us near it after all is said and done.
U of Oregon: 5K scholarships/net billed by school :27K, tuition frozen for 5 years
CU Denver: 1K scholarships/net 32
Loyola: 25K scholarships/net 38
Columbia: 16K scholarships/net 39
UArts: 25K scholarships/net 40
At Denver & Loyola, more $ is possible. The others are probably as good as they’ll ever be.
Keep in mind that tuition and room and board increase each year but the award does not (in our case anyway) …We did an appeal and was awarded 1k more but that did not cover the increase.
I’m kind of confused as it seems some of your schools include room and board (Loyola) and others just tuition (CU Denver). Am I reading your list wrong?
CU Denver includes room & board, too. It’s a relatively inexpensive school, though I hesitate to use that word for any of them. In each case, the “net” is all the direct expenses (tuition, r & b, fees) minus the scholarships. (Oregon also includes it all, but is lower because it’s in-state.)
Yes, I haven’t figured out a place for this on my spreadsheet yet, but I’m definitely cognizant. One of the really great things about U of O is that they freeze the tuition (not room, board, etc) for five years. (If my kid were not dead set on moving away, it would be a great deal. He wants to go out of state.)
Since EFC has come up here a couple of times, I’ll just throw out there that people with low EFCs should keep in mind schools that meet demonstrated need and/or give significant need based aid in addition to music and academic scholarships. Blair/Vanderbilt was by far my son’s cheapest option because they have excellent need based aid and we have a low EFC. We’re paying significantly less than we would have for his in-state public option (although that might change next year when I only have one kid in college and the formula’s not quite so kind). There are fewer options like this for music kids, but there are a number of bigger names, like Rice, Northwestern, Oberlin, Bard, in addition to Vanderbilt. And a lot of schools that don’t officially meet demonstrated need will put together a competitive package that includes need based aid as a component as well…particularly private schools, IME.
Thank you for this advice. I’ve heard that some of these schools can be truly affordable, and we looked at a couple of them who have the endowments to make it work. My son didn’t click with or get excited about the two he considered. It’s another thing I would have changed, looking back on this process. We could have pushed for a couple on his list.
Something else we’re finding out about is how some schools that have awesome music programs also have a lot of wealth disparity. I don’t know how this would play into a decision to attend those schools or might affect my kid’s everyday life. We’ve just been super focused on the programs, which seem so separate from the overall universities.