I’ve seen other forums about this but I wanted to get more perspectives & personal experiences on this.
How accurate is COA? I know that tuition, room & board, fees, & meal plans are fixed costs that I have to pay. But what about the other costs?
FSU said transportation would be $2716… but for what expenses? I do live out of state but not too far from FSU. I don’t plan to travel much & would be taking public transportation.
Books & supplies are $1000, but I can get them used, rent them, or find them online, right?
Then they have a section labeled “other educational costs”… is this the personal/miscellaneous fees?
I know I’ll have to purchase student insurance, but what section would this amount be in?
The COA is honestly an estimate for what they assume is an average of students’ expenses. So if you plan on driving to and from school for breaks, and will take public transportation around campus, you probably won’t spend $2716 in a year.
The same thing with books and supplies, if you rent them or find them online, they probably won’t be $1000.
Again, the COA stats that aren’t room, board, and tuition, are just estimates so students and families can have an estimate of college costs.
If you have to borrow $14k/year to attend FSU, an extra few hundred dollars for travel isn’t your issue. Your parents had a recent loss of income, didn’t they? Taking on ~$56k of debt (plus interest) to go OOS for a biology degree isn’t a good idea. In your other thread you mentioned attending community college in GA then transferring to a 4 year school. If finances are an issue, that’s a good option. Does GA have articulation agreements between their cc’s and 4 year colleges?
My D, at another school, found that the misc. costs were overestimated. She is within driving distance so her travel costs are minimal. Books were 1/2 of what was estimated. Overall, I think her COA was $2K- 3K less than the estimate.
IMO, those all in estimates tend to overestimate but that’s a good thing so there are no surprises.
Other expenses to consider:
dorm items - bedding, towels, toiletries, cleaning stuff, dorm safe, accessories, and then bigger ticket items if need be - dorm fridge/microwave, coffee maker, etc…
Even though my tuition would be paid for at GSU, I have to pay room and board & meal plans at GSU. Their cheapest room & board & meal plans comes to $10k, and with other mandatory student fees & supplies, the cost still comes to around 14k.
I just looked up GA schools that offer the articulation agreement and GSU wasn’t one of them. But could this agreement be explained further to me? Does transferring have scholarships/programs that will reduce annual COA?
books can be a lot more if you take a lot of STEM classes, or classes that require codes. You can’t avoid paying for the codes that can be $150 or more per class.
The schools do tend to inflate the COA little because students can borrow up to that amount, and some scholarships pay by that amount (athletic scholarships do, so at FSU the football players are getting that travel allowance)
Can you shave off some of the COA? Yes. Do some students spend that and more? Yes.
Can you commute to a cc for 2 years? That would cut your costs a lot. Look at the website of your local cc and see what they say about where their students transfer. They should have an office that has all kinds of information.
There are several kinds of articulation agreements. The simplest ones guarantee transfer admission to a particular college or university provided the student competes an AA or AS at a given community college. Others guarantee admission with all of the credits transferring and applying toward graduation, transfer into a specific major with specific credit for certain courses, direct transfer into a major with all of the Gen Ed coursework covered, etc. You need to investigate your own specific CC and the places it has articulation agreements with.
Were else can you use the Zell Miller? Is that only for GSU?
What part of GA are you in? You could start at GA Perimeter, which has officially merged with GSU and could find cheaper housing/food. Do you have health insurance under your parents? If so, you won’t have that expense to pay (unless its possibly an HMO that is not in FL and the you’d have to have to have coverage at FSU.)
The bigger issue to consider is the possibility/probability that many campuses will not open for a “normal” fall semester, so going into debt for a semester or year that might be handed remotely anyway may not be fiscally responsible.
As one who has had to develop the COA for a school (and update it annually), I can confidently state that it is simply a guesstimate. It’s based on averages, local cost of living, and student surveys. I had students who spent much less than the COA, and I had students who spent more. I suggest drawing up a budget … how much will you need to spend on personal costs (phone, insurance, medical, clothing, etc)? How much is room & board? If you don’t know how much books will cost, use the school’s estimate, but start looking into ways to trim those costs (buying used books, etc). Much of the non-tuition/fee/room/board costs are within your ability to determine. A prepaid basic phone plan, minimal “social” costs, budget haircuts, that sort of thing.