My parents are trying to figure out about how much they’ll end up spending to send me to certain schools, and they doubt the accuracy of school advertised cost of attendances.
How far off from your kid’s COA was your end cost?
Are you expecting FA packages? Because if not, the COA is pretty straightforward. Variables might include dorm preferences and meal plan options and book costs, and optional extras, and travel costs. But guessing a FA package is a whole different thing, For a non FA, non merit student, it was pretty close.
It doesn’t really matter what other people paid relative to their COA. I doubt most people keep track of every nickle and dime spent on books, supplies, entertainment, food, travel, etc.
The COA at our kids’ colleges was pretty accurate. We were able to save a little on personal expenses and books for both. However, travel for the second kid tripled in cost over the four years she was in college.
The bigger question is…how much can YOUR parents pay? Really…that is THE number you need to work with.
It depends on the kid. A student who goes out to clubs and restaurants in New York City is going to spend way more than the standard estimate. A student attending college in a rural area who socializes on campus and eats most of their meals in the cafeteria is going to stay within the predicted costs.
Be aware of transportation costs as another big variable. Check prices on travel to and from your home to each college, and then multiply by the number of times you plan to come home.
@thumper1 I was just wondering because my aunt sent her daughter to Texas Tech and the COA for her was over 13k what they said. Of course she was in a sorority, but I wouldn’t think it would be that much. (My aunt is an accountant so she spent a lot of time adding every dollar her daughter spent)
They can pay for me to go to a state school and allow me to graduate debt free, they were just wanting to know if they needed to budget out more that the COA said.
My son is responsible for his own spending money, while I pay all university costs (tuition, room & board), textbooks, and his travel to and from school. I think we have come under COA but he travels by bus or takes a ride with a friend. Air travel costs can vary widely and a school’s COA will not be able to capture the wide range of travel expenses.
What cost more for your cousin? It should be easy for,them to figure that out. Was it spending money? Books? Transportation? What?
Did she choose the most expensive meal plan and live in an expensive dorm?
Your aunt would easily be able to tell what that extra $13,000 was spent on.
Sorority costs in the south can be several thousand dollars, especially the first year when some have a required meal plan and initiation costs.
For my kids, both of the COA’s were pretty close for the first year. Both lived in their dorms and had a meal plan. The travel expenses were probably under for both of them (one I drive there and back, the other has to fly but flights are cheap). Books for one were expensive but were about what the COA estimated. Both schools have almost all the activities (football, rec center, some on-campus concerts) included in the student fees. Both are in small towns so there just isn’t that much to do or spend money on.
For their second/third years, it is much cheaper. Their living expenses are less, their books are less (they’ve learned tricks to get them cheaper), they don’t care about school sweatshirts or trinkets, don’t care if their bedroom sets are new.
I think your cousin might have been spending a lot. My kids are both in sororities, both lived on campus, but didn’t spend wildly.
It really depends. When my kids were in high school, I paid a lot of money for their ballet classes, which I didn’t have to once they got to college. The saving there pretty much paid for their food and sorority dues in college. On the other hand, if your kid continues to take music lessons then you would have to pay it out of pocket.
It is actually quite easy to figure out your COA by putting down all expenses on a spreadsheet. I really didn’t find that many surprises when my kids started college. The school didn’t all of a sudden hit me with a large unexpected bill. Most of spends were under our control - taking a fancy bus vs regular bus to come home, going on a spring break trip vs staying home, etc.
Thank you everyone!
Right. $13,000 excess a year is a LOT of difference over the published cost of attendance.
@OldFart depends, my d is on a full tuition scholarship she is continuing with private music lessons but now they are considered a one credit “class” so not only does she get the lessons free but she also gets credit for them! The ability to continue with her instrument on a college level and not major in it was actually a factor is picking her college. The fact that I no longer have to pay for private lessons is a huge savings ($300+ monthly)
Private instrument lessons and payment varies by college. My DD also did not have to pay for her private instrument lessons while in college. BUT to get that, she had to play in the college orchestra every term. Her lessons were 45 minutes per week, at no cost (well…no additional cost).
To the OP, it is possible your aunt does what a lot of people do. They count everything they spend on a college student toward their own personal COA. Sorority dues, cell phone, music lessons, car insurance, clothing, spring break, etc. The COA isn’t meant to be all inclusive of everything but the accountant in some of us flips to that mindset pretty easily.
The biggest variable for us has been rent and food since my S lives in a nicer place than the average student. We knew that when we signed the lease. When you are looking at a school, you can compare the COA to the published pricing of the dorm you think you want to live in. That will give you a pretty quick handle on whether that COA applies in your case.
We gave our daughter spending money and money on the school bucks card for laundry, incidentals- maybe about $800-1000 a year, maybe less, can’t quite recall. The really big expense was transportation. Flights over holidays, rides to and from airports, flights or long drives for us to visit, hotel if we visited, etc. That might have been about 4000-5000 (including the family flying there, renting car, hotel for 2-3 nights once a year). Of course, we bought her some clothing during the school year as well but nothing excessive.
@gettingschooled she gave me that cost and it was a little under 42k a year 8 years ago lol.
I think she went a little overboard on the spending. (Only child, loves clothes)
Different schools determine their COAs differently. For example, the school my daughter attends uses their most expensive dorm and meal plan in the COA. Other schools use the lowest, still others use the average. So at D’s school, you can easily spend $5000 less than COA for room and board alone. At other schools you’d be lucky to be able to get into the cheapest dorm and therefore not spend more than the room and board COA. You need to look at how the schools you’re considering determine their COAs. Books and personal expenses will generally be about the same at most schools; travel depends on where you’re located relative to the school.
The best thing is to look at published tuition and fees, then figure average meal plan and dorm cost if you don’t know yet where you are going to live.
The figure the same $500-1000 book cost (depends on major and buying new, versus used or renting) for all schools.
Travel costs would depend on distance, flying versus driving, etc.
Some schools require their own health insurance if the existing coverage is not accepted (distance, OOS).
We spend a lot less than COA because our daughter earned a great merit based scholarship. We are also frugal and she is more frugal than we are. She scrimps on books, she lives in an apartment style dorm so has a kitchen and cooks most of her own meals, uses our Netflix account and other free activities for entertainment, etc, isn’t fussy about clothes, gets infrequent hair cuts, etc. We do take care of travel, but we do live overseas and our jobs come with some travel benfits at least until age 21, so for a while that is covered. It is college, not Club Med.