<p>Definitely factor in the cost of taking advantage of the reason that your student chose the school.</p>
<p>If your student wanted the rah-rah experience of a large school, the cost of the rah-rah experience should be factored in for consideration…what will game tickets cost, team garb, maybe a weekend or two on trips to rival schools for games, etc. If your kid chose NY for the theater scene, I would expect to factor in the cost of (discounted) theater tickets, transportation costs, maybe food while away from campus and out with friends, etc.</p>
<p>My kids all chose schools with real campuses but in or adjacent to large cities. For example, my youngest is a senior at American U in DC. It would make no sense to have him at school in DC without him being able to partake of what makes up the DC experience. For example, he and his friends often go to the free concerts at the Kennedy Center. Or they go to exhibits at the Smithsonian–again, free. But the fare for the Metro to get there, and back to campus, is not cheap. And once he is out with his friends, they will often stop for a bite to eat…they generally go for (relatively) inexpensive ethnic food, but still, it is an expense. Also, my son in earlier years worked some unpaid internships. It COST us money because he had to pay to get there and back. Luckily, his earlier slave labor has lead him to some excellent paid internships…but again, he is not going to get rich off of them.</p>
<p>There is also the cost of clothes for those internships. Professional dress, and proper maintenance of it, can add to the budget. For example, my middle son had an internship which required full professional dress ( suit and tie, dress shoes)…it was located about two miles from campus, and he walked both ways, because public transportation didn’t save him any time. He wore sneakers to and from, leaving dress shoes at his office…Once at work, he often went elsewhere in DC, such as the Hill, government agencies, embassies, etc… the heat and humidity of the Washington summer necessitated more dry cleaning than we expected.</p>
<p>One other thing my boys have spent some money on is club and/or intramural sports and other student groups. Teams generally split the fee for the intramural sport among the team members…and they generally try to balance decreasing the fee per person by having more players, with the fact that too many players decreases playing time. Then there is often the cost of a team t-shirt. And some other gear–for example, my son’s soccer boots from high school recently fell apart to the point they could no longer be held together by duct tape. But soccer is what restores my son’s sanity. And the club team my son plays on generally goes out together with the players on the opposing team for a bite to eat after the game. And there is also the cost of traveling to other schools, and tournaments.</p>
<p>My sons generally have come up with their own money for most of the things they become involved in. We, the parents, have sometimes chosen to supplement their discretionary funds because we want them to have a certain kind of college experience. We certainly want them to have to weigh, and pick, and choose among opportunities–but we didn’t want their choice to be always missing out on everything, either. </p>
<p>That being said, we realize that other families might make other choices. One of my son’s best friends is at a State U instead of the same school as my son, because even though FA made the overt costs of the two schools about equal, his family did not think they could swing the extra costs he would incur in DC–and they did not want him to feel as the odd one out all the time.</p>