What are those little indirect costs at Harvard that will add up and are unavoidable? Of course, books are the biggest costs during the semester.
For example, I know printing and laundry are two examples. What else should I consider?
Travel, spending money for entertainment or off campus food, personal care/hygiene products, costs for EC’s if they require particular clothing or a uniform, shared cost of a refrigerator/microwave, cost of joining a fraternity or sorority if you choose to participate in one.
These are the things that immediately come to mind.
I have been pleased that our daughter has shown a real awareness financially and has been very responsible with her spending.
Nice clothing for formals. How much you’ll want for dining and entertainment off campus depends on who you hang out with. If you’re budget-conscious, you can probably find friends who are on the same page.
Books seemed to be my daughter’s major expense, totaling about $800 for the year. For most of her classes, she purchased her books used through Amazon, or borrowed them from the library. However, several of her classes, most often in science related courses, required books or a lab manual which was written by the professor specifically for the class and these were only available through a local print shop. She had to purchase these items new and they were about $150 per course. (One of the requirements of tenured professors is that they publish, and I supposed this is one way for them to do so.)
At least for my kids – and the last one graduated in 2011, so it’s not super-recent information, and they didn’t go to Harvard, just a culturally similar university – printing was not a significant cost at all. Most importantly, they hardly ever had to print anything. Most of their papers, etc., were submitted electronically. On the rare occasions when they did have to print something, they could do it for free at the library. We sent the first child to college with a printer, and she hardly ever used it; it just took up space. We didn’t bother with the second child, and never, not once, did he ever suggest his life would have been better if he had a printer. (He would have liked a 3D printer. Or a sous-vide cooking system. He had no aversion to gadgets. He just didn’t need to print anything.)
One of the things I paid for was passes for the public transportation system. There was a big financial discount for pre-paid passes, and I didn’t want them deciding not to explore the city because they had to pay for a bus or subway.
They brought their nice clothing with them.
My kids have so far lived fairly cheaply at school. Much of their entertainment is through departmental or official-activities where someone else is supplying the arrangements. My older son says the classics department has a pretty good weekly get together every Friday. For a while, they had a cross-country ski club, and each participated had to pay $4 on the T to get to the ski site, but the school picked up the rest of the costs as a school-sporsored activity. They’ve shopped around for used books, when possible, and those costs have been modest.
The single biggest out-of-pocket expense not adequately accounted for in the school’s estimated total cost of attendance is travel to and from home and school.
I just glanced at my kid’s debit card transactions. What comes up the most is Starbucks.
As part of the cost of attendance, Harvard includes personal expenses for 2014-2015 at $3,643 (this includes books.) This amount is included in determining financial aid. My son spent considerably less than that for his personal expenses this past year. So, Harvard ended up costing even less than anticipated. The cost of travel is also included in financial aid/cost of attendance and is in addition to the estimated personal expenses.
Thanks everybody!
This. For guys, you can outright buy a tux very cheaply at Keezer’s in Central Square. For women, I don’t know what a comparable option is, but I bet there is one.