<p>Why is it so expensive? All of my friends’ orientations are free except for mine. I don’t understand why they need $160 plus $75 since i need to come the day before.</p>
<p>No. Orientation at UC Riverside is costing us $350. It’s mandatory and it is in addition to tuition and fees.</p>
<p>Don’t forget parents are $80 each,and for what, a few cheap meals. I said it on another post, most parents would rather go out to eat after sitting around lectures all day. Just another fundraiser.</p>
<p>At my old school (College of Wooster) – their two day summer program costs $150 for students and $50 per person for parents. And we’re talking housing in the middle of nowhere Ohio here…, not Washington DC. </p>
<p>The school by my house in Michigan is $195 for a mandatory overnight stay. So no, it’s not the case…</p>
<p>There’s truly no need for parents to attend AU’s orientation–there, I saved you money!</p>
<p>I know I am not planning on atttending D’s orientation.</p>
<p>My d. arrived in August and attended the orientation during her first week. She flew across the country by herself, so of course we didn’t attend. Didn’t cost us an extra penny, and she didn’t miss a thing.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech and Univ. Of South Carolina both charge for orientation.</p>
<p>We leave Wednesday for a 6 hour drive down to DC. I’ll post and let you all know how the first orientation goes Thursday and Friday.</p>
<p>iwrite: Good luck with everything. It seems DC has cooked up some fantastic weather – I mean hot as all get out – but absolutely beautiful weather for Thursday and Friday. Enjoy AU.</p>
<p>When we went to AU in October it was cold and rainy. Now it will be very HOT and sunny.</p>
<p>Despite the cost, we are looking forward to some (enforced) quality time with our son during the drive there and back. We are also looking forward to visitng DC, this will be a perk for the cost of our son’s education. Also, it is very helpful to hear what is going on and how things work so that you can remind your student of these things throughout the year. It’s not helicoptering, there’s just so much being thrown at these kids today that another set of ears can’t hurt. </p>
<p>We’ll also see if we can’t get some information on this whole “pick a room” fiasco.</p>
<p>Any other questions for us to ask?</p>
<p>Stanford has a mandatory $438 orientation fee; it is billed with the rest of the COA.</p>