Are the listed costs of attendance on college websites (besides tuition and room/board) fairly accurate? If not, how much do you actually end up paying after tuition and r&b?
Usually, line items which can vary, like books and travel, are listed as “estimated” and can be higher or lower.
Also, there is a health insurance charge. Depending on your family’s health plan, you may be required to purchase the school’s plan and it can be costly - $2000 - 3000 for the school year. You may also be able to waive the school plan, if your current plan covers your school area.
my kids paid the tuition, room and board (one lived off campus for 2 years but had a meal plan), fees, and that was about it. Both went to schools where a lot of stuff was included with their student ID, like sports, the rec center, activities and they either did those things or they did free things. Both paid for books their freshmen year and then figured out ways to get them for free or greatly reduced (with the exception of courses that required a computer code for tests).
There were some costs for transportation, but one was a car ride away so $50 for gas a few times per year and the other was pretty good at getting cheap airfare, so $300 a couple times a year.
All the other stuff were things they would have paid for anyway like shampoo and clothing. Each school estimated $3000+ for incidentals and travel, and we didn’t come anywhere close to that. One child does have a nasty Starbucks habit, but now she works there so they are free.
Books are more likely overestimated, sometimes (and perhaps oftern) by a lot. Travel, on the other hand, is likely to be underestimated if the school is a plane-ride away, as the school generally doesn’t take into account the significant upcharges during holidays and breaks.
Books and related supplies expenses are probably more major-related than college-related.
Personal, and miscellaneous expenses probably vary considerably across students, although there may be some college-related component (e.g. lots of free entertainment on campus, versus no such free entertainment on a campus in a place where everything is expensive).
Travel obviously can vary considerably based on how the student’s actual travel to and from the college (and likely during peak travel seasons).
Dorm and meal plan costs are relatively easy to know from the college’s web site, but off-campus and commuter costs can vary considerably across students, even though there is a college-related component in terms of the cost of housing and food and/or commuting expenses (e.g. public transit and/or car + parking expenses) in the general area.
Remember that if the student lives away from home during college, some costs in the home household budget are likely to go down (e.g. the food and utilities the student consumed while in high school).