<p>1 UC Berkeley
2 Suffolk University, Boston
3 Marymount, Manhattan
4 Sarah Lawrence
5 Drexel
6 UCLA
7 NYU
8 Eugene Lang College @ New School
9 UC Santa Cruz
10 Manhattanville</p>
<p>It sure does. Cal is an amazing school, I loved going there back in the stone age when housing was hard-to-get but still affordable... but charging that much for dorms seems a bit rich...pun intended.</p>
<p>And this is why most students at my school (including me) live off-campus in apartments. If you work out the math, as long as you are paying less than about $850 per month for rent/utils you're good...I estimate most people in shared apartments pay about $500.</p>
<p>justamom, I was asking myself the same question. Either way, it is double the amount that some schools charge for R&B. I can tell you that I am paying about 6500 for room and board for the year.</p>
<p>our son at Rensselaer moved off campus after freshman year into a rowhouse lacated about a 5 min walk from the academic quad, the Union, and pool/rec center, and actually closer than some of the upperclass housing. His total monthly cost for rent + utilities + cable TV + internet + FOOD(yes food) came to just $400/month or $4,8oo/yr. He shares with 10 other students and each has their own bedroom.</p>
<p>He is saving about $4,400 per year and really enjoys "the house" as they call it. The added benefit is that he has housing during breaks and during the summer which was important because he is working on a project with one of his profs this summer and five other house mates have chosen to spend the summer in Troy also.</p>
<p>Boston University is also over $10,000 per year for room and board. However, Boston is a pricey housing market. DS is paying $650 per month for his share of a three bedroom apartment (there are two others)...not including heat and utilities....or furniture or dishes or anything else. Plus he has to find a subletter for the months of June, July and August (which for this apartment which is only one block from campus should not be too difficult). I have to say...with the cost of the furniture and other "stuff" and the moving costs this year (from one apartment to the other), and the headaches of subletting...I wish he had stayed in the student apartments. Yes, they are $10,000 per year without food, but they are furnished, airconditioned, include all utilities including cable, have onsite maintanence, have onsite security personnel, have onsite laundry facilities, you don't sublet and if there is a significant problem, the university moves you into another place. The on campus apartments are open during all school breaks except you move out during the summer. I know it costs more...but in reduced headaches, it's a deal.</p>
<p>I can understand $10,000 for room/board in Boston. I have a harder time understanding a school asking -- and parents paying! -- over $13,000 for room/board in Berkeley, where heat and airconditioning needs are minimal. By the way, there ARE cheaper alternatives even oncampus at Cal -- a friend's D pays under $7000/year at a co-op -- but the fact that the $13,000/year options exist and are popular makes me wonder how long the $7000/year options will continue to be offered.</p>
<p>When you compare apples to apples, i.e. 2 (or 3) people per small room, the prices many campuses charge is ridiculous. My D can live in a much larger apartment with a private bedroom in a complex full of amenities in a very expensive area (La Jolla) for less money than she can on campus. When you factor in that the apartment is a for-profit enterprise in an area where land is very expensive and the college (UCSD) is a non-profit enterprise where land is no cost (it was given to the state long ago), then the costs are even more ridiculous. The idea that the college should even charge based on surrounding prices doesn't even make sense if the college didn't have costs associated with the surrounding prices. It's basically coming down to the fact that the colleges are charging as much as they think they can get and a considerable amount of it is sure to be profit. I don't have much of a problem with this at a private for-profit college (actually, I'd probably be at least perturbed by it) since it's a business but I do think it's 'gouging' at state universities.</p>
<p>ucla dad, i completely agree. it's very disturbing that it costs less to live in a nice apartment in La Jolla -- of all places! -- than in student housing of a public school.</p>
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It's basically coming down to the fact that the colleges are charging as much as they think they can get and a considerable amount of it is sure to be profit. I don't have much of a problem with this at a private for-profit college (actually, I'd probably be at least perturbed by it) since it's a business but I do think it's 'gouging' at state universities.
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<p>My understanding is, the UCs ONLY provide capital funding for facilities DIRECTLY related to classroom academics, so the UCs are dependent on private gifts for non-academic facilities (like all athletic facilities - even the recreational/intramural ones). I'm not sure where student housing falls, but the UC Regents are not giving blank checks to the campuses, which I'm sure drives some of the room and board figures we see.</p>
<p>UC Merced (brand new campus in a much cheaper, rural area) is charging $9400 for the year for room and board (for doubles that are twice the size of the older UC dorms we've seen on other campuses, and are really townhouse suites that include a living room, 3 doubles, and a double bath).</p>
<p>My son is starting at Cal next week. Room and board for a double is approx 12,000. I guess because tuition is so reasonable, I didnt freak out about the room & board. But $50 a day?? Somehow put like that...</p>
<p>but he is a boy and can eat a lot...may get our moneys worth that way.</p>