<p>ok, i'm pretty much set on this nice little LAC, in-state, which has already offered me free tuition, room, & board. the thing is, i still have to make up the difference for fees, books, and personal expenses, a little over $5000 a year. my family's EFC is somewhere between 0 and 1000, so i would qualify for need-based aid, but could i use those grants, etc. to pay for fees, books, and personal expenses? if not, could i get scholarships from outside sources and use them for that? i can't take out very much in loans because my mother refuses to cosign for them. i'm just wondering how i'll ever get the money to pay for everything. (pretty sad, since it's only $5000.)</p>
<p>i also qualify for a scholarship competition at the college to get full tuition, room & board, and fees covered. they award 2 of these from 10-15 potential candidates each year.</p>
<p>oh, if it helps, i'm from south carolina and the college is presbyterian college. i'm ranked 2/296, 4.957/5.0 gpa, 740/670/660 m/v/w sat scores.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your awesome opportunity and good luck with the next competition.</p>
<p>All colleges are different in how they handle outside scholarships. Some let you keep them, others subtract that amount from what they give you. So a quick call to the admissions office will get that answered for you.</p>
<p>$5000 seems like a lot of money for personal expenses. Books should run around $2000 for the year (at the most) and thats if they are new. Used books will be cheaper. Fees are generally around $500 at many colleges. The only other expense will be laundry and trips back home and a computer would be nice if you don't have one. So I think you can make this amount of money and more with an on campus job or working over the summer. You will be taxed on the amount of scholarship money for room and board by the IRS...but it won't amount to much and that doesn't happen until April 2008 ( and that will only be for 1/2 of the school year) Do not let that bother you.
So get a job this summer and save as much as you can!</p>
<p>And you can also work during the summers and during school to offset your personal expenses (books and spending money). Where did you get the $5000 figure? I agree that sounds high. My kids are both responsible for all of their own expenses beyond tuition, room and board. Neither of them has ever earned anything close to $5000 per year. Both are attending college in expensive places, and one across the country. Even with the far away kid's travel home, her costs are not anywhere near $5000 per year. Both work about 9 hours a week. Both worked during the summer, and during college vacations.</p>
<p>sax & thumper, $5000 is the estimated total for everything that i will have to pay. fees are $2142, which includes parking and a technology fee. books are estimated at $1110, and then there's personal expenses and travel, though i'll only be about 1 1/2 hours from home. i plan to get a job this summer and do work study in college, and i already have a computer (laptop).</p>
<p>i'm extremely thankful for the scholarship, as it covers $29,730+. i'm just trying to plan ahead as to how to make up the difference, especially since i want to go to grad school as well.</p>
<p>workstudy 10 or so hours a week, should be enough for your personal expenses and books
( also suggest to get the ISBN numbers from your texts and shop around, you can save hundreds each term)</p>
<p>"Fees are generally around $500 at many colleges."</p>
<p>Actually the 'fees' at our two big state universities are almost as high as the tuition. There are tons of fees that you pay per credit hour on top of tuition - they come to around another 62% of the tuition costs. I was - and still am - a little baffled by the fees which, of course, are not covered by tuition waivers. There are 26 different per hour fees plus several set fees. I know on FAFSA you enter fees, books and personal expenses - though I think theses are established by the school not by the individual so the personal expenses are not high. But in our case the fees, books and personal expenses do come in pretty close to $5000. Probably a little higher. </p>
<p>The school my daughter is planning on attending provides a 'COA - cost of attendance' estimate that is what we put on FAFSA. These estimates are for average costs and do not neccessarily reflect the actual costs. For instance the room and board component reflects the cost of traditional dorms and she wants to live in a suite which will be more expensive (she gets to pay the difference). My understanding is that you can use financial aid to pay for these sort of costs. Having said that I am new to the whole process so will find out in the next few months if my 'understanding' is correct!</p>
<p>One way to cut the OP's costs for college would be to omit the car while a college student. This would not only cut down on the parking "fee" (which I agree must be a whopper), but also on car related expenses of maintenance, and gas. Also beware that if YOU have a car, others will ask for driving favors thus increasing YOUR costs. Perhaps leaving the car at home the first year might be an option.</p>
<p>Between work study and your summer employment (Remember, you can work 2 jobs -- 60 hours a week), at most, you'd probably need about a $1,500 loan a year to cover what's left. That's next to nothing in loans to take out for college. The average college student takes out a total of $20,000 to cover 4 years of college.</p>
<p>It's also true that you probably won't need a car when you're at school, and that will save you lots of money.</p>
<p>Seems to me that you're getting plenty paid for already. Get jobs and pay for your books and fees out of that. Skip the car. If you can't figure out how to pay for books, then you certainly can't afford a car.</p>
<p>The fees at our State U are @ $2200. They cover a whole array of things (facility fees/libarary fees etc etc) and none are optional. If it is the same for the OP I don't see a problem with him asking if it is possible to pay such fees through grants/finaid. They are as much a part of the cost of the school as the tuition.</p>
<p>I would be curious to hear about the breakdown of fees. My kiddos applied to both private and public universities. We found that the fees at the public universities were uniformly higher...there were many things that were not covered in the tuition/room/board/fees category. However, for the private schools, the fees were very very few. The only fees my kids have are their resnet fee ($150), health insurance which can be waived if the family has coverage ($1200 or so), and a sports fee ($85). Everything else is included in the tuition. At the public where DD got accepted, there would have been a number of other "fees"...in addition to the above, there was a library fee, a practice room rental fee, costs for private music lessons, and a student activity fee. But even with that...$5000 per year well exceeds the cost of fees and books. However, even having said that...the OP can certainly earn $5000 in a year if he/she works during the summer before college and for about 10-12 hours a week during the school year. DD earned about $2000 last summer, and she is earning about $400 per month at her part time on campus (9 hours a week...she has a high paying job that includes bonuses....no kidding). Still she will pay MUCH less than $5000 in fees and personal expenses this year...much less. Of course, she is not paying for a car on campus and that is a big expense.</p>
<p>thumper1 - here is that list of fees - I am sure there are some I have missed. Many of these I don't understand why they are not part of the tuition fee - I suspect it is so that they will not be part of tuition waivers though maybe I am being cynical. As for the car situation - that would depend a lot on where the university is situated. Our State Us are in towns that lack public transportation to get there or even around town. Our home town does not have any public transportation system either. No bus service or train service. (something it took me a long time to adapt to as I am originally from a place where there was a lot of public transportation and it was easier to utilise it than try to find a place to park a car). So our Daughter will have a car. If she were going to University in a town that had these services I would definitely think it was a good idea to not have a car.
Student Activity Fee $2.50 per credit hour
Student Activity Fee - Athletic $3.00 per credit hour
Student Facility Fee - $4.70 per credit hour
Student Facility Fee Campus Rec. -$3.00 per credit hour
Library Technology Fee - $3.00 per credit hour (excludes Vet Med)
Library Automation/Materials Fee - $6.40 per credit hour
Assessment Fee - $1.00 per credit hour (excludes Vet Med)
Career Services Fee - $2.00 per credit hour
Student Senate/Speaker Fee - $0.25 per credit hour
Cultural & Recreational Service Fee - $0.86 per credit hour
Living Group Fee - $0.08 per credit hour (excludes Vet Med)
Campus Life Fee - $0.35 per credit hour
Student Development Initiative Fee - $0.40 per credit hour
Consumable Material Fee - $1.50 per credit hour (Undergraduates only)
Academic Facility Fee - $10.50 per credit hour(Undergraduates only)
Academic Excellence Fee - $5.00 per credit hour (Freshmen, Sophomores, & Transfers only)
University Technology Fee - $5.00 per credit hour
Transportation Services - $2.00 per credit hour
Health Services Fee - $4.35 per credit hour
Records Maintenance Fee - $0.62 per credit hour
Student Academic Service Fee - $2.00 per credit hour (Undergraduate and Special Graduate students)
Energy Fee - $2.00 per credit hour
Information Tech. Infrastructure Fee - $2.00 per credit hour
Then depending which college within the university you are attending there are fees specific to that college - for intance
Arts & Sciences Technology Fee - $7.50 per credit hour
Arts & Science Collegiate Excellence Fee - $4.00 per credit hour</p>
<p>Swimcat...correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you were talking about a public university. The OP was talking about a small LAC. I believe you about that state university. It is exactly what I was noting in my previous post...lots of fees at the state universities. BUT what I would like to see is the fees at this small LAC. Our experience (and yes, I know that these thing vary wildly) was that the smaller private schools included their fees in the overall tuition the student was paying (and a good thing too...when you're paying $30,000 just in tuition, added fees would be a true kick in the pants).</p>
<p>Yes I am talking about a public university. Sorry - I thought you were asking me as your post came right after mine. Sometimes it is a little hard to follow the track of the postings.</p>
<p>Pardon my ignorance but what does LAC stand for? I am not familiar with all the terminology and thought the OP was going to a State U when I saw "in-state". Though I guess the $29000+ pricetag should have alerted me.</p>
<p>My son is being eaten alive by his car costs. Gas, tolls, maintenance, repairs, parking, insurance are alot. He has a used car so he needs to keep an eye on how it runs to avoid problems. Needs new tires right now. Also he had to change registration, got into some ticket situations where they were sent to old address, and now they are a whalloping amount. He needs it to work and get around here, but neither of my guys had a car at home or at college. Though it may be a necessity, it does really contribute to costs. Hopefully SC is an inexpensive state for drivers.</p>
<p>yearly fees:
"general" fee: $1788 (covers matriculation, library, labratory, infirmary, and student activity fees, according to the website)
annual enrollment fee: $45
technology fee: $354
parking: $40
vehicle annual registration fee: $60
books: $1110</p>
<p>one time fees:
orientation: $75
diploma, cap, & gown: $50</p>
<p>plus personal expenses.</p>
<p>and, yes, unfortunately, i have to have a car. although i don't really want one. the campus is in a rural area. i would have to drive at least 20-30 minutes to get to anything. for instance, i will have to switch banks because i found out that the nearest branch is 45 minutes away.</p>