<p>it doesnt even have to be >200 miles away from home. Freshman year I did not have a car, and I live in NJ and go to school at princeton, and thus am ~60 miles from home, but usaa let my parents take me off the insurance or atleast drastically reduce the costs</p>
<p>What savings? No, the pennies it cost to pay for his food here -goes to pay for his food there at University. I have seen no savings. Don't expect to until all have grown and are on with their own lives.</p>
<p>brooklynmom -- I think you miss the point of this thread. Of course it costs more to send the kid to college overall -- but some of us have to budget very carefully. The first year my son went to college, I didn't think about the fact that my expenses at home went down when he went to school. I didn't have enough money for college, so I signed up for a PLUS loan. Well, because I didn't think of the costs, I ended up borrowing more than I needed. </p>
<p>I'm still paying off that loan - and paying interest on money I didn't need to borrow. It probably evened out, because the next year I didn't borrow any money at all -- but the point is -- I had more money at my disposal than I thought.</p>
<p>This can also make a big difference in the overall affordability issue. If you've got a lot of money -- I suppose it doesn't matter. But to those of us who rely on need-based financial aid, it also provides a different metric for evaluating the strength of a college financial aid award -- or affordability of a particular college. </p>
<p>I think it's tremendously helpful to be aware of this, both for budgeting purposes, and to consider other ways in which savings can be realized.</p>
<p>The most noticeable savings we 've found with d#2: no flute or dance lessons. Private flute lessons cost us about $1200 per year; dance tuition was about $2500/year. Since she's stopped dancing, we've realized about $600 annual savings on shoes, apparel, tickets, and related expenses, too. This adds up! I've also noticed a 15-20 percent decrease in the grocery bill, and perhaps 10 percent on utilities. She has a car at school, so we've continued the insurance and will cover needed maintenance - gas costs are on her own, but she has savings and a part-time job for personal expenses.</p>
<p>Certainly it's more expensive to send kids off to college than it was when they were in high school, but the decrease in their at-home expenses mitigates that COA sting a bit.</p>
<p>I will no longer have to pay for my son's select hockey team ($1000/year). Since he is a recruited athlete, his hockey equipment (sticks at $180 and his helmets x2 at about 90 bucks a piece) are covered. He breaks a hockey stick about once a month, so that is a substantial savings .Won't be paying for skate sharpening at about $10 per week. </p>
<p>We too checked with our car insurance company and being from Masachusetts, we got the same message as sjmom--we would have to take him off when he is away and put him on when he comes home--this won't work for us either.</p>
<p>LOL Momof2,I was going to mention hockey costs from S.Besides team and equipment expenses,less loads of laundry,no stinky clothes and havent bought a can of Lysol or Febreze (hockey Mom's best friends) since he left in August.
Flats of water fromCostco used to buy 2 every two weeks, now buy one a month.Grocery costs down about 50$ a week.
Electricity costs down a bit at home.
Car insurance down significantly (NY State-Geico allows "occasional driver rate")
Savings associated with older D (musician) $$ for private lessons (significant $$) performing ensemble costs, travel costs, instrument maintenance costs.</p>
<p>LOL to you too cathymee---I still have a younger hockey player but will thankfully have 1/2 the smelly equipment in my basement with #1 son away at college and 1/2 the soaked underarmour to wash!!!!</p>
<p>Son1 #1 is cheap -- he doesn't even spend half his allowance. Son #2 (now 15) is the one I want to get rid of, financially speaking. At least $2000 a year on various music costs, plus at least five times the "ferry trips" as his brother just to keep up with his active social, church, and school life. He's probably going to get his own car at 16 just so WashMom and I can have some time at home. </p>
<p>If I can find the right place (WashMom needs a 4-bedroom house, I need a shop -- we're hoping to find them in the same property), we are moving into a smaller house closer into town. Hopefully, this will save on housing and taxes. It will clearly save us a cumulative 60-90 minutes a day in commuting time.</p>
<p>When Daughter left for college, the budget just rearranged itself. We didn't to pay for insurance, but we did subsidize bimonthly trips to Wal-Mart for fresh fruit and veggies, and 100% juice. We didn't have to pay for voice lessons for her, so Husband decided to start taking them. We didn't have to pay for gas for the 100-mile round trip drives four times a week to dance lessons, but right after she left for college, Husband changed jobs, and is now working at a place about 5 miles from her old dance studio.</p>
<p>I did, however, notice that when she is home for Christmas, the electric bill jumps from about $150 to about $200 a month. Between heating an extra waterbed, 1/2 hour-long showers, and the belief that it is her right to leave every light in the house on, the electric company is glad to see her come home!</p>
<p>Now, when 18-year-old Son goes to college next year, I expect the food budget to drop. Although I also expect trips home to load up on extra food. So that he doesn't starve to death . . .</p>
<p>For those parents who have kids in private highschools and are also paying for a lot of ECs and lessons, with the student eating out a lot, the switch to college may not result in such high bills when you take away all of those costs in addition to the fact that you have one less person using the basics at the house. This is particularly true for kids who go to a college that supplies enough of those activities. My good friend ended up paying premiums on top of COA for her D's college since her daughter wanted to continue music lessons--had to be paid for privately, wanted club soccer--cost money, etc, etc. The school she picked had charges for just about every extra activity. My two boys, on the other hand, ended up at schools that picked up the tab on virtually every activity they wanted, something we did not research. For someone on a tight budget, it is something to investigate because it can mean several thousand a year in costs not reflected in the COA.</p>
<p>RE: auto insurance, we use GEICO and they take DS off the insurance while he is in school. Didn't add him back on for the two weeks at Christmas but told me he would still be covered. Only time I have to add him back on is during the much longer summer break so nice savings there.</p>
<p>My savings boils down to a 4 letter word...FOOD. He ate constantly and needed his own dairy cow to keep up with the milk he drank. Not one penny of his college meal plan has gone to waste.</p>
<p>We have State Farm and live in Michigan. Because Daughter is going to school so far away (300 miles) and because she did not take a car the first two years, we were able to take her totally off the insurance while she was at school. The first year, we put her back on for the month she was home at Christmas; the second year she was only home two weeks so we didn't bother. We also told her not to drive her car since it had not insurance.</p>
<p>We were also able to put her back on for the summer.</p>
<p>Son will (hopefully) go to college 50 miles away, so we won't be able to totally take him off.</p>
<p>What is it with MILK? My kids drink it by the gallon, too! I'd say the milk and the breakfast cereal are the two biggest changes I notice when either one of them is in town. (Certainly there is no discernible difference in the cost of fresh veggies I buy, though my son eats a lot of fresh fruit). </p>
<p>Unfortunately, neither of my kids got my money's worth with their college meal plan. For one thing, my son rarely woke up in time for any meal other than supper.... and sometimes he managed to miss that as well. His favorite thing about his college town was the fact that he could get takeout Chinese or pizza delivered at midnight (I guess the local eateries did a lot of business at the college!) My daughter is more conscientious about trying to eat meals on campus, but there are times when it is darn near impossible for her to get to the dining hall while it is open, during the time between classes -- she has a class at noon 5 days a week, and last semester had late afternoon and evening classes 2 days. And she's not too eager to get up early for breakfast, either. </p>
<p>I did the math at both kids' colleges and figured out that the cost of the mandatory freshman meal plan was MORE than the cost would be to buy each meal included separately. Needless to say, my first rule of saving money is to decline the meal plan after the first year -- a lot easier to just let them buy the meals. Of course, if they can get a suite with cooking facilities, costs go way down -- especially when the only thing they know how to cook is ramen or easy-mac.</p>
<p>We're spending more on travel, but less on food at home. We added an exchange student to the home -- and it's still less on food. What I really notice is that there's no more requests for athletic gear and shoes -- as an athlete on a D1 team <em>all</em> his athletic equipment is taken care of. And since there's no athletic scholarships at his school -- that's a help at least!</p>