<p>123mama, your comments don’t sound argumentative at all. While the tuition and mandatory fees in every school should really cover all the mandatory costs, I know they don’t. The items you mentioned are typically not covered. I think books and supplies are less of a concern now with the Internet being the savor, where you can find cheaper books. The laundry is somewhere between mandatory and “lifestyle” cost. If one chooses to use the machines on campus (most of the schools still have them I think), the cost is minimal. </p>
<p>Travel is indeed the biggest variable and should be considered, but it’s also an upfront cost one is aware of long before they see the BS bills. No school tuition fees cover travel, so you don’t need to dig into the fees and try to figure out if a high tuition fee has any “travel benefit”.</p>
<p>Exeter:
I think that’s a 5%+ (?) hike from last year, but still one of the lowest among the schools often mentioned here. Compared with Kent, for example, it’s a difference of $5680 (excluding tuition insurance, which can vary from school to school in terms of percentage of tuition).</p>
<p>Travel was an upfront cost…except that we didn’t realize that we’d have to get our son to school and out of school within a narrow range of time. Or that shuttles to and from school would be as expensive as they are (considerably less than a limousine service or cab, but more than we anticipated). We’re used to shopping for bargain rates by flying at off times; with our son, we’re usually can only find one flight that meets the schools parameters, and it is NEVER the cheap flight! For that reason, his flights plus shuttle usually end up costing almost twice what we pay when we visit him for parent’s week-end. </p>
<p>So yes, an important consideration and an unexpected extra strain on our budgeting.</p>
<p>On the upside, his school gives a stipend for books and supplies that more than covers his costs for books, notebooks, pencils, etc. And he was given a generous grant toward a laptop. So we’re thankful for those things–and yes, when we were comparing awards, they definitely tipped the scales away from one school toward another. </p>
<p>The price of tuition is definitely a consideration. Our son was offered virtually the same grant at two schools–both very generous offers–but one school was about six thousand dollars more expensive than the other. It suggested to me, though, that applying to schools with lower tuition fees upfront might be a consideration for those seeking FA. Schools have to stretch their FA dollars, and they won’t necessarily be able to offer more aid than the next guy just because they cost more.</p>
<p>classicalmama, what you said about travel is true. I can see how people tend to underestimate the cost and other negative impact of attending a school half a country away from home. It should be considered seriously when drawing up the initial school list.</p>
<p>Did I get it right? Was the tuition $39890 last year? Why such a drastic increase? Have they combined some fees that were collected separately into the tuition? Otherwsie that’s just a huge jump!</p>
<p>It went up last year as well, so no, the 39,000 figure is from two years ago–but yes, seems like a big jump overall. One wonders when tuition will ever stop climbing…</p>