<p>I can't believe the cost of attendance for one year is $54K+! This is shocking. Sometimes I do question if OC is worth it.</p>
<p>what do you mean “posted”?</p>
<p>I think it means the 2010-11 breakdown of costs and expenses has been released. The admissions pages still have the 09-10 numbers, but the financial aid page has the information for next year:</p>
<p>[Oberlin</a> College | Office of Financial Aid | Costs & Payment Options](<a href=“http://new.oberlin.edu/office/financial-aid/returning-students/costs-and-payment-options.dot]Oberlin”>http://new.oberlin.edu/office/financial-aid/returning-students/costs-and-payment-options.dot)</p>
<p>It’s a $2,103 bump.</p>
<p>Oberlin College Costs 2009-2010 v. 2010-2011
Estimated Expenses
Tuition $39,686 v. $41,234 (+$1,548 / 3.9%)
Books $830 v $830
Multi-Occupancy Room $5,450 v. $5,720 (+270 / +5.0%)
Personal Expenses $978 v. $978
Board $5,030 v. $5,290 (+$260 / 5.2%)
Fees $318 v. $343 (+$25 / +7.9%)</p>
<p>Total billed by school: $50,484 v. $52,587 (excluding books and personal expenses – this is a 4.2% overall bump in the invoiced amount).</p>
<p>I’m using numbers for returning U.S. students, since those are the numbers that Plainsman would be reacting to. </p>
<p>Many sympathies to all who write the checks, whatever they may be in the final analysis…and to all who work long, hard hours to make sure that those checks don’t bounce. And props as well to those same people for recognizing that it’s expensive – like diapers – but if it’s what’s right – like diapers – it’s an expense that needs to be incurred no matter how much the cost breaks your back.</p>
<p>Fortunately, OSCA room and board brings the cost down below 50K… even so, it’s quite the chunk of change. :</p>
<p>never pay list price!!!</p>
<p>Eeek! Not good, not good at all.</p>
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<p>Fortunately, perhaps, for you. My D won’t have time to contribute any hours to OSCA, and the living arrangements are not appealing. Maybe 2011-2012 or the year after.</p>
<p>Just go ahead and figure 5% a year. It will come in pretty close to that each year.</p>
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<p>Well, since a quarter of campus eats in a co-op, and it’s substantially cheaper than CDS, it seemed worth mentioning.</p>
<p>For the coming school year, a student dining in OSCA saves $27 for every hour they work in their co-op – not even counting a refund check at the end of the year, if their co-op is thrifty. There’s no other job on campus that pays nearly as well. It’s also possible to get time aid that will reduce your co-op workload, if you have an outside job.</p>
<p>It’s absolutely not my intention to suggest that you and your D haven’t thought this through, Plainsman. (For all my proselytizing about OSCA, I know that membership isn’t viable or desirable to everyone as with any other housing or dining plan.) But I do want other folks with sticker shock to be aware that OSCA is an option, and that the time commitment isn’t inherently unworkable for students with other jobs. For some, co-ops go a long way toward making Oberlin financially accessible; many of my friends joined for that reason.</p>
<p>I suppose all colleges will be raising tuition/r&b costs from now until the bubble bursts - they have been doing it for years and it has become increasingly painful; they can blame it on the financial recession, but the steady increases went on before the recession. Is it “worth it”? We all love our kids and want them to get the kind of great education Oberlin offers. But financially, it depends on the actual cost after scholarships (some of which don’t go up along with tuition) - in our case, if there had not been a good merit scholarship, it would not have been our first choice, despite Oberlin’s great virtues. One thing I find troubling is that, judging from the Oberlin blogs, many students finish up and don’t have a job lined up or a clear post-Oberlin plan. As the costs increase, I hope Oberlin job and post-grad counseling is aggressive about helping kids find their way - otherwise parents might begin to question their huge financial investments.<br>
Something I find irksome is the requirement of a food plan for students living in Village Housing or off campus housing (which is much much cheaper but much much harder to qualify for), which seems to be at the rate of $20 per meal on the minimal plan; and the coop alternative of Brown Bag Coop is limited in the number of students who win the lottery.</p>