I left FB too. And then finally this college search and one other unrelated factor forced me to join again under a new account. I have no FB friends and will keep it that way. I just use FB to follow business and for stuff like this now.
I still have to tread carefully though. Being FB-free has been shockingly beneficial to my health.
Im not adding on for books, expenses, and transportation right now. I have some options for cheaper books. Other expenses, it will vary based on where he ends up. He may end up picking up a job if he can find one that works around his schedule. Transportation, I have flight miles.
I am not excluding āextra costsā but for now, focusing on Tuition and room and board. And thinking of off campus costs as well. But those are really hard to predict right now on paper. But I do factor that in the final decision.
Iām astonished how little my older kids spent on books. S18 only spent ~$200 total in four years (all in freshman year before he figured out how to find free access codes).
Iām working on a spreadsheet to tease it all out, because the published COAs each include some but not all of these things. Like, if I do Loyola tuition, r & b, it comes to 54K. But the COA the NPC suggests is 65.
Regardless of how it breaks down, it all still comes down to whether we can pay for the grand total with everything included. And my kid will definitely be working for his own expenses, probably gigging in NOLA.
Thatās great to hear! I figure the book budgets are exaggerated for some reason on college websites. I donāt know why. I can say that money spent in the bookstore might be more than that. Not necessarily on books. 
Sweatshirts, etc.
Just a note on books. Unlike when I went to college and book expenses ran in the hundreds and hundreds of dollars, weāve found that our now-second year at UCLA has spent almost nothing on books. Somehow they get them in PDF format on an iPad, and then everyone reads and annotates that way using an Apple Pencil. Itās been a shock to me. I think he has had one, maybe two course readers he has had to pay for and thatās it. Weāve spent maybe a total of $75 since the beginning on books for him, and heās close to halfway done.
Same experience for us with books. Hardly any books at all and my D graduates in May.
Oops ā I didnāt see your reply before I just posted mine along the same lines. And I think our kids were at the same school. Just shockingly little on books. That might vary somewhat by major, I guess. But it has been nice to experience that by spending less on books and by declining the school-offered health insurance, our COA has come in under what we expected!
S23 has been taking dual enrollment classes at a community college last semester and this semester. There are no physical books required, but they do have to have access to an online textbook and platform for quizzes, etc. The system cost between $90 and $120 for ārentalā of the online textbook and access to the platform for 16 weeks. It seems like a real racket to me! At least when I was in school if I bought the book for $100, I could keep it if I thought I would find it useful or resell it to get some of my money back.
Does that (the rip off rental of electronic textbooks and requirement to purchase a platform for quizzes) continue in college? Are those the access codes that you were saying your son found out how to get for free?
This has been our approach too - more of an apples to apples comparison
My kid is responsible for all her own personal expenses while at college and has also spent a surprisingly small amount on books. Iāve been surprised. I thought it was because she was reluctant to spend āherā money but seems pretty common.
Textbook costs are all very major-dependent, I find. My kid who an international relations/religious studies double major has very tiny book costs (well, except for her constitutional law class this semester, that one class was pricey), while my industrial engineering kid has quite high book costsāand if your kid is a studio art major, yeah, itās gonna be a second mortgage.
for the creatives, itās not always the books but the supplies ā¦ ughā¦
Thanks for the replies about the FB parent pages. When my S21 was deciding between his top two schools, I remember being encouraged to join the parent pages for both schools. Both were really informational and helpful, and I actually love the parent page of the school he chose. I think Iāll hold off until D actually chooses a school before I consider joining another parent group. Less FB is always a better answer!
Sounds like a great kid!
hi. I am unable to create a thread for a class of 2027 for a college - I keep getting an error message that I need to add a tag but I added the tagā¦ Are there FAQs for troubleshooting? 
Iāll message you. I donāt want to hijack the thread.
I didnāt join FB. I did join Panther Link for Pitt to see what itās all about. The community is on a Pitt server.
If 23 chooses a school where they could play their sport, I might be involved with team parents. Otherwise, this is 23ās life and show, so I donāt need to be in a parent group.
There were a couple using these platforms in freshman year (IIRC the first econ and PoliSci classes). After that no platforms, just ebooks that people shared access codes for.
FWIW, Tuscaloosaās city council of 7 has 3 AA and 4 whites.
I do not know what the racial makeup of the police department is but the majority of cops I saw around town were AA.
I am not arguing with anyone hereā¦as I said each person will make his/her own decision. But those decisions should be based on facts, not perception.