The listed cost for housing includes a $5,990 “Blue Meal Plan,” so it’s not quite as bad as it looks. The food cost listed below the housing cost appears to be a budget for additional meals outside the meal plan.
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The logic that those schools that don’t have separate fees just bundle them into tuition only make sense if those schools have higher tuition. I haven’t seen that pattern. One of the colleges my son considered this year after acceptances was middle-of-the-road on total cost of attendance (with no financial aid) but included an elaborate orientation trip, and every student got a new Macbook Pro, iPad and Apple Pen. Of course that school has an excellent per capita endowment. But the point is some schools don’t nickel and dime ad provide more output in terms of tangible product for the input (costs).
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I would also guess that those who cannot attend orientation would prefer to not have it bundled into the larger COA. It makes sense to only have those that attend pay for it.
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Yes she has applied waiting for the results. Thanks.
But it is mandatory! There was no option to even attend it virtually to lower the cost as I was told.
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Their site lists different costs for each type of orientation, and none seem to be as high as $385 - unless I’m reading it wrong. And there seems to be a virtual option.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) | UMD Orientation.
- Two-Day Overnight First Year NSO - $197
- Early Arrival/Late Stay - $40/night
- One-Day Transfer/First Year NSO - $130
- Terp Family Orientation - $74
- Terp Trip Platinum Tour (Summer Only) - Free
- Online Transfer/First Year NSO - $95
- New Student Orientation No-Show Fee - $20
They also explain why they need to charge this fee:
The budget of the Office of Student Orientation and Transition is entirely self-support, which means no state or institutional funding is received. This fee is solely to subsidize the cost of all Orientation programs and UNIV100 office operations, professional staff, and undergraduate student staff.
Your New Student Orientation fee will include your stay (if applicable), meals, and any materials received during a New Student Orientation program.
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I don’t follow your logic here, on saying it only makes sense under that condition.
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My D will be a freshman at Emerson and her room and board is $20,310. Other fees outside of tuition are under $1,000 though.
But wow, that’s still about $6K more for dorm + meals than a UCLA triple with a middle of the road meal plan was this year. I didn’t realize it was actually that much more expensive here!
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The inference I was responding to is that schools that don’t charge separate fees for things like orientations are really still charging you, just that they are hidden in other fees like high tuition than they otherwise would have charged. My point was that for the schools we studied costs for, I did not see a correlation between higher “other fees” of schools that didn’t charge separately for those items and those that did. Meaning some schools don’t break out a lot of extra fees and still end up charging less than some schools that do. They aren’t necessarily “hiding” the fees in those cases, they are simply absorbing them into their student cost. Of course, as I noted, it is the richer schools that have the luxury to offer more to students without adding extra fees.
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That must be a quad room or something? We just got our son’s housing offer and it was 25k for a double with the basic meal plan.
We are delighted to offer you a housing contract for the 2023-24 academic year. Whether you accept or decline, we will need a reply from you, so please respond to your offer by your deadline, 5/22/2023 12:00:00 PM. Please read all information carefully, as your housing contract is a legally binding agreement with serious financial responsibilities.
RoomType: RH Suite Double
Contract Cost: $25,065.00
Term: Residence Hall 23-24 Academic Year
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Rates for all room types are here: https://housing.berkeley.edu/rates-contracts-policies/rates/ Suites with shared bathroom and living area are the most expensive, so it looks like your son was placed in that type of suite (not a mini suite).
The $20,576 for housing + blue meal plan included in the table above is the average cost listed in the generic COA. That price doesn’t correspond to any specific room type, but it’s close to the cost of a standard double or a large triple in a residence hall arrangement, or a quad in a suite.
Fortunately (? 
), my son was placed in a standard (forced) triple, so his actual cost for housing + blue meal plan will be only $18,120.
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My son got a Foothill suite double. Hope it’s nice! It was a bit of sticker shock compared to my daughter’s single bedroom in a 4 bedroom apartment at Cal Poly.
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There is no extra fee for the 3-day overnight orientation trips. They want everyone to attend. It’s one of their signature programs. You shouldn’t receive a bill for it or see it listed on the semester bill.
Your D will have a blast regardless of which trip she selects. Students consider it one of the highlights!
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Deep breaths here. D23 woke me up this morning letting me know that she and her girlfriends decided to wear long white dresses for graduation. Problem? She doesn’t own a long white dress.
We are off to try to find the ‘perfect’ graduation outfit. I wish we could have done this weeks ago rather than hours before graduation, but trying to keep this in perspective. Wish me luck.
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Good luck!!!
My ‘23 being a boy definitely makes everything from outfit choice to dorm decor easier. I do have to go find heat transfer vinyl today to decorate his cap in an understated, manly fashion. There will not be $40 in rhinestones on this cap…
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I should add that it was really nice! Most people have chosen their schools by now, so I felt like it was a little lost in time. But it’s always nice to get a card. 
As for fees and comparing public and private schools: I believe Loyola NOLA’s orientation is included or is relatively small, and they do a whole week of orientation and welcome activities, with stuff for parents on one or two days (then presumably we have to leave 
). They do a walk-through of their schedule with each kid, put students into krewes and get them situated over the week, etc. Insurance will be about $2600 for the year.
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I feel your pain, because I remember being a teen girl who would do this to my parents. There are lots of crazy challenges with raising boys, but I’m thankful that among my kid and his friends, this won’t be one of them. If they decide something like this, they’ll get on their bikes and go to a thrift shop. The one problem is that he and his friend share one pair of dress shoes. I’ll always remember waiting outside his friends house for him to bring the shoes out.
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Knowing my kid, this sort of thing will be a last minute decision with all his friends, and they’ll be running around looking for different colors of duct tape. 
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It’s $250. I guess wherever that’s small or big is relative.
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