Is this a new trend? My son was sent an invitation to visit one of the schools he was accepted to and offered a sizeable scholarship and was instructed to pay $75 to visit them for their overnight program. I have never heard of anything that seems so ridiculous - paying the school so they can then promote themselves?! None of his other schools have charged him to visit. In fact, he was even given vouchers for free meals at the other schools. One even offered to pay for travel expenses. How often do other schools charge a student to visit them? I have never heard of this and frankly, this school just dropped in our rankings.
I’ve never heard of it either. I wish you’d out the school.
My son had something similar last year. We decided to skip some of the family events, and he left the accepted students’ weekend early, once he decided that he really didn’t like the college. The college that he is attending now offered him a $250 stipend to defray travel costs for an admitted students’ event. Granted, that was in the summer, for students who had already committed to attending the college.
p.s. I’m not ready to out the school in my son’s case, but it was in Florida. You could probably figure it out if you stalk my posts, but he had also been offered generous scholarship there.
Maybe there have been problems in the past with students signing up and then not coming, and this is a way to get a more accurate count. Although then ideally you would then get a rebate of $75 at the bookstore or something.
While I certainly wish you were correct, cheddarcheese, what I should have included in my original post is this:
This overnight program is NOT a weekend. It begins on a Sunday at 4:30 and ends on Monday at noon! Seriously?!!! I figure the cost of dinner on Sunday, breakfast on Monday and MAYBE lunch on Monday. So at best we are talking 3 meals at $25 a pop each! That must be some tasty food!!!
The cost does seem excessive. One would hope that at the very least, the college would rebate the cost if the student actually ends up enrolling.
If it is a state school, programs perhaps have to support themselves, so this might be an effort at that. Also, we kind of except that some schools charge hefty application fees (while many are free). This seems just a step beyond that, I suppose.
I’ve never heard of a school charging for a visit and I don’t think I"d pay unless the school was a very top choice of my child and the overnight experience really could be a difference maker in the decision process. I guess the school is trying to insure that people who do sign up actually come, but it does seem somehow wrong to me. At this point the school should be trying to entice accepted students to attend. I’m guessing that the fee includes not only three meals but also snacks, likely a t-shirt or hoodie and whatever entertainment they provide that night.
Carnegie Mellon also charges a fee for their sleeping bag weekends:
The cost of the overnight weekend is $50* per student and should be paid online within three days of registering*. The fee covers the cost of on-campus meals and a Carnegie Mellon t-shirt. We also offer the opportunity to participate in the weekend as a day visitor, and the fee is $15 per student. This fee includes a t-shirt and lunch on Sunday.
At least they tell you what the money will be used for.
I was irritated that I had to pay $10 to park in order to take the tour as a registered visitor at a major university this week. This is not a school with robust public transportation; you have to drive. I thought that was very short-sighted of them.
Interesting thoughts. The more I think about it though, in this case, this is NOT a school like CMU. CMU is amazing! This is a private school that has a decent reputation, certainly not great, definitely not amazing, but decent. I don’t want to say the name because there is a chance that they might up his scholarship - even then, I doubt he’d go. It wasn’t one of his favorites to begin with. He laughed when he read the invitation and not only did it fall in rankings on my list, but it fell even further in his list.
I personally think it is a poor choice on the college’s part. I mean, I understand that there are meals and stuff, but 75 dollars for one overnight? It seems a bit outrageous. The public college I currently attend, William and Mary, does not charge for overnights and students who host are volunteers (I did an overnight both as a host and a prospective student). In my opinion, if they want you to choose their school and they charge you to experience it, it kind of makes you wonder what else they will charge you for once you get there…
^Exactly!