If tuition/fees are $50,000 a year, and increase 4%…that’s $2000.
If room and board are $19,000 and increase 4%, that is about $760.
I’d be more concerned about a $2000 increase in cost than a $760…for planning purposes.
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Not surprised it is a little more at Amherst (typical for private schools in NE). It’s a great school and I hope S22 take a class or 2 there if it works with his schedule.
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Planning important. A data point below.
The COA for D20’s school is just over $10k more as she goes into her senior year than it was her freshman year. Only $1k of that is R&B increases over the 4 year span. The rest is tuition increases (about $8.85k) and some fee increases (all together about $500).
Tuition increases are where the costs seriously change.
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I agree that 4% is a good estimate for annual cost increases. I was in charge of financial aid at a school, but I was not included in discussions about annual increases for tuition or dorm. I did put my two cents in, but it wasn’t up to me. I found that the 4% expected increase I suggested for planning when talking with prospective students was a good rule of thumb.
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There’s inflation - no question. But I’d say much of the cost is location driven. Some are $12k and some $17k+ etc.
Many want to move off campus and in most, not all instances you can save. For example, my son had reasonable rent and a great location and saved over room and board at his large flagship. My daughter goes to a city school and her rent alone is more than room and board at school. She could get less but far from school.
You’ll see more and more colleges privatizing dorms - and they will have bond holders and will need to maximize revenues to ensure they are paid. And you’ll see dorms built in this arms race of nicer features - which also will add to price hikes. Same with food.
Published costs may not even be accurate because many want the primo rooms or dorms and not the basic ones.
I agree it’s ok to separate but you also need to know off campus costs for those where most only live on campus one year. And to look where the school is located.
just make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
An off campus apartment which requires first month, last month rents AND a security deposit (which is not always returned- landlords who rent to college kids don’t have a very generous idea of “normal wear and tear”, AND a cable fee/utilities, 12 months lease for a kid only in residence for 9 months (sometimes kid can get a sublettor, sometimes not) can come in more expensive than a traditional dorm room. Which is great if you’ve budgeted for it, terrible if you haven’t. A 21 meal or even 14 meal a week meal plan might seem exorbitant until you have a kid who is eating breakfast at Starbucks every day, lunch at a food truck, and dinner at a diner plus a late night pizza!
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Actually our S’s off campus apt only required one month deposit, and we are thankful rent includes water, gas and elect.
So everything varies. I was pleasantly surprised his particular apt whole expensive overall wasn’t AS horribly priced as it could have been (and what we have seen).
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Same here, and with his last apartment (soph-junior year) younger S got almost his whole deposit back. I was shocked. They deducted $20 for the shower - which was completely fair IMO.
I can’t remember if older S got anything back for his senior year apartment. He would have kept it if he had, lol. His rent was only $280! But no utilities. That brought it closer to $375 I think, but still a bargain. It wasn’t the nicest place, but it was ok. The inside was nicer than the outside.
Younger S’ have been around $550-600 including all utilities which I still think is a bargain. His UVA friends were over $1000. And he had his own bedroom and bath. His last apartment even came with a queen sized bed!
Prices are slightly lower than that for Room and Board at NE and Midwest publics. The costs of R&B are $14,000-$16,000, unless you’re looking for places like the most expensive option at Michigan, which is around $17,500 for a premium" private room. But UCONN, SUNY, UNC, UIUC, OSU, UMD, UMass, and some others all are under $15,000 for room and board, and in a few cases, under $14,000.
The only publics that I could find that cost more than that for R&B are the UCs, which are in the $17,000-$19,000 range. There may be a few more, but not many.
Private colleges cost in the $18,000-$19,000 range, but some which are more expensive, like WashU, which costs almost $21,000.
Some private colleges in the NE, like Amherst, have very generous meal plans, with there being no limit on number of meals. So long as a dining hall is open, you can go in and eat whatever you want. On the other hand, UMass Amherst also has an “all you can eat” meal plan, which, with on-campus living, still remains in the $14,000-$15,000 range.
But wouldn’t state schools exhibit varying annual increases based on state budget changes? I.e. during recessions when state tax revenues fall, the state subsidy to state schools is cut, sometimes resulting in large tuition increases after years of minimal or no tuition increases when the state budget was getting more state tax revenues.
I’m not sure room and board would be tied to state budgets …as it’s considered to be an item covered by the consumer vs a subsidized tuition.
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UCB seems to be a bit higher, this is what my son’s portal is showing as its standard on-campus estimate for 2023-24 (and the fancier dorms would cost more):
$22,782 seems to be higher than the $20,576 listed at https://financialaid.berkeley.edu/how-aid-works/student-budgets-cost-of-attendance/ .
The prices do vary, and the prices for various options are listed at https://housing.berkeley.edu/rates-contracts-policies/rates/
Cheapest nearby room and board is probably the BSC co-op houses, at $4,131 per semester or $8,262 per academic year (including food): Academic Year Rates | Berkeley Student Cooperative . Some of the BSC apartments may be lower (as low as $5,166 per academic year, but not including food) if the student eats very inexpensively. But wait lists to get into the BSC are long, and a student who applies before frosh year may not get an offer until second or third year.
Off-campus apartments are likely to be more competitive to get because the area is already built up and campus enrollment has increased over the years.
Yes, you are correct. It looks like CalCentral is listing $20,576 as the estimated average cost paid to the university for room and board, plus $380 for room and board during orientation week, plus an estimate of $1826 for additional food costs for students on the meal plan (I guess that this estimate would refer to extra costs for flex dollars on the meal card, eating off campus, and groceries). So that’s where the $22,782 is coming from.
This student is not looking at colleges in California.
I still say…the OP needs to consider the whole cost of attendance…not just tuition and fees.
@ucbalumnus @kelsmom was very clear that her 4% cost increase was HER suggestion…and it was a good estimate to use. She never said it was an absolute.
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Colleges list various costs including tuition and room and board on the common data set (google ‘[name of college] common data set’) and usually have several years of that data available. We went back several years and did the math on tuition and other cost increases for schools my kids considered. I think in the end, the figure we used for inflation was 3.5%. In reality, it varied and was often less than that, but for room and board specifically we are paying about the same for our son now as we did every year since 2014 for each of our kids (one in Chicago, two in Texas, two private, one public). Son’s was actually cheaper the last three years than the other kids have been but this year he got a 1br apartment instead of roommates and we are paying more. Our R&B cost this year is just over $15k but in the Dallas, TX area, not the northeast.
Inflation has increased over the last couple of years though, as have rents in my son’s college town, so increases may be a little harder to predict right now.
My kids went to college the same year, 2014. One had a R&B of about $8500 and the other was $13,500. Their housing was different (one a traditional dorm, one in a suite) but I think the quality was similar.
The cost of housing did not go up or down. First one lived in the sorority house for all other terms and the cost was similar. The second one lived in the dorms for 2 years and then in a house but with a meal plan included in her scholarship. Her tuition went up about $2k per year but other costs did not. I think the school could justify the tuition going up easier than the housing/meal plans as people had a choice about living in the dorms and getting a meal plan but not about tuition going up.
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My son just graduated from college this weekend. His annual room and board costs were probably around 12k annually. He attended Binghamton and lived on campus the first year. He lived off campus the other three years.
There is wide variation in what students pay for room and board, depending on many factors. Much of it depends on a student’s lifestyle.
As a freshman on campus, my son’s dorm was new and frankly, luxurious, compared to many dorms I’ve seen at other universities and colleges. Two full bathrooms were shared by 5 guys in a suite. Son chose the second most expensive dining option.
Once he started renting, his apartments were in the $700 a month region. Many friends were in much more expensive accommodation.
My son prepares most of his own food, and even within his shared apartments, several of his roommates eat takeout all the time.
My daughter attended Bates, where nearly all students live on campus all four years and there were no tiers of dining options. Her room and board costs were, if I recall, about $14, 000 a year.
I believe costs will vary much more at larger universities, where there are so many differences in housing and food options. Much depends on the student and their lifestyle.
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$12K-$22K current cost and going up by ~4%/year. If you’re just trying to figure a financial placeholder for planning I’d use $16K.
When it comes to specific colleges some have better food options and that might drive higher meal plan rates, some might have nicer dorms so higher room rates. Also look at the real estate surrounding area to understand what off-campus options are. S23 applied to U-Miami, room rates are high, on-campus housing can be challenging (they’re working on building more) and off-campus housing can easily be a multiple of the on-campus option. Other campuses you can save substantial $ if/when they move off-campus.
She rented two different apartments on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, each centrally located - one full year (which was perfect for summer internships) one was partial year. One-month deposit was always returned in full - but my daughter and her room mates always were conscious about wanting the full deposit back, thus leaving it behind clean.
Food expenses went down after she moved off-campus and had a kitchen. She kept a minimal meal plan to be able to swipe a quick lunch between classes on some days - but otherwise went grocery shopping once a week, preparing most of her meals with her peers. Even throwing in all the coffee shop, restaurant and bar bills, she never managed to spend as much as her mandated first-year meal plan (we tracked all expenses, as backup for her 529 reimbursements).
And that was at Manhattan prices.
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