<p>I think not taking the complete meal plan and pay-as-you-go is going to lower my son's costs. Plus he has a job on campus that he uses for spending money. Swarthmore pays for all social activities on campus, including parties where drinks are served, that saves money for the parents. Only if people did not go to Philly as often, though! :)</p>
<p>Staying off campus would lower costs even further. But I'm not sure my kid is ready for that yet - and I don't really want him to.</p>
<p>@ my daughters very small school lots of vegan options as well as vegetarian.
Tofish- soy milk- asian/indian dishes without meat. even have tofu scramble for breakfast.
I imagine that a larger school would have even more choices.</p>
<p>haven't heard about rise in tuition yet- however last year average room & board was $8,000. D informs me that there will be a new smaller choice on board plan- good news for her as even with the smallest plan she had points left over.</p>
<p>I am being politically incorrect, but I think girls are more conscious about spending or not spending their parents' money than boys. I think major out of pocket expenses are going to concerts in cities etc. And buying TV dinners....how does one tell an 18 year old boy to eat in the cafeteria and not buy TV dinners? Sitting down and having a realistic conversation about it is fine, it's just that I don't know the reality of living there, so it could really be bad....</p>
<p>I think that give him ___ amount of money and he can decide whether to buy food off campus or use meal plan.
If they haven't learned how to budget money by the time they are in college- I would say it is a great time to start!</p>
<p>Yes, you are right. My husband and I are thinking of the same approach.</p>
<p>I did not even get a note about the tuition increase, read it in the online newspaper.</p>
<p>The 4.9-percent increase, which affects undergraduates and graduate students in the arts and sciences and students at the Thayer School of Engineering, will bring undergraduate tuition for the 2005-2006 academic year to $31,770. With room, board and mandatory fees, the sum totals $41,355.</p>
<p>Classes are finished for the winter term, has finals tomorrow and sunday coming home wednesday. Still has almost $300 on her meal plan, so if there is anyone in Hanover who is hungry, she can certainly feed you.</p>
<p>Re: Inflation.</p>
<p>It makes some difference to consider the HEPI, instead of the CPI, for inflation. Colleges aren't buying so much milk and bread and jeans and movies. Their expenditures are quite different than the average consumer. They get really socked with health care increases because their budgets are so driven by salaries and wages.</p>
<p>From my experience with S and D, comprehensive costs and personal spending was a function of their school environment. S attended OOS flagship U, moved into apt. soph year, and overall spending increased, even though he is a careful spender and an excellent cook. Expensive student apt. housing near campus, altho' he never had a car and the associated expenses there. Tons of local restaurants, concerts (on his $$), trips into major city. Comparing with D's experience so far, it seems he had tons more free time to schedule activities that he needed to pay for. D is at Carleton - small town, few restaurants, only two excursions to Minneapolis in 5 months. We have not sent her an extra dime (other than for books). She has a minimal work study committment (4 hrs/wk @ $9) and LAC provides all entertainment for OUR buck. She doesn't spend much of her work study earnings, nor any of her savings (miserly type). 05-06 comprehensive fees will total 40,467 (in line with comparable selective LAC's) next year, which is 3500 more than 04-05. 1500 of this is the increase in the R&B.</p>
<p>Cost of food can be very high for some kids, those who are very picky, have special, expensive diets, who eat out all of the time, who eat a lot. My son was in the latter category. An athlete, he would consume double the calories of most his size and still always be hungry and barely be able to maintain his weight. He was always looking for protein. And protein is expensive. Luckily, his school did pick up some of the cost of his appetite through the athletic program that often had free meals for them, and there was a frat house comprised mainly of these athletes that would feed them in season even if you were not a member. He also had a nose to sniff out freebies on campus, often helped out on special events for the meal, and was often fed by the female population there. We paid far less for his food than the estimate given, and his last 3 years there, he lived in a house with 5 other guys, and I would fill his freezer (small one, purchased for $135 at Sam's or Costco's) with Hot Pockets and other frozen goodies that were a couple of bucks or so per portion rather than his paying $5-6 for a sandwich. Definitely a worthwhile expense if your kid lives off campus because if he is sharing the frig, those top freezers hardly fit anything especially with the vodka and ice cubes they store in there. You don't even want to look in the refrigerator, and if you do, remind yourself that this was how penicillan was discovered. Better you buy the kid a small chest freezer and a small personal frig (the size one up from the cube) where he can keep his milk and juice. Unless he is organized enough to cook and plan meals, it is easier just to augment the school cafeteria.</p>
<p>But some schools do not have much of a cafeteria network. I know CMU is that way. Lots of eateries but if you are a big eater who likes meat, hot meals, protein, it is going to cost unless you cook your own meals. No true cafeteria there. Too many options so none are cheap as they cannot predict or get a true cornere of the market. I still remember some of the southern cafeterias where the food variety is excellent, the availability is always, and the price is down right cheap. Not so in many Northern schools. Without the kids locked in, the price per is very high. So it was with my S's school, and so came the freezer. </p>
<p>My D has a large full kitchen available to her in the dorm, but few kids use it, and only on an occaisional basis so she basically has had the thing for herself. She does not eat much anyways, so she provides most of her own food though we insist on providing a minimal food plan so she at least gets to the cafeteria a few times a week though she protests that it is a waste of money. </p>
<p>If the school you are considering does not have an all you can eat cafeteria/cafe system in place, the estimated amounts given for board can be way off as the average includes girls who just don't eat much food (and there are more females than males in most colleges) and often does not include the athletes who are big eater since some of their meals may be subsidized.</p>