My name is Rochelle Sharpe, and I’m a freelance writer working on some articles for a major publication about hidden college costs. I have permission from College Confidential to post on this forum. I want to write about surprising college fees, and would like to interview parents who discovered odd fees or supplemental fees for services that they assumed would be included in the cost of regular tuition. What are some of the most egregious fees that you’ve encountered and how did they affect students? I also want to write about colleges underestimating cost-of-living expenses, especially the costs of living off-campus. Have you seen this happen and if so, how did students cope with higher-than- expected living expenses? Did they scrimp on food, get more roommates, not buy expensive textbooks? Did they complain to their financial aid offices and get any help? Please respond to this post and I’ll contact you with more details about these stories.
Are you looking for added expenses that were outrageous in cost? Or just any added expenses?
Just confirming that this reporter does have CC permission for this.
I’m looking for any added expense.
I can’t really say it was odd or hidden, but I thought Dartmouth’s change in the meal plan pricing in 2010 (I think that’s the right year) to turn it into an income stream was certainly egregious.
- $700+ billed halfway through the year for a student athlete whose team was traveling from the northeast to Florida for spring break tournaments. I don't think this was necessarily egregious, it's just something we hadn't thought about and therefore hadn't expected. (I wish the coach or someone from the school would have given us a heads-up.) This is at a very generous, meets-full-need school, so I'm guessing (hoping) that student athletes who might have trouble coming up with this kind of money, especially on short notice, will be offered assistance of some kind from the school.
- Many miscellaneous fees, some of them quite large and most not charged by the school, in order to participate in a year abroad program run by the school. For instance, the fees charged by the foreign government for getting a visa will add up to at least $300.
^^ Anecdotal only, but the Women’s Rugby Team at Dartmouth did a spring tour every year (between Winter & Spring terms), and there were funds available for players who could not otherwise afford that extra expense.
Sent you a pm
Actually we haven’t had any unexpected expenses yet from the college in the first two years. There was one class fee that was not unreasonable and didn’t push us beyond the published cost of attendance. Under $100 if I remember correctly. Books have been within the estimate, although harder to save with used books and such than we expected. All those online access codes add up and aren’t discounted.
The thing we failed to think through and add to our accounting was the initial cost to move our oldest in at an out of state school–plane tickets, hotel for parents, rental car, and buying things for the dorm that we couldn’t just bring from home because of distance. Some of that could have been avoided if necessary, but we really didn’t think about that initial expense.
I don’t know if I’d call them egregious, but certainly unexpected and unwelcome: the fees my older daughter had to pay for supplies for art classes. I figured those would be included at a university charging nearly $40,000 per year for tuition.
1)I think health insurance is one that is surprising parents.
2)Required meal plans at $3000/sem. They charge this to freshmen, but then sophomores pay significantly less (because they will just move off campus)
3)Little fees that really add up - $10 for a transcript, $300 for graduation, $20 for a lost ID (and one admin at orientation said the record was 19 - one kid lost 19 cards in one year!)
4)Parking permits
5)Access cards for online books, quizzes, exams
I had a similar concern about lab fees for theater classes . . . . until it was pointed out to me that the fees are rarely more than what students in other classes pay for their textbooks! So I’d have to say that paying for ones own art supplies is no more outrageous than paying for ones own books, calculator, computer, etc., and you don’t expect the college to pay any of those expenses, do you?
@dodgersmom, I think there is a difference. 1) Everyone has a computer. 2) Books can be rented; art supplies can’t. I think of buying art supplies as being akin to buying the chemicals for chemistry class or the frogs for biology.
D’s supply list for her first art class came to $400! (And yeah, she used them all.). It’s been far above the cost of any book for any class yet. Otherwise, course fees are often unexpected. Their not hidden, but I’d argue many families of first year students aren’t expecting them. Sometimes, the fees are pretty minimal, like $8 for a name tag for student heading out for practicums, but they can run into hundreds of dollars per course ($250+ for nursing testing x the number of nursing classes taken).
Never had any outrageous fees. Maybe a small course fee here and there (less than $200). My book prices in general weren’t outrageous. I lived off campus and since the COA was the same for both on and off campus, their estimates were much higher than my actual costs when I went off campus.
What about starting college, then seeing an economic downturn occur? Your public university has its budget cut by a state government whose tax revenues dried up, or your private university sees major investment losses in its endowment. So you see your tuition get raised and/or your financial aid get cut.
Watch out for this: If you go to a school that charges higher tuition for “upper division” students, defined variously as having completed 55 or 60 credits, and if you come in with a lot of AP credits, you will be paying upper division tuition second semester sophomore year—or maybe even first semester sophomore year.
It appears that many resident meal plans limit meal swipes to 14 per week. That means we have to buy 7 meals out-of-pocket each week to have three meals a day, which I think is a reasonable number of meals to expect per day. I was not happy to learn this.
Another comment on healthcare. It is not included in the net price calculators, but can drive costs up by between $1,500 and $4,000 per year. The colleges do not do a good job of clarifying their rules on when you need to buy it to applying students, either – you only get the info after you decide to attend, unless you ask for it. But if you can’t get their waiver (proving you have insurance, and it is sufficient at the college location), you have to buy theirs.
Sometimes dorms close during holidays and breaks, requiring students to find someplace to go, and that can be an unexpected expense (transportation, lodging, food). Not talking about summer break.