<p>Son one at OOS Public. State is in some trouble but not california trouble. Gov said priority was education. I am guessing an 8% - 10% tuition increase. Son is moving off campus so hopefully the $$ saved doing that will offset the tuition increase. I expect financial aid to be flat. (fingers crossed)</p>
<p>Son 2 at Private. Has met full need with scholarships and grants and only 5K in stafford loans after two years. I am betting the loans increase to the stafford maximums. I am being optimistic and budgeting a flat cost to me in EFC in hopes aid will offset a tuition increase. This is a very wealthy school but who knows how bad they were hit in the market. </p>
<p>This is of course best case scenario but you have to crunch some numbers this time of year.</p>
<p>D#2 is also at OOS public. State has announced reduction in support for its public universities. I'll feel lucky if the boost is under 15%, as the school has a large (and somewhat resented) OOS contingent. Fortunately, D#1 is graduating from her Private in May.</p>
<p>Minimally 5% increase...but, wouldn't be surprised at 8%. D2 is in her 1st yr at private. Luckily, D1 is a grad student with paid tuition & medical...but, has to work her b-tt off to earn it.</p>
<p>Same as this year - GWU has a fixed tuition for up to 5 years of classes. Room charges, however, will go up - it looks like the sophomore dorms are more expensive, but we have to put less money into the meal plan also.</p>
<p>We were lucky enough to invest in our state's prepaid tuition plan--its our only investment that continues to go up in value.</p>
<p>Of course, room and board will go up so we'll need more there.</p>
<p>I'm also concerned about books. Books/supplied for D's chemistry class this semester are over $500. Main text is being published this month, so no used books are available. I wonder what a professor who would have such an onerous requirement must be like.</p>
<p>But they're still going to stick it to us on the state prepaid tuition plan. I phoned them the other day to ask if we were also covered by the college's flat rate tuition where students are charged for the first 12 hrs/semester but any hours over that is free. Surprise! We, who planned ahead of time, get the privilege of paying for all hours taken. Thank you for the slap in the face. The guy on the phone just didn't get it, "but you're getting it at such a lower price than everyone else, you should be happy!" Uh no, I'm not happy to have to pay for something everyone else is getting for free.</p>
<p>I'm expecting a 10% increase for this year. I don't know if that will be for the fall, or 5% for the Spring (doubt it as I've already paid). That's two kids but one is in CC so it's cheap. There was a 5% raise this past fall with no effect on tuition, a 4% shortfall that the Governor is dealing with now and there will be reviews in April and July so there is a potential, IMO, of up to 15% hikes if the budget shortfalls decline linearly. What I'm seeing already is that professors are teaching more classes. Research professors that may have been teaching one or two courses are now doing two to four. I would guess that the quality of those classes may not be the highest given that it looks like professors are teaching classes that they've never taught before.</p>
<p>I provide my son with additional materials to study to get the best education that he possibly can; even if the professor isn't on his best game and even if the course doesn't cover what I think it should. I encourage our daughter in this vein too but she doesn't listen as well to what I think.</p>
<p>Cannot budget. Have to see merit $$ list, which is changing every year. Hopefully, we will have our jobs, the way it is going, we all might be in a hole next year.</p>
<p>We made our plans based on a 6% increase each year, which of course was always wishful thinking. The state (California) is now saying a likely 10% increase, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being more. I also am now presuming it will be 10% a few years in a row. With one in college and another to attend in 1.5 years from now, this simply means that alternatives need to be explored including our children being expected to contribute even more than was originally planned to offset <em>most</em> of the unexpected hikes.</p>
<p>In this economy, we can't assume that we'll keep our jobs. We can't raid our meager retirement or tap into home equity in the housing meltdown. In fact, the housing meltdown has made us realize for the first time how dangerous it is to tap into the equity and even if prices go back up, we will no longer think that is an option.</p>
<p>We expect our children to pick the most affordable college route possible and expecting them to be at the forefront of funding their education. A private LAC is really only a route if they've managed major scholarships and the cost becomes comparable to a state school. This bucks the trend for middle-class American families where the idea seems to be that mom & pop foot the majority of the bill no matter the cost to their own financial futures. Our formula ignores what the federal government and the nicely worded "EFC" (Expected Family Contribution) expects. The college formula in our household is our children choosing affordable state schools - and the money provided by student work, student loans and finally but as a last resource not the first, a modest parental contribution. </p>
<p>We have not ruled out using a gap year between sophomore and junior year of college for the student to work fulltime. I believe a young person working 1 or 2 years fulltime to earn money for college is <em>much</em> prefered to having a middle class family raid their retirement funds or home equity. As long as colleges spend more money building fancy new dorms and libraries and expecting to hike tuition 10% or more ... then I think as consumers college students and their parents need to seriously reconsider the worth of that degree in today's economy.</p>
<p>So, no, we aren't setting aside extra money (WHAT extra money? Don't parents here have their own retirement and other budget concerns??) for tuition hikes. We're believe that colelge students will need to adjust <em>how</em> they attend college in the face of tuitions that have historically risen far far far faster than inflation for the past 30 years. The Soph/Jr gap year for college students, I think, is the real solution. The student has 2 years (and maybe an AA) under his belt - he goes out and gets real world working experience and saves some money, and returns to school 2 years older and wiser and in control of his educational destiny. Not to mention, when he returns, he is now 23-24 and can claim himself as an <em>independent</em> on taxes, and thus qualify for a better aid as a young semi-broke college student vs. still a dependent on his parent's tax forms. (Remember - short of being a veteran or having an offspring, kids under 23 can NOT be claimed as independent for student loans/aid.)</p>
<p>Gosh, I have no idea. Son is at an OOS public. He has a merit scholarship that will increase by the same percentage that OOS tuition increases, so at least there's that.</p>
<p>DD began at a UC in the early 2000s, it felt like about 20-25% tuition increase:
year 1 $4556+ annual tuition
year 2 $5804+ annual tuition (27% over prior year)
year 3 $6165+ annual tuition ( 6% over prior year, 36% over first year)
year 4 $7475+ annual tuition (21% over prior year, 64% over first year)</p>
<p>That is about what it was in a boom time of good growth and there was no public outcry over the fee increases. Of course, when the housing is twice the tuition, one's focus might be elsewhere!</p>
<p>I'm trying to not deal with this. We will budget about $150 a month more in tuition only. We have a bit of a surplus in the bursars account that should make up for any difference that is higher. PLEASE...make her graduate in June 2010!!!</p>
<p>Yeppers, it's the Texas Tomorrow Fund. Give them a call and if they give you a different answer, please take down the person's name and give me a holler back on this. </p>
<p>To clarify, at UT (and certain other colleges) the student pays a flat rate for the first 12 hours only so if s/he takes 15, 18, or however many hours over 12 there is no charge for those extra hours. Texas Tomorrow Fund told me last week that instead of subtracting just the 12 hours of prepaid tuition from our account, they would subtract the entire 15, 18, etc. hours D might schedule. In other words we are paying for classes everyone else is getting for free.</p>
<p>How chintzy of them! I'll have to dig out my old paperwork. Isn't 12 credits considered a minimum at most schools? Freshman S decided 15 credits was too little for him after first semester and has upped his schedule to 17 this semester.</p>
<p>I believe that 12 is a minimum. I also think that most universities require at least 120 credits to graduate. 15x8 = 120. 12x8 = 96 and would require another year for graduation.</p>
<p>12 to 15 credits is a normal fulltime workload with some kids going up to 18 (or even higher).</p>