In the cost of attendance estimates, there is always a line for other expenses. Our flagship describes them as “laundry, toiletries, healthcare, clothing, entertainment” But for those who’ve had kids go through, what are those expenses really and do they actually add up to 4000 or so a year? Healthcare, clothing, toiletries (as well as the imagined cell phone bill, car insurance…) are things that I’ve always paid for the child so are they really extra expenses or things that are already a part of my budget? So I guess my question is what I can realistically expect other expenses to cost me that I do not already incur.
4000 a year is not a lot less than the shortfall between DS projected merit aid and his 529. So I’m wondering what the true additional cost of these things away from home would be.
Thanks for any insight! This is the part of the COA I find most nebulous.
It’s the calls you receive from your kid, that begin with this phrase:
"Mom, I forgot to tell you that I need to pay for:
a lab kit,
I need to pay dues to my frat, club, team, honor society, etc.
I lost my school sweat shirt, so I need another one,
I need to pay for an electronics kit, lab coat, lab goggles
I have to go to a conference and it costs money,
We have a field trip to the art museum and I need to pay for a cab, and entrance fees
I need to shop for an interview suit since I’ve gained a little weight,
Are you flying me home that weekend?
Etc."
You can cut those additional expenses down a lot, especially if the student isn’t enthusiastic about traveling home often (some aren’t). The materials I needed for my dorm/first flight/some extra food cost right around $1000. Flights since have been around ~1200 (including all flights through the end of Spring 2016). Of course it’ll depend a lot on the cost of living around the school, and where you’re flying to/from.
Flying won’t be an issue. The school he is most interested in is a 4 hour drive. Far enough that he doesn’t have to come home often if he doesn’t want to. Close enough that he can if he does. It’s nice to hear that the expenses could potentially be lower and possibly be covered either by a part time job or (if he’s exceptionally lucky) an athletic scholarship.
He’s a junior so I’m just now entering into the dawn of reality. We still have time and he is a high stat child and we aren’t completely without resources but I do worry about filling the gap between what we can reasonable do versus what is the real cost of education.
You will need to provide proof of an acceptable (by their definition) healthcare coverage. Too high a deductible or large co-pays where he is out of network (if the school is not near the healthcare network), and sometimes the school insists that the student pay for their health insurance plan even when they have coverage at home. That can run $1500-2000 per year.
Also true. But that wouldn’t be put under the personal expenses line item. It would be added as (yet another) expense line item 
Worth possibly anticipating those costs, too.
I will look into that. Thank you. I guess I’d assumed that since he was staying in state that health care would not be an issue.
Agree that the colleges often are not including health care in that additional expense line item. It can be a nasty surprise the summer before freshman year. Sometimes exacerbated by colleges sending the email to the kids asking for some kind of confirmation of their health care status – my D’s college does this – to kids the request is pretty incomprehensible. So a lot of them ignore it and don’t mention it to their parents. Then the first bill arrived, and the health care charge is on it because no waiver was requested or granted. It gets sorted for most of them, but the experienced parents at my D’s school now make a point to make sure frosh parents get that email from their kid.
In general, that line item can vary by college location. A kid going to college in the swanky Georgetown neighborhood with a lot of wealthy free-spending classmates will be tempted to spend more than a kid at an LAC in a smaller town.
For my kids, travel has been the most expensive item to plan for. Even for the one who attends a school 2.5 hours away, that’s a 5 hour round trip to pick her up, and that’s a tank of gas. Other child not only flies home, but needs transportation to the airport. Usually she can find a friend for $20 or so but if not the van is about $70.
Coffee, bottles of water, smoothies, movies, bowling, sorority dues, a dress or costume for a party, eating out. Athlete daughter needs tape, wrap, mouth pieces, cleats, extra workout clothes, etc. Other daughter needs art supplies, 9000 t-shirts, way too many coffees and too much eating out, gifts for her sorority sisters, ice skating time. Both need shampoo, razors, make up, sunscreen, clothes, more eating out. Both schools include a lot of entertainment and sports free with their ID, but there are concerts (and more t-shirts), haunted house tours, a day at the beach kind of things they pay for. Neither has had a big spring break trip yet (one plays a sport so that will never happen), but that’s another expense.
I do think some school overestimate the additional costs, but they are just an average and many kids who aren’t watching their pennies probably do spend that much. There was a poster on here last year asking if $1500/mo was going to be enough for his daughter, and that was after he paid all tuition and house needs.
ECs can come with a hefty price tag. In the 1st month my S needed to purchase not one, but two tuxedos plus a suit coat, pants, shirt, shoes, and university tie. He also travels extensively with the ECs and although most of it is covered there are still expenses for food and miscellaneous items.