<p>Beyond the tuition, fees, books, room and board...what are some of the costs that may not be as obvious...
In high schools we've been surprised at the costs for clubs, marching band, dress for concert band, trips, yearbooks (75$! each...reeally?), annual pictures...extras for band, etc, then senior pics...
What of those sorts of expenses do we have in store for us in college?</p>
<p>Well, you might be counting on plane tickets if your kid is at a “fly-away” school, but don’t forget the cost of airport shuttles or bus/taxi if necessary to get him/her to the college. (S was able to get some cheap plane tickets–sometimes the shuttle cost almost as much as his flight. . .)</p>
<p>If your kid has a car, don’t forget gas/insurance and PARKING fees. Some colleges charge quite a bit for parking.</p>
<p>If you don’t pay tuition/room/board at the beginning of the semester, some colleges charge a fee to be on their “monthly payment plan.”</p>
<p>I think one of the most surprising expenses for us have been…</p>
<p>Cost of move in. When we moved our son into his grad school, the cost of travel, hotels, etc, really added up. Hotel prices often rise at this time.</p>
<p>Getting the stuff for the dorm.</p>
<p>Helping with Move out can also be expensive.</p>
<p>Cost of Parents Weekend. Again, travel costs, car rentals, food…and hotel prices often rise and sometimes there’s a 2 night minimum. And if you want to attend the football game or some of the other big events, those events can cost as well.</p>
<p>Cost of flying child back and forth and SHUTTLE costs to and from airports. Holiday times can be pricey. One way tickets in fall and spring are also pricey.</p>
<p>Oh yea…parking decals. I thought my kids’ undergrad was high…about $250. My son’s grad school’s decal is like 800!!</p>
<p>Some things that may come about are:
- transportation to and from school- remember this includes shuttles from campus to airport/train station/ bus depot
- hair cuts
- frats/sororities
- sometimes phys ed classes charge a premium
- day trips from campus to local cites
- depending on the food plan your child may spend money on extra snacks
- cover charges to go to parties/ dances/ campus events
- laundry machines, not to mention detergents/fabric softner etx
- toiletries- shampoo, condition, toothpaste, Q-tips, deorderant etc
- Zip car rentals to get off campus from time to time
- summer storage
- We have to fly my kid to college so extra costs come into play with luggage fees
- S needed a bike on his campus</p>
<p>Just pray that you don’t have to add “psychiatrist’s bills” to the list! Ack.</p>
<p>Some universities have a lot of various fees. When looking at various schools, I was surprised to see that some have as much as 1500+ per semester in fees… And many have course fees.</p>
<p>Dungareedoll has a nice list.</p>
<p>For us, it was visiting expenses that brought up the cost since our kids all went to college at least 7 hours away driving distance. You can’t do that easily in a day, so that means a hotel tab when you visit, and meals. Treating your college kid and maybe his roommate/friend/significant other is on the agenda, sometimes events, making it into a mini vacation all adds up. ALso if they want to come home, there isn’t the flexibility in getting rides as you would get if the school were closer. If you take them shopping, that can add up as it’s easy and gratifying to be generous. When they live a goodly distance away, they can’t “borrow” things at home, if they need a home item, sending it can be pricey if it’s last minute rush delivery. With gas prices the way they are, it does add up when you visit your kids. If they join a performing group or an athletic team, go to watch and supporting them can become a significant expense.</p>
<p>We have been fortunate in that our kids take care of their living expenses, so we don’t hear the run downs. They have to manage their own money and discretionary items. However, when unexpected things happen, that 's when the cost can rise. Usually,you can handle one, but they tend to come in mulitiples. My college freshman was elated to land a high paying job on campus. He also got an opportunity to travel with friends this summer that he just did not want to pass up. It looks like it’s going to be a tremendous experience as some of the guys going have some great contacts where they can stay while traveling. But it still will cost money. It not only costs for the expenses themselves but will cost in earned income since he’ll have to quit his summer job three weeks early. So the job at school seemed to be heaven sent. But what the heavens send, they can take away. He started having trouble with an essential course, and then another. He has always been the type of student who has to work hard, and these two courses are not easy. Probably should not have taken both of them. Plus a third course, though not difficult was time consuming. He had to cut his work hours. Then they told him that they wanted him for more than that minimum and wanted him there at times when he best could get help for one of the courses. So he let the job go which was a double blow. Loss of income that he hoped to use for the summer, and he had also hoped to have the guarantee of this high paying job for next year. Now he has no job on campus waiting for him after his traveling and cutting work short, and that extra he could have stashed is gone. Then, he thought he was going to live in an inexpensive house with some other guys which would have lowered the cost. Fell through, and all he could get through campus housing was a single in the dorms which is expensive. Even more expensive than the freshman double he has this year. He had to put down the deposit and he is now even further behind. Then a filling came out of his tooth, and he broke a piece of the wall that was retaining it. Unplanned trip home and a root canal and a temporary crown, and a permanent crown. Big unexpected cost item for us as well as for him. He was quite depressed.</p>
<p>We had committed to going to the other college kid’s graduation so we are so strapped this summer as we are making it into a mini vacation and bought the tickets and made arrangements early. So we ended up taking out a loan. SO he is not loan free this year. We had used the Staffords for our part of the payment, but will swap off with the PLUS since he needs the money as well. It has given us all breathing room, but both our son and we are off budget.</p>
<p>So medical emergencies do happen. Glasses break, kids get hurt, dental work needs to be done. My other son had to come home twice in a short time due to an injury that had to be examined by his doctor due to his medical history. And none of these were serious medical things. I’ve known worse to happen.</p>
<p>At some school/towns it’s helpful to have a bike.</p>
<p>Also many people get insurance for things like laptop, ipod, etc. This is available through specialized companies that have policies for college kids (can’t remember the name off hand) or a rider on your own personal property policy. You’ll have to check to see which is best for your needs.</p>
<p>I know some schools charge for sporting event tickets. For example football tickets at schools like Penn State and ND run about $250 for the season.</p>
<p>Then theres a charge for basketball season tickets etc.</p>
<p>Maine Longhorn makes a good point; health insurance. Will your current policy be able to cover your kid at school. Will you be able to find a doctor in network if he needs regular maintenance visits or follow up care.</p>
<p>Wardrobe if moving from warm weather to cold climate
suit for interviews, nice slacks/jacket for formal</p>
<p>It does depend on the school too. When so many in the university community are going to games or having a certain lifestyle, there is more pressure to indulge. If you live in a city, it’s difficult to not enjoy some of the privileges there. You feel you have to live and enjoy and take advantage of what 's there. You feel the poorest when you are among those who have more. When everyone packs a lunch, it’s no big deal or hardship. When everyone is going to Starbucks or to a local hangout, and you have your bag lunch, it hurts. If the whole dorm floor is going to the big game and to a place thereafter, and you don’t have the funds, it hurts. When there are theater and other performance opportunites abound at great discounts, but it still costs and you don’t have the money, it hurts. When all of your friends and the people you like are pledging Greek and you can’t it hurts. If skiing is a big pasttime at a school and your friends all like to go, and your budget is too tight to go, it hurts.</p>
<p>Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, your dependent child can stay insured until age 26. Although copayments may be an expense, and out of network can be a problem, your policy will still be cheaper, unless there’s a major medical expense, than buying a separate student policy.</p>
<p>My son is always hitting us up to fund his ucard to use the laundry, but we suspect he might be using some of it for other expenses, or he has the cleanest clothes for a boy in the whole wide world.</p>
<p>One of the unis my daughter visited has a separate fee to use the wellness (exercise) facility. </p>
<p>I’ve noticed is that even though college is super expensive some of the costs are offset by savings at home. For example, with our son away, we spend less at the grocery store.</p>
<p>On the positive side, if a kid goes more than x miles away to college, without taking a car, your car insurance may drop. Also, look into renting textbooks. Some classes require brand new editions; other than those, my kids rent for a pittance. I don’t think they end up spending much more than half that $800 allocation, total, for the whole year.
We do the bulk of the shopping for toiletries when they’re home, same for haircuts and etc. We know where deals are here, they dont, there.</p>
<p>On parents weekend, etc, local hotels can up their charges. A few times, we stayed a bit further out, for our own pleasure. When we weren’t with them, we had our own adventres. We also found that what our kids crave isn’t an expensive dinner together, it’s Denny’s or the Chinese buffet. But, we do invite their friends along.</p>
<p>Our unexpected expense: as cpt hints, overnighting packages- that book they forgot, the other boots, an Rx. Also, they usually bring home friends on longer breaks, which can add to general costs if we all do something together or if we treat them to something. At some schools, the room charges can go up, if a kid moves to a fancier dorm choice or a single. Kids tend to forget to inquire.</p>
<p>And, ha, if you take Plus loans, know that the first payments come due the following spring.</p>
<p>Though it is possible for room and board to go down after freshman year, that is not always the case. Yes, if your kid is one of the lucky ones to get an RA position, or if he gets a great deal on an off campus apartment or house that is dirt cheap or is disciplined enough to cook healthy meals for self off of the meal plan, it can happen. It can also backfire. Upperclass dorms usually cost more. THey often have suitlike arrangements or even apartments. Very nice, but the price is often times not. Also if there is a kitchen, it means buying food, cooking utensils, dishes and all of the stuff needed to stock a kitchen and to eat. If your kid is in it with a group, which is the way it usually goes, he isn’t always going to be able to drive the decisions and bucking the consensus can have it s consequences. Yes, it can cost money to stock an apartment. And if its off campus and a cheap , dilapadated lodging, there are risks that run rampant. My one son lost out on all of the risks. Pipes broke in a house, place got robbed, roommates bailed, etc, etc. The more you have in uncontrollable factors, the riskier it can get. At least his roommates were decent sorts. A friend of mine had a kid in a group where they paid none of the expenses and then disappeared when the word got out. Her son had paid the kid who was taking charge of all of the stuff and he never got the money where it should have gone. </p>
<p>Things can and do go wrong, and when you have a distraught kid on the other end of the line because of a crisis, you really can’t say, you can’t do anything. You really have to dig into the old bank account, or snap that credit card and fix some things because, yes, kids have thrown up their hands and come home in a trauma. </p>
<p>I can go on and on with lists of things that can go wrong, but for most of us, it’s not going to be all of the disasters. But you can count on some stuff happening which is why I wince when I see students and parents budgeting it down to a penny. One accident or health related thing or robbery, or other bad episode, and, the whole budget can go up into smoke.</p>
<p>Things over which we had no control:
Course Fees. Next year, we’ll get about $600/semester above the “standard fees”. For us, these will be mostly lab fees. But fees get charged for background checks (ed/sw majors), name badges (required to go into a public school), sheet music, accompanist, software access, etc. </p>
<p>This year, we paid $75 for choir “blacks” (as D says, “We look like trash bags”). Next year, it’ll be school scrubs.</p>
<p>Fines. D has to pay her own, but consider parking fines and what we call Hall/Floor fines (some act of vandalim and the entire hall or floor is assessed if the guilty party can’t be identified). Freshman dorms are the worst for these. </p>
<p>All these just wind up on the bill from the school.</p>
<p>During my son’s frosh year, he came down with some unknown illness. Luckily he was only 2 1/2 hours away so getting to him wasn’t an issue. He was hospitalized for several days. </p>
<pre><code>Anyway…my point is that if my son’s school had been a plane ride away, then it would have involved my H and I purchasing pricey last minute tickets, hotel, car rental, etc. Which we would have done in a heartbeat, but would have been a strain if our budget was tight.
</code></pre>
<p>I know that you’re not saying this, but I never like it when I hear students/parents say, “the school cost X and we can barely cover the costs if we are very frugal.” To me, that’s a recipe for disaster. No family can go 4 years without having several unexpected costs come up…major car repair, home repair, dental work, major appliance replacement, etc, etc. For us, it seems like there’s some new/odd expense about every 3 months…many that were totally unexpected.</p>
<p>“new/odd expense about every 3 months”</p>
<p>Our household too. Sigh.</p>
<p>If you are going to school in a big city (like New York) - you should take advantage of the city as part of your learning experiences - but every time you need to take public transport - it is $2.25 or $4.50 round trip. Even if you go to free night at museum or getting to your internship - it all adds up.</p>
<p>Orientation.</p>
<p>DD’s school is too far to drive, and takes place over 2 days, meaning a plane flight for two of us plus hotel and meals plus the cost of the orientation itself.</p>
<p>Extra freshmen fees.</p>
<p>DS’s school (state flagship) had almost $500 in fees paid by entering freshmen - a $300 “Freshman Counseling Fee” and a $185 “Undergraduate Entering Fee”. These fees were not listed in the Financial Aid section of the school’s web site, they are buried in a document in the Bursar’s section. Not every school may charge these.</p>
<p>Other extra fees</p>
<p>DS’s school also charges an extra $320/year for engineering majors, and $500/year extra to be in the Honors college. And, the final indignity, there is a $110 “Senior Fee”. It’s not clear what exactly this covers, the description is “this fee helps to offset costs attributed to student services usually applicable to an upper-class undergraduate.” You pay to get them in, you pay to get them out. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>These fees are also deeply buried.</p>
<p>I’m sure there will be a similar set of fees at DD’s school, it will be interesting to see what shows up on the bill.</p>
<p>Same thing here, Happymom.</p>