<p>Yes to what notrichenough said. The different fees may be listed in different places. Our orientation fee was listed in the fin aid guide, but the course fees are listed in the class schedule. </p>
<p>Check the student handbook (or whatever student services uses) for extra dorm fees. Students in d’s dorm can have lofts, but must rent them through the school ($129/year). Check the undergraduate catalog (not sure, but I think that’s where the graduation fee is listed). No matter how thorough, however, you’re probably going to get at least one “surprise” fee sometime.</p>
<p>If your child is far away, be prepared for some pretty hefty shipping expenses back and forth to get stuff there. AND if you choose to store stuff over the summer in college town, that is a pretty big expense, too. I bet I spent $500+ freshman year shipping, and another $500 to store…keeping in mind I was shipping from Texas to NYC and storing in NYC. I will acknowledge, however, that my D has a ton o’ stuff.</p>
<p>Just be aware that there will be unexpected expenses so have a source for payments ready. You don’t want to be scrambling around for funds in a crisis and when you need something and can’t pay right away, the cost often increases…a lot.That’s another reason why I cringe when I see parents and kids putting together school payment plans that leave no leeway for anything.</p>
<p>One way to deal with air travel, hotels, rental cars, etc., when your child lives out of state is to use air miles. I fly a great deal and will use my miles for my son’s flights. When we attended his accepted student weekend, I even used air miles for the hotel and car. Cost of the three-day weekend: one dinner on one of the nights. If your child must fly and you don’t have miles, join the FF program for the airline and begin accruing miles. It shouldn’t take too many flights before s/he has a free one.</p>
<p>I spent hundreds and hundreds on bedding, the lamp, not just toiletries but even laundry soap, bins to store/tote items, fans for hot rooms, her roommate invested in a fridge, the computer printers weren’t reliable, so a printer, joined a sorority, so an extra one hundred a month (approximately), supplements for illness (already mentioned in other posts), $700 for a new/updated psycho ed. evaluation for accommodations for learning disability (health insurance doesn’t cover it, and $700 is way cheaper than what it costs for testing here at home)… surprises, surprises, surprises. I’m racking up points for overnight hotel stays when ferrying back and forth (quarter system: lots of breaks!!) so that helps with cheaper stays the next time…</p>
<p>Air miles can definitely ease the burden for a route you will be traveling frequently. Though our D is just now heading off to college across the country this fall, we have dealt with caring for my elderly in-laws that also live across the country for quite a few years now. We have found that it is a good idea to keep enough airline miles in reserve for at least one flight. Twice in the last year my DH has had to fly cross country due to a medical emergency with my in-laws. Mileage tickets were available for next day travel, with no additional cost. And the return flight could be changed with 24 hrs notice with no charge (this is with American Airlines). Those same tickets would have cost well over a thousand dollars each if we had to buy them last minute!</p>