<p>My son is a junior. We are in the early stages of looking, but one of the schools that he visited and absolutely loves is WUSTL. I have a question regarding the net price calculator. Most other schools list between 1000-2000 for "other expenses" on their NPC. Wash U lists about $4500. </p>
<p>I am trying to figure out the reasoning for this, and came up with the following possibilities:
*Wash U's miscellaneous expenses are indeed much higher than other schools
*Wash U's miscellaneous expenses are about the same as other schools, but they are just trying to make sure they include everything and are more accurate</p>
<p>I should note that we are from the Chicago area, so with regards to travel expenses, it will be minimal. </p>
<p>I am curious to hear from Wash U parents...especially those that have experience with sending children to other schools, if the misc/other fees at WUSTL are considerably higher than other places.</p>
<p>Just trying to have a fair comparison with other schools. (I should add that I know that WUSTL has a very competitive application process--so getting in is the first hurdle--but I still would like to understand this discrepancy between WUSTL and other schools). Thanks in advance for any help and insight!</p>
<p>At many universities, “misc expenses” are added to increase the official cost of attendance so that students are eligible for more aid or loans. This is not necessarily a bad thing because those expenses may be optional.</p>
<p>I think it really depends on what “other expenses” means-I’m not so sure that you can get in an apples to apples comparison between two schools. I think that the only way that you can really estimate your miscellaneous expenses is to make a preliminary budget For your child. My son just started at WUSTL. We live in Florida, so travel expenses are higher. At this time, I really can’t tell you what the miscellaneous expenses are, since he just started school a few weeks ago. The cost-of-living is definitely less than many other places in the country, and my son actually does not feel the need to go out and eat all that much given the fact that the food on campus is amazing. Personally, I think that miscellaneous expenses of $1000 is a lowball figure. I think that $2000-$2500 is more in the ballpark, and $4500 seems reasonable if a student is going to incur a lot of other expenses such as fraternity or sorority dues. Perhaps a current student can give an opinion on this.</p>
<p>The one thing that I will definitely tell you is that in my son’s case, the cost of attending WUSTL was a little bit higher (perhaps by about $1000) than some of the other schools that my son looked at, mainly because of the tuition and definitely because of the housing. However, having a Tempurpedic mattress in the dorm is a bonus (perhaps not necessary), but the biggest bonus is the fact that the food quality is very good on-campus, compared to most other schools.</p>
<p>We’ve had absolutely no complaints about the school and the administration and how responsive the school is to students and parents. Good luck to you- this is a very special place, and I truly believe that this is the school that my son was destined to be at.</p>
<p>The higher the misc expense the better for you if seeking financial aid or outside scholarship. Washu tries to include all expenses possible by a student from the farthest place of residence to their standard of living. The amount does not necessarily mean that will be your misc exp. you could be as thrift as you want to be, Washu only considers the general average expense of the student body. For 2013-2014, the breakdown is books/supplies-940, transportation-1221, personal expense-2050, total misc exp-4211. That is the official add-on to the tuition, room and board, and health and wellness fee for a grand COA total of 63854 ( don’t have a heart attack).</p>
<p>Psychodad10, Apollo6, and FLtowashu-Thank you so much for your replies. My initial instinct when looking at college costs was to cut the provided “other” category out of the picture when comparing costs, and instead roughly calculate the differences of that for ourselves based on travel, etc. (For intance, from Chicago, the travel costs to St. Louis would be less than if DS chose a school in Texas. )</p>
<p>I hadn’t thought of the aid angle of the equation–that is really interesting and helpful to know.</p>
<p>I really just wanted to make sure it wasn’t some type of hidden fee. (Like when a hotel charges an inexpensive room rate compared to another hotel—but the less expensive hotel has a ton of mandatory “fees” that the other hotel does not charge.)</p>
<p>We will have 3 children leaving for college at once. We will not make our decision based solely on price-but on “value”. However, I am trying to get as much info as I can early on-so I am very appreciative of your help.</p>
<p>Three kids together. You can absolutely get a significant financial aid from colleges. Mine is 8 year apart and no financial-aid is expected unless my kids get merit-based scholarships. No easy way for me. (I am not saying your life is easy, though.) :)</p>
<p>Yes, if indeed a school meets need, we stand to possibly get some great aid from some of the private schools. On the downside, we really don’t know until the aid package comes in the mail, and even with the discounts (knowing that many, if not most schools will not completely meet aid)…when you multiply the amount that is not met x 3 it can add up quickly to an astromonical sum. </p>
<p>That is why I am so appreciate of the information I have gleened from the folks on these boards. We are really trying to get a handle on which schools we have at least a chance of them meeting some of our need. I usually do the NPC for a school and cross reference it with these forums before letting anyone get too attached to something! While there are other factors, this has be a consideration for us. </p>
<p>WUSTL has a program (not sure if it’s unique as I don’t know how other schools work) called PEP- there are various options for tuition payment- monthly plans, plans where you can finance education over 10 years, etc. Here’s the website- you can do the financial planning worksheet</p>
<p>Thanks so much for posting this information Psychodad10. The PEP program looks like a really viable option for us and if ds is lucky enough to get admitted to WUSTL, it is something we will consider!</p>