<p>The last few days I was up in Boston visiting BU (I’m from Philadelphia). Aside from having a wonderful time in Boston and absolutely loving BU’s campus, I’m still faced with a decision based largely on financial circumstances. My decision is between BU and Drexel University. Both colleges have awarded me nice scholarships and have similar costs. </p>
<p>I really love BU and after talking to a bunch of different people in Boston (Bostonians are really friendly and a they always know somebody who went to BU!!) I found a trend in all the advice they were giving me. Each person said that a student’s freshman year at a college is always the most expensive. Apparently, each year a student attends a school, the cost will go down if they work with their financial advisor. </p>
<p>Now, I would love to believe this is true for any college, but I thought I would just ask the question and see what responses I get. If this is true, it’ll make matriculating to a more expensive college a bit more easy…</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Not true at all. Did people really tell you that? That’s very odd. If anything the opposite is more likely. Most schools the COA increases every year. If you are lucky your FA will keep pace with the increased costs, but that depends largely on the school and it’s FA policies (if they promise to meet full need, what sort of aid they offer).</p>
<p>I have only seen the COA go up every year, never down like Swimcatsmon says. However, there are few things that could cause costs to go down after the first year.</p>
<p>1) There are some special fees in the first year like orientation fee which go away after the first year.</p>
<p>2) Freshman generally stay in the dorms and have meals there. In subsequent years, you could find lower cost alternatives or stay off campus and that could reduce costs.</p>
<p>Will these cost reductions offset increase in COA? I doubt it and even if they did in the second year, it will not be true in the third year or fourth year.</p>
<p>When my son applied last year, the costs (and scholarship) seemed similar to other schools to which he applied. Then when we examined the costs in more detail, we discovered that they have different tuition rates depending upon whether you are in a 4-yr program ($38,000) or a 5-yr program ($30,900). If you are in a 5-yr program, you have to pay the 5-yr tuition rate for five full years, including the semesters that you are on coop. Other coop schools we looked into, Northeastern & RIT, did not charge tuition for the terms the student was on coop.</p>
<p>mom6350: A question about Drexel scholarships and tuitions…do you know if the scholarship that Drexel awarded me is in terms of 4 or 5 years? More specifically, my reward was 10,000; is that 10,000 for 4 years (essentially 8,000 for 5 years) or 10,000 for all 5 years?</p>
<p>That is, if your son decided on Drexel…</p>
<p>I’m not sure how the scholarships work, you really should verify that with Drexel. My son did not decide to go to Drexel. I just brought that point up because I felt like it was kind of just luck that we found out how they work the tuition there, and it was really important in terms of the total cost. Every other coop school we looked at only charged one tuition rate, and you paid it for only the semesters you were in school, not the ones you were on coop. Best of luck to you in your decision.</p>
<p>Sometimes parents make more money as the years pass and the financial aid award is reduced.</p>