The school just made $2800 pure profit. It does not cost the school $2800 for your son to have the summer internship;
One hidden cost that parents underestimate is what it means for your kid to attend a private school where many kids are wealthy and your kid isn’t. In an urban area, this often means that a significant number of kids live in nice apartments off campus after freshman year. Elsewhere, they don’t have to hold down jobs during the school year, have unpaid internships over the summer, fly off to nice vacations at expensive destinations on holidays, they have money to eat out when the cafeteria gets old, they get a car after freshman year, and they treat money in a way that your kid has never seen before…as a renewable resource, a liquid that flows through their bank accounts and is regularly replenished.
I’m not suggesting that this kid shouldn’t attend the private school - but some parental discussion ahead of time about expectations, values and how this plays out financially can keep a kid from being blind-sided. It can be tough when the financial reality hits over and over.
What about the cost of “the right pre-school?” Is that a hidden cost of college? Endless practices, math tutor, summer programs, books for them to read, food, clothes, and toys. Perhaps they are all hidden costs of college?
He has a faculty member as advisor for the internship - he reports to her on his hours and experiences. I believe he submits a paper at the end. So - there is some faculty involvement - but not $2800 worth. Six credits seems ridiculous.
Hidden costs once they go to college I’ve discovered so far by visiting a variety of schools: Photocopying and/or printing, laundry, private music lessons (even if they count as a class it can cost extra), sports team fees, extra fees for team travel and team gear. On campus food that is not on the meal plan, etc. Study abroad is extra at some schools. January term is extra at some schools. It’s overwhelming even to try to contemplate it.
Don’t forget that some of the hidden costs while your student is away at school will be offset by lower costs at home. The utility bills will be less (less water for showers and laundry, less electricity for laundry, tv, computer, etc), less gas in the cars, possibly lower car insurance if your student does not have a car to drive regularly. a lower grocery bill, maybe other things.
While this likely won’t offset all of the hidden fees, it does help somewhat.
^^^Yes! we will save over 3K a year in private music lessons when D starts college.
You really think these items should be included in the cost of attendance for colleges? Child care? Hotels and transportation for visits…which are optional? Food? At what restaurants? Lodging? At the Ritz or,the local Y?
Sorry, but I don’t agree with you.
I think the OP was just talking about the costs of actually getting into college, say from graduation through freshman year - orientation, travel to school, insurance and fees on the bill you may not have expected to see there, etc. I was surprised to learn, in August, that one daughter’s school charges per credit and there is no discount for 12-18 credits. I was expecting the tuition to be as quoted in all the literature, but since she took 17.5 credits and not the 15 quoted, tuition was a couple thousand more than I expected. Ouch.
This situation is most conspicuous in big cities. A student on a tight budget might be happier on a campus in the middle of nowhere, where there’s not much to spend money on anyhow.
Also, somebody above mentioned bedding. This can cost even more than you think. Both my kids moved into furnished (and not particularly pricey) off-campus apartments as upperclassmen, and in both cases the beds were full size. So neither the twin XL bedding from the dorms nor the twin bedding from home fit on the beds.
On the topic of Bedding. My step-father who is a wonderful grandfather to my kids dropped off last night his gift to my younger daughter of a $300(!!!) temper-pedic mattress topper. He gets one for all his grandkids. Claims his back was"ruined" by his college bed! My older daughter reports that when friends sit on her bed for the first time they can’t believe how amazing her bed is! Hardly a cost though ,this is pure luxury. (This amazing man also pays for them to have laundry service!)
“However, students take these tests multiple times and each costs money. How does all this fit into the family budget and the college budget for next year and the rest of college”
-There is no reason to take them multiple times. Just prepare well and take it one time. There are ways to increase costs and many costs are not accounted for. The biggest one is the opportunity cost, unless a student is working. If a student is not working full time, then there is an opportunity cost of NOT working full time. That one is much larger than taking exams few times. There are other costs that could be added. As an example, students have a choice to not go out, but most of them do. This is also much bigger than the cost of another test. Another one, nobody is required to take SAT II tests, but they do. Another example - it is much cheaper to go to a local college and live at home instead of dorms. Very few are doing that. although I have many examples, most do not think about cutting of living expenses this way.
@maya54, my mom bought each of my girls a temperpedic mattress topper as part of their graduation gift. Extremely generous and very well appreciated to be sure!
The wardrobe for all those education majors who have to do their student teaching.
Most people look at the college’s freshman cost of attendance, and don’t consider added costs in later years. At many colleges, the freshman dorms are the cheapest. The housing costs can rapidly increase in later years - for both on-campus housing and off-campus apartments. Particularly in big cities, many universities charge very high housing costs for on-campus housing, and in some places off-campus housing is outrageously expensive.
Charliesch took the words right out of my mouth. Yes many people only look at housing cost for freshman year. Freshman housing is the lowest housing pricing and was at both schools my d’s attended. Something else are activity fees, lab fees, if you are a music or art student as my d’s were you have rental fee for your practice room key and your studio access key. Also the end of year assessment for dorm damages. With older d, three times we were hit with fees because someone in the dorm broke a window or damaged a washing machine. There are application fees for participating in certain programs such as study abroad and so on.
What many students going to UMich CoE is the much higher upperclassmen tuition which starts one the student has 55+ credits. It is $2500 more per semester for OOS students.
At my son’s freshman move-in, we went back to Target so many times, my credit card was rejected because it “pinged” as fraud that so much was being charged on my card in an out of town location.
We just found out kid will need to purchase health insurance plan since MA doesn’t allow him to use BCBS/HMO from Texas. Another $2500.
Does your employer also offer a PPO or POS option? And would that be acceptable to your kid’s college? The increased cost of the more flexible plan might be comparable to the amount you would have to pay for your son’s health insurance at college.