Prices for Room & Board

EmptyNestSoon2
Tue, 26 May 2020 12:13:01 +0000

Of course you know this depends on many things. But some things I would think about. If R&B at your child’s school is, say, $13,000. And the costs of commuting (parking, car payment, insurance, gas, etc) would be $3k, and the costs of food if not on meal plan would be another $3k, then the extra cost of living on campus is $7,000 per year.

You are saying tuition will be free, but the student would need loans for these living costs. The total “extra” cost will be $28,000 for 4 years (although as posters above pointed out, they may decrease after freshman year if they can secure a cheap apartment and cook for themselves), so maybe the “extra” cost will really be more like $20,000 over 4 years.

Is your child planning to work during the summers and school years? I myself lived on campus, but picked up waitressing and babysitting gigs, and did some on-campus work during the school year, plus saved a ton of money during the summers. So if your child works, they may not have to be saddled with all of that extra $20,000 as debt—maybe they can whittle that down to $10,000 at the end of 4 years.

If they plan to go into a lucrative field after graduation with high probability of securing a job (and the pandemic economy should be over 4 years from now, and who knows but could be decent by then), the $10,000 in debt would probably feel minor and well worth it. Lots of computer science kids/engineers, etc coming out of strong schools earn over $70,000+ in their first year. But if they are coming out of a weaker school with poor job placement history in a field that is notoriously difficult to earn a living wage, then that extra $10k in debt will be a bigger burden.

In my mind, living on campus is a very valuable part of the educational experience, but it certainly makes sense to take into account these costs (and also your child’s personality—there may some kids who would value it less). Good luck deciding; none of this is easy!