Student Price Gouging

Parents Forum
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Since my son is going through the college admissions process as a Canadian looking to study in the U.S., I needed to “vent” on what we’ve come across as sneaky hidden and not-so-hidden price gouging.

  1. Meal plans: making them mandatory, complicated, and with no guarantee of the quality of the food is crazy
  2. Health Insurance: requiring mandatory health insurance is one thing but, forcing “a specific” overpriced option is another.
  3. Don’t quote tuition based on 12 credits. Quote it on the full course load. I have seen a few schools quote tuition for less than 15 credits.

We’ve also come across some great schools that have been super helpful and responded to questions, in a very timely manner.

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If I may offer counter points:

  1. Meal plans – students need to eat. If they live on campus, the school needs to make sure they don’t go hungry. People who have FA can get meal/housing costs factored into their aid. You need that for full COA calculations. Many schools do offer several meal plan options from 21 meals/week down to as little as 10 – depends on the school. In recent years, colleges really did improve on their meals. Last time I ate at a college cafeteria was U Mass Amhurst back in2019 and I swear, it’s like a Las Vegas Buffet.

  2. Health insurance. Most kids in US will likely be covered still under their parents’ plans. Colleges do not make you buy duplicate plan if you already have something. They just need your kid to be covered in case something happens.

  3. Full time / part time. Most schools will expect their students to enroll on full time basis. Once you are FT, if you take less than the min required vs the most possible, you pay the same price. It’s always been that way as far as I know.

I guess You haven’t checked the cost of textbooks, student association fees, mandatory student center access fee, parking, and copy/computer charge…

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Agree with your counterpoints above.

Luckily, since everything is digital/online and students have their own laptop, many of these charges can be avoided (textbooks, copy/computer charges). Not every school has those association/access fees either. And best to avoid parking as far as possible (unless the student is commuting).

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Agree. There are definitely costs to complain about, like the actual tuition itself. But as far as the three listed, they exist because historically something happened to make schools think they need to make those mandatory.

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Another part of the meal plan issue is that many dorms don’t have kitchen access and grocery stores might not be in walking distance. Often times, meal plans are mandatory because there aren’t good alternatives.

The US healthcare system is byzantine and complicated. I think many schools have decided to not mess around with finding out that a student’s health insurance isn’t comprehensive in an emergency situation. Usually, if a school requires mandatory health insurance - you can provide your health insurance to be checked and if it passes muster - you will be given a health insurance waiver.

Is the 12 credit course load considered full-time? Is it more expensive to take 15 credits? Can you give some specifics as to schools that quote under full time enrollment with a price differential?

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Colleges make on campus students pay (about $6000) for meal plans, many are 3rd party and the contract assumes a certain profit. Heath insurance offered by colleges in general is good coverage at a reasonable cost (many take it because it’s cheaper than their parents, welcome to American). 12/15/18 credits cost the same for full time students.

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Not to make everyone feel this is a US school issue. In Canada, the same stuff goes on regarding meal plans. That is why I love sites like niche that rate dorms and food. “Hey dad, look at this school, Party Scene (A+) Dorms (A) , Food (A+) …academics (C-)…” Things that will make your head spin.

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12 is the minimum credits to be full time for federal financial aid purposes, although taking 12 credits per semester will mean needing 10 instead of 8 semesters to graduate (assuming no AP credit or whatever).

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Medical care and insurance in the US is far more expensive and far more complicated than in Canada.

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I won’t reiterate other thoughtful responses. Regarding complicated - generally not, but choices based on how often one wishes to eat (e.g. commuters & those going home on weekends only need 7-10 swipes; it may be the ‘dining dollars’ which seem confusing. The housing office can definitely explain that to you, or ask to speak to a couple of students to see what they suggest. I’ve worked at a uni and understand why they are helpful (and some would say necessary).

How would you like any restaurant or dining establishment to ‘guarantee’ quality? People have opinions - one might say 5/5 quality, another 3/5 and someone else 0/5 because they only want nuggets and pizza and didn’t like having to pay for the the variety (actually happened).

[quote=“Canuckdad, post:1, topic:3660174”]
Health Insurance: requiring mandatory health insurance is one thing but, forcing “a specific” overpriced option is another.
[/quote] Unfortunately, American health insurance (and everything health related) is astronomical. It may seem overpriced, but I’m going to guess that if you searched for independent insurance you would see a discounted price because the school contracted with one company. Not having to search, research, spend hours trying to make heads or tails of plans (oh yes!), etc. is usually appreciated. My uni allows you to NOT use their company if one finds insurance elsewhere as long as it meets certain minimum coverages.

(If it is any consolation, my student is abroad 10 months this year, but I still have to retain/pay for the annual US insurance (astronomical) in addition to her in-country insurance.)

Full-time is between 12 and 18 credits (The mode is 15/16.) Your child is welcome to take only as many credits as your tuition covers and then summer classes elsewhere (or transfer AP/IB credits, etc.). Many schools do have a singular price for 12-18 credits.

(I might as well mention that those same schools, often public, that charge by the credit hour may also charge a different amount based on the school/major.)

FYI, brace yourself for upcoming mandatory fees (regardless of if the student uses them or not) which will likely include technology fees, student activities fee, health/wellness center fee, recreation/fitness center fee, sports/music entrance fee, printing fee, transportation fee, etc.

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Be sure to look for the international fee/international tuition rate, don’t just look at out of state costs.

If your student receives a scholarship it often requires that the student is full time. So if dropping a course puts them below 12 credit hours then that scholarship can be withdrawn and you could end up owing additional tuition even though he’s taking fewer classes.

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i agree with parts from both sides here; but i’ll add specifically with tuition being paid by credit hour, the costs are not always transparent.

More hours than the average kid (like 15) can cost more than planned; and add on to that certain types of classes (like engineering) can have a surcharge/fee. And fees are nuts sometimes; often thousands and thousands extra. But insurance and meal plans; i think it’s good colleges have those.

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Can you share which schools do this?

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3 of my 4 kids attended our midwest state flagship (unl). they charge by the credit hour, add extra fees for engineering or architecture (maybe others). My 2016 kid attended a private school her first year; they charged by the semester, so she took 18 hours two semesters. My #3 kid’s school is an SEC school, but i believe prices are the same up to 16 hours. So - that’s just coming from what we know, but i do believe the state U where i work charges by credit hour too.

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We found this at Utah (as well as some estimates they gave being only for 12 credit hours):

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And kids (and parents) wanting gourmet food in the dining halls is exactly the kind of thing that leads to increased COA.

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Many of them (more the state schools; I haven’t seen at the privates my child had been looking at.)
You’ll need to look at the individual school ‘tuition and fees’ page. It will tell you. Also, a clue is if the NPC asks the major.

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If I were eating there 3x a day for 9-10 months, I’d good food :slight_smile:

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I can add that tuition structure varies a lot. For example, in GaTech there are 2 steps. Part time - 6 credits or less, and full time - anything above 6… So if you take 7 credits, you are paying for 12. If you are OOS- good luck!
Some schools charge by credit hours - much better option if you study part time for some reason.
Meal plans- money milking machines. Most schools have mandatory unlimited swipes for first year… If youndo not want to get up for breakfast, your problem. If every day you see only pork, chicken, pasta etc. - no option to opt out. How many parents paying double for food? (With students refusing to go to food courts…) How many students do not eat at least breakfast? In some schools more than 30%.
I also came across false advertising for food.
When I ask why some fruits and vegetables are listed on the web but not on the ground, I was told that they have to put them by Federal regulations, but products are seaonal… (They are advertised as daily available…)

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I guess none of the schools we applied to have a sliding scale. I always just thought that was a thing for the online money makers.