<p>I’m concerned parent because NU is so far from home for my admitted student. We are West Coast. With coops, afraid I will not see my kid for any length time. Also of concern, you seem to be charged for any overload and to double major would seem to add an extra year of tuition. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Your child could always co-op close to home. My west coast roommate is considering doing just that.</p>
<p>What does s/he want to double major in? Depending on the majors, it shouldn’t cost an extra year’s worth of tuition, I believe.</p>
<p>Yes, you can do co-op near home as stated above. However I’ll be honest, if you don’t live in New England (and don’t get a co-op near home), you probably won’t go home much after your first summer. I’m from Florida, and I’m really only able to go home twice a year (winter break being one of those times), and that’s with pushing for the second time. For example, there is only a few days between the official end of spring co-op and the start of summer 2 classes, and even though we have like a week or two between summer 2 and fall, if my assigned move-in date for my fall room is in the middle of that break I can’t go home (and Thanksgiving is WAY too expensive to be worth it, at least to me). My solution was to ask for the last week of co-op off so I can go home. Obviously I consider the lack of home worth it, because I had no intention on staying near home after I graduated anyway-- so it’s just that I’m on “my own” a few years early. However you should be aware of the slight sacrifice if your student can’t imagine a month going by without seeing his old bedroom.</p>
<p>Thanks for reply - NU (NEU) seems to mention how many cities they have coops in but I can’t find the list. The majors might be from art department and the math department. BFAs seem to start with foundation classes right away leaving no room in the schedule for taking a few classes (not core because that just doesn’t help)to test the waters. The catalog seems to be quite forthcoming in saying if you take an overload you will be charged vs. a school like Columbia U. which has flat fee no matter how many classes you take. Yeah I wish I could know that D would come home some summers. I’ve told her to call someone to discuss her potential schedule if she could squeeze in some art and math before declaring a major. I’d also like to know if math or art coops are usually paid or unpaid, especially in this economy. We also need to know if AP credits really eliminate some core so that there is more room to try a few other courses. I’ll just have to get used to D being so far away and she’ll need to get used to it too. Once I was in college I did not have a big urge to go home. I remember that! I hope NU is challanging and fun and I hope the math dept. professors can speak good English. By the way, the campus looks wonderful.</p>
<p>OP- Any AP or IB courses? Those credits could help put a dent on the extra double-major credits. </p>
<p>It seems like many college students only come home the first summer, even if not in co-op programs. So even if your daughter goes elsewhere, you may not see her in upperclassman summers.</p>
<p>Art co-ops aren’t always paid, but it depends on what field you go into. Math co-ops nearly always are paid, and if you have a high gpa you can get a well paid one even as a first time co-op.</p>
<p>Northeastern allows you to take up to 19 credits a semester (unless you have to take 20 or something because of required labs, etc), which means you can only take four 4-credit courses-- which all normal courses are. To take another one, you need to pay 1/16 of a semester’s tuition per credit, which totals to around 4.8k per 4-credit course. This is not covered at all by financial aid. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it-- but obviously its up to you.</p>
<p>It is true that most people don’t go home anyway. Only one of my friends (I’m not exaggerating at all) is living at home this summer, which is after our second year of college, and that is only because he goes to college an hour away so he is just going to commute to class over the summer instead of paying for inflated summer housing rates at his school. They all go to normal state schools.</p>
<p>Don’t underestimate that extra year. My daughter at Northeastern is thilled to have the extra time: while many of her friends in traditional schools are seniors and in that “what-next” panic, she still has a semester of co-op and a semester of classes to figure out the “what-next.” For the tuition-paying parent, the extra year also means extra financial breathing room during those semesters they’re on co-op. Finally, I’d encourage a child to really challenge themselves in terms of co-op location: my daughter has two friends who did theirs in Europe. Four months of work, life, experiences in Paris or Italy. Almost makes me want to be 22 years old again :)</p>
<p>Looks like there are some great international opportunities.Thanks to all who replied, again.</p>