<p>Hi Benley–good to see that friends from other boards transfer over to college. 
Son will be rowing for Yale next year. And yes, good reminder that outside scholarship/other graduation money will probably help defray those first year expenses. </p>
<p>Just curious–Have you noticed a significant increase in expenses from boarding school to college? More fun to be had, and fewer restrictions on where you go and when, obviously, but the same busy schedule keeping expenses down?</p>
<p>classicalmama, outside scholarships such as the national merit scholarship usually go directly to the school, so you probably can’t budget that into the spending money. As for whether the kid will be spending more, I think it depends a lot on whom he hangs out with. My son, so far, likes to spend a lot of time with his suit mates in their common room and their college, and attends on-campus events during weekends. He eats out but not very often, and the abundance of inexpensive places close to campus for a quick bite helps control the cost. </p>
<p>I don’t know what your son’s schedule will be like considering rowing is pretty time consuming, but my son has a lot more free time than before and occasionally “complains” about it, but I am glad he’s not taking it out on spending money! I find letting him managing a longer term budget a good idea. It’s a natural progression of responsibility too considering he was managing a monthly budget during his lowerclassmen years and a term long budget upperclassmen years in boarding school. You’d be surprised how quickly the kid gets stingy once he starts paying from his own bank account! Once I requested him to pay for everyone’s lunch when we visited him just to let him know it’s OK for him to pay for our meals too now that he’s working and making money. :)</p>
<p>So sad to hear about the unexpected death of
Leslile Woodard, Dean of Calhoun College.
[Dean</a> Leslie Woodard | calhoun.yalecollege.yale.edu](<a href=“http://calhoun.yalecollege.yale.edu/dean-leslie-woodard]Dean”>http://calhoun.yalecollege.yale.edu/dean-leslie-woodard)</p>
<p>To parents of students in Yale College,</p>
<p>I write with the very sad news that Leslie Woodard, dean of Calhoun College, died unexpectedly earlier today at home. We do not yet know what has happened, but it appears that she died of natural causes. There will be a gathering tonight in the Calhoun courtyard at 8:00 p.m.</p>
<p>We are telling students that counselors and chaplains will be available this evening at the gathering, and reminding them that they can reach a counselor at Yale Health at any time by calling (203) 432-0123, or they can just walk in and talk to someone. Please encourage your son or daughter to turn to the many people who are standing by to support them.</p>
<p>Right now, we are in shock, but there will be times in the days ahead to gather and remember Dean Woodard.</p>
<p>Yours truly,</p>
<p>Mary Miller
Dean of Yale College</p>
<p>Leslie Woodard got her B.A. in 1994 from Columbia so I am guessing she was 41 years old. So unexpected and sad. </p>
<p>On a more positive note, I was in New Haven for the inauguration weekend and it was lovely with beautiful sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70’s. The campus was buzzing with activities and it was a great weekend to return to campus after skipping family weekend.</p>
<p>Calhoun is DC’s college. We had the pleasure of receiving warm greetings from Dean Woodard twice just this year in the Master’s Open House. Such a heartbreaking loss.</p>
<p>According the YDN article posted today, Dean Woodard was 53 years old. My estimation of her age above was incorrect since “before attaining her bachelor’s degree from Columbia, Woodard pursued professional dance for over a decade as a member of the Dance Theater of Harlem.”</p>
<p>The conversation has somewhat shifted away from this topic, but I wanted to respond to @classicalmama with a few thoughts regarding balancing work-study, extracurriculars, and academics.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman at Yale, and I thought I would let you know that it IS very possible for your child to do some of the things you described. I’m enrolled in Directed Studies, which is a lot of work, but not as much as some make it out to be. I currently have two on-campus jobs, between which I probably work about 11 hours per week (and I am currently seeking a third job in order to add another 5-6 hours per week). I also am in an a cappella group that is roughly a 10-hour commitment each week. I am part of a prayer group that meets nightly for about an hour every weekday, and I also find time to work out for about an hour several times a week. Most Fridays, I also volunteer at the Yale Farm for a few hours. Even with all of that, I have free time for leisure (although admittedly much less than my suitemates do) and my experience here has been overall positive, despite being very busy, or perhaps because I have been very busy.</p>
<p>Long story short, it’s pretty common here for students to be balancing a lot of different things in their schedule, including student jobs. There are some extracurricular activities that I had to forgo in order to have time for my jobs, but I ended up finding two jobs that I really enjoy anyway, so I don’t feel like I had to “sacrifice” anything. (Also, the wages are great - both of my jobs pay close to $14 an hour!)</p>
<p>aksoccerboy: That is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for that detailed response. Are jobs fairly easy to find? Is there a best time to be checking the job listing? Or does asking around once you’re at Yale work better? (At the small school where I teach, all the best jobs seem to be those that are arranged privately with faculty) Curious about what has worked for you–I know it’s late in the semester, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much available right now in the job listings except jobs requiring particular skills. Thanks again.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if other parents find themselves needing to heavily subsidize the travel of their students who are on Yale teams, either athletic or academic. The travel in question is international.</p>
<p>This isn’t based on experience as a Yale parent–just anecdotal.</p>
<p>I know a bunch of a capella (sp?) groups do world tours and some of them expect members to pay PART of the cost.</p>
<p>There is at least one Yale academic team that competes in an international event but stays a while afterwards to tour the country. Yale covers the flight and a hotel for the dates of the actual dates of the competition. But…having flown half way around the world to an exotic place, the kids usually choose to stay and do some sightseeing. The cost of the extra days isn’t paid by Yale. I’m not sure all of the kids involved admit to their parents that the extra days aren’t required. </p>
<p>There is a Yale academic team that has enough money to send X members to international competitions. They pay for that number. Other people can come too IF they pay their own way. </p>
<p>There is a Yale academic team that has enough money to send X members to international competitions. X was about half the team. The team voted to have X times 2 members go instead, which means that each kid has to pay half his own way. The kids thought this was fairer than the situation described above. The kids knew when they voted that this means some kids won’t come. They still thought that offering to pay half for everyone was fairer than paying all of the bill for half of the team–which, as a practical matter, meant the juniors and seniors could all go, but the freshmen and sophomores couldn’t. </p>
<p>There are kids who are Olympic hopefuls. Yale doesn’t cover the cost of international competitions, but the council of masters sometimes subsidizes their trips.</p>
<p>I don’t know if that helps…but send me a PM if you have further questions.</p>
<p>Yale Debate team is totally self funded with revenue they collect running a high school tournament. That covers their car rentals, registration fees, and possibly some hotel costs but they often sleep on someone’s floor. Those students who do international tournaments or fly to U.S. tournaments pay their own way or are subsidized by the team on a need based basis. I’m told that kids who get well paying summer jobs pay their own way regardless of their financial aid status.</p>
<p>@classicalmama</p>
<p>There are enough jobs to go around. From what I have seen, everyone who looks seriously for a job can find one, although may not have an easy time doing so. Like many things at Yale, getting employed is competitive. I probably applied for 20 jobs before I got my first one - and that one was sort of a fluke. I actually just asked someone at one of the religious centers if they were hiring any students, and the next day I had a job without having filled out an application or anything. My second job is actually a paid choral position, so I went through an audition process. So of the 20-30 jobs that I applied for, I got a couple of interviews, but a grand total of zero offers.</p>
<p>That being said, the application process is centralized, so it’s relatively easy to apply for lots of jobs at once, and students who are on federal work-study have a much easier time finding jobs! Also, I am not on financial aid at Yale, which likely hurt me in my job search. Many of the applications have a small box that you check if you are on financial aid, and I, of course, had to leave those blank. It only makes sense that Yale would give preference to those whom they deem most in need of employment, although I know many students (myself included in this group) who are not on financial aid, but whose parents are requiring them to contribute a large portion of the tuition money themselves. Unfortunately, they sort of lose out in the whole job process.</p>
<p>A lot of job listings go up at the beginning of the year, but different departments and programs hire in waves throughout the year, it seems. Some of the more coveted jobs (working for the admissions office, the student tech co-op, etc.) do their hiring all at once, and these hiring processes are at different times throughout the year. I would say that if a student doesn’t have a job within the first few weeks, there’s not much cause to worry. If he/she is really proactive about getting a job, then it’ll happen.</p>
<p>@jonri</p>
<p>You could be right, but all of the a cappella groups at Yale that I’m familiar with are self-funded. Most Yalies realize that some students cannot even afford to go out to a movie and a dinner on a Friday night, much less fund a trip to China. In the spirit of inclusion, most groups do not ask their members to contribute their own personal wealth to fund the group.</p>
<p>Now, this means that some groups (the ones that are better-connected, more established, and/or more competitive) have more resources to do expensive international trips than others. My group, for example, is traveling to three continents this year and will be on tour for about two months out of the whole year. The only expense I will incur during my time with my group is the purchase of my tails (tuxedo), which I have already bought. Otherwise, I essentially get free international travel (and free board wherever we go) just for being part of the group.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I also know of some groups with resources less abundant than ours. Knowing their financial status, they limit their tours to domestic ones, and they still have a heck of a time. They do more modest tours so that they do not exclude anyone from being able to participate fully in the group based on financial concerns.</p>
<p>Thanks again, aksoccerboy. Very helpful as we think ahead to next year.</p>
<p>For groups like the Glee Club and the Concert Band, tours are subsidized but there is still a student contribution–modest compared to the actual cost of the trip, but certainly not trivial. I am certain that there are mechanisms to cover those costs for students who can’t afford them, but I don’t know what they are.</p>
<p>Just a reminder to new parents to have their kids who are flying home for breaks to check out the partnership between United Airlines and Amtrak when purchasing tickets. You go on the United website and put in “ZVE” as the departure airport and United puts you on an Amtrak train from the New Haven train station to Newark airport for a connection to your destination. On short notice a one way ticket with this routing was $153 when a flight to the same destination with no airport transportation was $304 out of LGA and $367 out of BDL. Even the same connecting flight originating from Newark without the free New Haven leg was over $300.</p>
<p>Thanks - I am booking my son’s ticket today and I am going to try that! :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip. I just bought his ticket to come home in December for $142! 
Even with a $10 taxi ride, it is still cheaper. Just a quick question? Do you have to change trains in Stamford or is it just a quick stop?</p>
<p>Does anyone have a child in one of the more competitive all male a cappella groups? Ever since I saw Jonri’s post, I have been wondering about extra costs for a cappella. I would like to have some kind of idea what kind of out-of-pocket costs my son might incur. I know that his plane tickets for the winter tour are paid for by the group, but I am curious as to what other costs may be incurred during tours.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Mom - check the Amtrak website. I just plugged in New Haven to Newark airport. It looks like sometimes you go straight through, but other times you change trains in NY. You can see all the timetables on the website, or put in the specific date and look at the time they gave you to see if there is a switch. D has switched in NY a few times to come home, not to the airport, and it is not difficult to switch, although she has never had much luggage with her.</p>
<p>I am also wondering about costs for EC travel. I obviously have incorrectly assumed the funds would be available through Yale. I suppose we could have them ask upperclassmen what the costs have been in the past. She already paid for her part of a spring break trip and knowing where they are going, the great majority of the trip must be funded by the group.</p>