College Costs - ridiculously high

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not VCU ...it's big on the arts?

And a 3.0 student gets in.

For the arts, your portfolio/audition is what gets you in. Grades are a nice extra

And VCU is strong in visual/media arts in particular--not all art forms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do any of you DCUM parents live in DC? We are seriously thinking of moving because there are NO in-state options. We've been socking away money in a 529 but the price tags are still really daunting for top flagship state schools (even with the $10k DCTAG) But we'd have to move high schools (from School without Walls) and a neighborhood we love. Curious how other non crazy rich families do it.

I used to live on Cap Hill. We moved to Virginia for precisely this reason. Both children went to Virginia publics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA in-state is already close to $50K

Not it is not. It’s about $35k a year all in with room and board. I am paying under $30k on the prepaid program ($14,000 for tuition and another $10,000 for off campus housing, meal plan and books).

My kid was accepted for engineering this year. She didn’t go, but as I recall the cost of attendance estimate was $43,000. Other majors I think are a little less.

Yes, engineering has special surcharges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And accepts very few qualified students from NoVa

Because there are only 4,000 seats total.

They need to expand. It is ridiculous.

UVA was built in 1819. The town has grown around it for 200 years. It can’t expand further. That’s why the Commonwealth is pumping billions into the other 31 colleges and university. My DD went to GMU - it was non-stop construction. This is why we also have Virginia Tech and William &Mary …. to meet differing needs. And the community colleges from whence you can transfer providing you take the requisite courses and maintain a 3.0.

They could always build up UVA wise. Stop distinguishing campus location on degrees or make them legally the same campus and you'd see a lot more kids interested in going there

They already have built up Wise. There is now a guaranteed transfer program from Wise to zUVA. There was a recent thread on it. UVA takes in more than 600 transfer students for junior year from community colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some OOS publics offer generous aid that will bring the costs down to in-state. Check out Miami U in OH.

I graduated from Miami. Had my 4.66 GPA 1460 SAT kid apply there last year. It still came in much more expensive than UVA. They don’t give as much merit aid as you think they do. They actually came well under what they said they guaranteed for high-stats kids on their web site (and then that page disappeared).

This is obviously kid dependent. DS applied to both last cycle as well. Miami would have been 19K per year (getting 25K in merit), UVA 42K. We are OOS for both.

Tuition at Miami of Ohio is $38K for OOS. If you subtract $25K in merit, that leaves $13K for tuition. A very good deal, no doubt, but how are you only paying $6K for room and board (since your total cost is $19K) when the school website estimates over $15K for that?

My kid graduated two years ago from UVA. She started in aerospace engineering which did have a surcharge but switched to Arts & Sciences at end of year one and the. Moved off campus. Tuition then was only $6k a term. She lived frugally in a group house and did her own cooking. No car so no e obese or insurance there. Also you can save more by keeping your child on your own healthcare plan. UVA’s is over $3500..

That’s a big savings most parents ignore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you are late to the party.

+100

I don’t see how a parent could miss this crucial detail. Do you not read or watch news? College costs have been reported on extensively.

[Anonymous]

My friends kept saying the sticker price isn’t the actual price, but it turns out it is unless your kid is extraordinarily in some way.

[Anonymous]

I was just playing with a net price calculator tonight-can’t remember which school. It told me we could afford $65k/year. I lmao and clicked away from that calculator and college.

[Anonymous]

I just paid WM, which invoices at about $42,000 for in state freshman. Add that to the $52,000 we pay for the other kid’s SLAC after merit. Yikes. Three more semesters and Kid 1 graduates.

The only good news is that we have 8 semesters of pre-paid 529, which will more than $25k off of the price of WM over 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just paid WM, which invoices at about $42,000 for in state freshman. Add that to the $52,000 we pay for the other kid’s SLAC after merit. Yikes. Three more semesters and Kid 1 graduates.

The only good news is that we have 8 semesters of pre-paid 529, which will more than $25k off of the price of WM over 4 years.

I just checked the W&M website and the figures it provides for new and continuing students for 2022-2023 shows a total of $37,504 for tuition, fees, room and board. Can you please explain what accounts for the other $4,500 in the invoice you paid? We're strongly considering W&M for our kid and want a clear picture of the cost. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just paid WM, which invoices at about $42,000 for in state freshman. Add that to the $52,000 we pay for the other kid’s SLAC after merit. Yikes. Three more semesters and Kid 1 graduates.

The only good news is that we have 8 semesters of pre-paid 529, which will more than $25k off of the price of WM over 4 years.

OK, but did you check the charge for university health care? I don't know about W&M but if you can keep your child on your old policy that may be a $4K savings right there. Also buy the cheapest meal plan. The food is generally - well - not reat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends kept saying the sticker price isn’t the actual price, but it turns out it is unless your kid is extraordinarily in some way.

Uh, your friends are wrong. That is the price UNLESS you can get a break when you file FAFSA (we did not - donut hold family) - or your kid is some brilliant URM or first generation kid or a rare xylophone player they need. We received NOTHING in merit aid offers. and zero from FAFSA other than the unsubsidized $5500 loan which we took. HOWEVER, once one of our kids hit a 36 on the ACT, unsolicited offers from not top SLACS started rolling in but even with $26K off tuition, UVA was still a better deal

[Anonymous]

What’s the $5,500 unsubsidized loans all about? We that count towards loan forgiveness if it ever came about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the $5,500 unsubsidized loans all about? We that count towards loan forgiveness if it ever came about?

It's the federal loan that everyone can get. Interest starts accumulating once the funds are released.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the $5,500 unsubsidized loans all about? We that count towards loan forgiveness if it ever came about?

It's the federal loan that everyone can get. Interest starts accumulating once the funds are released.

Well that stinks!