college parents: hidden costs

[Anonymous]

Study abroad
Unpaid internships
Travel costs for emergencies (funerals)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this really shocks me, OP. I have two kids in college and here's how your list applied to them:

housing for summer internships - they lived at home
storage locker during summer - they brought everything home and stored it in a combo of their bedroom, the basement and the garage
minifridge if allowed - yes - it was like $60 for a semester
eating out/groceries if campus food is bad - they were just given $250 each month and this is one of the things it needed to cover
cab fare for off-campus activities - they walked or took the bus
printer cartridges - didn't bring a printer
car if on-campus housing not available for upperclassmen - no car brought to campus - again, they walked or took mass transit
spring break travel someplace besides home - ha!
haircuts - part of that $250 sent each month, but my girl just waits until she's home from school
museum entrance (hopefully discounted) - my kids have no desire to go to museums while at school, but they're not in school in Manhattan or anywhere that has any impressive ones
laundry - part of the $250 sent each month

The $250 also covers tampons and toiletries, birth control/condoms, bus fare, magazines, snacks to keep in the room, school t-shirt/sweatshirt, etc. Neither were involved in greek life.

Totally agree with this, except I might kick in extra for birth control if needed! (Or any other health care costs.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

are group printers in the dorms or library, usually? Or do kids just email the work to their instructor?

Most colleges have dorm wifi to a printer in the dorm or library. We're the kind of parents who make DC have a summer job to pay for her own pizza and fun, but we did buy DC a printer because we figured it would help with academics. You can get a printer on Amazon for as little as $75 these days, and you can get a really nice printer for $200. The ink is expensive, though. Also, other kids on the floor may want to use the printer. So tell your DC to either just say no, or to start a kitty for more ink. FWIW, DC never hit us up for more printer ink thus year, but we didn't ask whether DC actually ever had to buy more ink.

Language lab fees. Probably fees for art and science labs too.

We paid for DC's textbooks. DC saved the receipts and we reimbursed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, this really shocks me, OP. I have two kids in college and here's how your list applied to them:
housing for summer internships - they lived at home
storage locker during summer - they brought everything home and stored it in a combo of their bedroom, the basement and the garage
minifridge if allowed - yes - it was like $60 for a semester
eating out/groceries if campus food is bad - they were just given $250 each month and this is one of the things it needed to cover
cab fare for off-campus activities - they walked or took the bus
printer cartridges - didn't bring a printer
car if on-campus housing not available for upperclassmen - no car brought to campus - again, they walked or took mass transit
spring break travel someplace besides home - ha!
haircuts - part of that $250 sent each month, but my girl just waits until she's home from school
museum entrance (hopefully discounted) - my kids have no desire to go to museums while at school, but they're not in school in Manhattan or anywhere that has any impressive ones
laundry - part of the $250 sent each month

The $250 also covers tampons and toiletries, birth control/condoms, bus fare, magazines, snacks to keep in the room, school t-shirt/sweatshirt, etc. Neither were involved in greek life.

ok, but no other costs?
My friend's daughter is in the midwest and opted to leave a lot of stuff in a storage locker between semesters as it couldn't fit into the car trunk...comforters, winter clothes, books the student might want to keep as references...still it takes her or her husband 3 days to drive out, pack up stuff in the storage unit, and drive back
kids who study art and history do museums

are group printers in the dorms or library, usually? Or do kids just email the work to their instructor?

Ok sure, if they are an art major, include some money for museums.

But otherwise, you need to cut the cord. Your kid does not need mommy & daddy driving out 3 days every summer to cart their winter clothes to a storage unit! Teach some independence, please. When I was in college we had free storage space in an attic in one of the school buildings - you just hauled the stuff their yourself. The years I didn't do that, I borrowed a hand truck and carted my boxes by hand to a friend's basement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Orientation freshman year. This is mandatory at many schools, and there's an extra fee.

Also, the pre-orientation biking/whatever week-long trips. These aren't mandatory, but they will send your kid attractive brochures and your kid will want to go.

Health insurance, depending on whether or not your current health insurer has coverage (participating doctors, clinics) in the area where DC will be attending college.

I thought most colleges have a student health fee...is that just for urgent care situations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Ok sure, if they are an art major, include some money for museums.

But otherwise, you need to cut the cord. Your kid does not need mommy & daddy driving out 3 days every summer to cart their winter clothes to a storage unit! Teach some independence, please. When I was in college we had free storage space in an attic in one of the school buildings - you just hauled the stuff their yourself. The years I didn't do that, I borrowed a hand truck and carted my boxes by hand to a friend's basement.

hmm, I will double check why they are driving. I do know that in one case, the school is very hard to access without car...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Orientation freshman year. This is mandatory at many schools, and there's an extra fee.

Also, the pre-orientation biking/whatever week-long trips. These aren't mandatory, but they will send your kid attractive brochures and your kid will want to go.

Health insurance, depending on whether or not your current health insurer has coverage (participating doctors, clinics) in the area where DC will be attending college.

I thought most colleges have a student health fee...is that just for urgent care situations?

Yes, they all do have health clinics. Most (all?) want your kid to have some form of insurance, though, either your family insurance or insurance purchased through the college. (The clinics can deal with the flu but if, God forbid, your kid has a major health issue and needs to go to the hospital, the college doesn't want to be on the hook for it.) We're with Kaiser which doesn't have a center anywhere near the college, so DC was looking at a 2-3 hour bus ride, while potentially ill or in pain, to the nearest Kaiser clinic. Instead, we bought the college's insurance. DC still prefers to use ours, when she's home, for things like contact lenses. If you have BC-BS or another provider, this might be different for you, but do check into it.

Should also add: meal plan. Participation in the meal plan may or may not be mandatory depending on the college.

For many of the expenses listed above, colleges will have a single card called "[cute name] Bucks" that can be used on campus and at many stores in town. You can replenish it as often and as generously as you see fit.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget the money for you, DH and the family to visit during Parents/Family weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Study abroad
Unpaid internships
Travel costs for emergencies (funerals)

Travel costs for emergencies for sure.

But study abroad is usually covered by tuition and financial aid. In other words, whatever financial aid and money you would pay for your child's semester at Home University will be applied to Study Abroad University.

And fortunately, most internships are paid. Some even provide housing and transportation!

[Anonymous]

Rather than creating a line item budget for all the extras of your college kids living on their own, you could come up with a monthly allowance you'll transfer into their account on the 1st of the month. Leave it to them to figure out how to budget for eating out, cabs home, hair cuts, laundry, etc. It's not quiet the same as budgeting your own money, but learning to keep a certain portion of your expenses within a budget is an important skill. Leave it to your kids to sort out.

If they want to do a big spring break trip or pledge a greek society, then you can decide whether that's something you're willing to bank roll as the parent or if you think your kids should get a job for that.

[Anonymous]

I paid all my own incidentals, textbooks, snacks, laundry etc put of my summer earnings and school year jobs. I definitely didn't have money for cabs or storage units or a car but I had enough to get by. It's ok to live cheaply in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Study abroad
Unpaid internships
Travel costs for emergencies (funerals)

Travel costs for emergencies for sure.

But study abroad is usually covered by tuition and financial aid. In other words, whatever financial aid and money you would pay for your child's semester at Home University will be applied to Study Abroad University.

And fortunately, most internships are paid. Some even provide housing and transportation!

really? not what I had heard...my niece interned for a mega corporation in NYC and made 40 dollars a week...not even enough to pay for transport

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rather than creating a line item budget for all the extras of your college kids living on their own, you could come up with a monthly allowance you'll transfer into their account on the 1st of the month. Leave it to them to figure out how to budget for eating out, cabs home, hair cuts, laundry, etc. It's not quiet the same as budgeting your own money, but learning to keep a certain portion of your expenses within a budget is an important skill. Leave it to your kids to sort out.

If they want to do a big spring break trip or pledge a greek society, then you can decide whether that's something you're willing to bank roll as the parent or if you think your kids should get a job for that.

yes, I don't want to micromanage just to get a 'true' cost of attendance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Study abroad
Unpaid internships
Travel costs for emergencies (funerals)

Travel costs for emergencies for sure.

But study abroad is usually covered by tuition and financial aid. In other words, whatever financial aid and money you would pay for your child's semester at Home University will be applied to Study Abroad University.

And fortunately, most internships are paid. Some even provide housing and transportation!

really? not what I had heard...my niece interned for a mega corporation in NYC and made 40 dollars a week...not even enough to pay for transport

Not DC's experience either. I suppose an internship in finance might be paid, but for research and the arts, not so much. Also, there is a lot of competition for the paid internships.

[Anonymous]

Study abroad usually costs no more than tuition back home - because tuition at foreign universities is usually much cheaper than in the US. You may want to finance Eurail passes and such, though.