Reply to Is It Really Gonna Cost $280K? OMG

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]DD got in to Northwestern and she is over the moon.

If we continue to save $1K a month, we should only be $35K short for the 4 years of tuition.

Still it's SO MUCH $! Am I the only one that feels this way?  My DD has brought it up more than once to me.  I tend to be okay about money issues.  Just want to make sure I am not missing anything.

TIA[/b] [/quote]

Dear OP - I think the costs are going to be higher than you may think based upon your post.  [b]Costs of attendance at NW (I have no affiliation or position on Northwestern) are now $76,000 a year,[/b] as is common among many of the private colleges and universities. [/quote]

No, it's not $76K before incidentals. It's no bargain but let's not keep inflating the number. I do have a freshman at NU (never NW, by the way) and I just got done paying her bill for the Winter quarter so I can tell you what it costs down to the penny. The quarterly breakdown: tuition $18,040; room (double) $2,974; meal plan $2,176 = $23,190 x 3 (quarters) = $69,570. Add in a few hundred per quarter for books etc, plus relatively cheap airfare to Chicago several times a year, plus a budget for other random stuff, and the total package price should be somewhere around $72K. So, again, not arguing that it's a bargain, but just giving the real numbers for the sake of accuracy. Also, on-campus jobs are plentiful and DD got one at the student center for around 10 hours a week that covers her incidentals.[/quote]

Yes, it is - $75,576 to live on campus.  Maybe this is for next year, but it's right here.  https://undergradaid.northwestern.edu/aid-basics-eligibility/cost-of-attendance.html[/quote]
Do you know how to read a chart?

From the link:
Direct costs are tuition (54,120), fee (447), on campus room and board (16,626).

[b]It is only when you add in the indirect costs (“THESE EXPENSES WILL NOT APPEAR ON YOUR INVOICE FROM NORTHWESTERN”) do you get the $75K number. [/quote][/b]

The link is to NU's own page. Don't be daft.  It says $75,753.  You're really going to quibble over a $4K difference?  Are you saying that OP's kid won't need "Books & Supplies" of $1,605, or won't have "Personal expenses of $1,850" (ever set up a dorm room long distance?), or have transportation expenses of $1050?  I realize you want to win the argument but you're being silly.[/quote]

I'm not the PP rather rudely challenging your chart reading skills, but I'm the PP with the kid at NU paying the actual bill. I definitely see where you get the inflated figure from but I can report our real-world sum is a bit less. They cite $16,626 for room and board, but our actual cost is about $1,200 less. That's for your basic old-school double room with a bathroom down the hall. NU has far plusher, more expensive options, and that's obviously what they're citing here.

As for $1,600 for books and supplies? We're only 1/3 of the way through the year but we haven't come anywhere close to that yet. The old laptop computer works just fine at NU, and used books are abundantly available. I think she spent about $175 on books the first quarter. Personal expenses of $1,850? Well, every kid is different, and mine has an on-campus job to cover this stuff, so I don't know. As for travel expenses, we use credit card airline miles so we're paying nothing close to $1,000.

So I'm not "quibbling". You're getting your info from the school itself, which is a pretty solid source. In our real-world experience, however, it's not totally accurate.[/quote]

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