DC is two flights away and the SLAC has four breaks that are a week or longer so we’ve been spending a lot on travel. Including parents weekend flights and lodging I’d guess it’s at least $10k year. On the other hand, since it’s a rural location day-to-day expenses are less.

Off campus food is more. DD cooks most meals but groceries are up from a couple years ago.

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t expect $5000 in sorority dues!

My parents made me pay this myself in the 90s (it was around $2000 then). I went into debt and almost collections! Was happy to drop my junior year.

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who have a child in college now, has the total actual cost lined up with what you expected? I see that schools provide estimate what the total cost will be (tuition, room and board, meals, incidentals)

No. Boston College was $48,000 first semester - so $96,000 for the year which does not include the spending money/going out money which is additional...

Anonymous wrote:My college kid is low maintenance and spends very little on stuff. He's at a SLAC where the meal plan is unlimited swipes and where the off-campus environment is very limited and low cost. The only surprise should not be a surprise, which is that tuition has steadily risen every year. Just paid his last semester bill, which started out around $41k for the first semester and is now $45k.

I think this is an unheralded benefit of a rural location. It sounds like where I went to college. I really didn’t spend a lot on dining and entertainment, all my extra money went to J crew orders

Having gone to grad school in NYC and knowing how expensive it is to live there, we said no to applying to NYU, Columbia, Chicago or Miami. Those schools are expensive enough before you even add in the costs to just be there.

Anonymous wrote:Should a family with a child graduating high school 2030 plan on $500,000 for four years?

If you expect to pay the full cost of attendance at a private college for four years, I'd say $430-450,000. Current price is about $370-380k.