Yeah-- four years at the state flagship that my DD is attending now (full merit scholarship, which, to be clear-- is
tuition-only, and that is just about as good as it gets anywhere now, unless you qualify for aid-- and by that I mean any kind of aid, usually including loans-- on the basis of income. Have I mentioned that our "expected family contribution" is
over 50% of our household income?-- well, it is. WELL over it, in fact. More like 2/3rds our household income.):
Tuition: 10-11K a year plus about another ~2K in 'fees' of one type or another, and this is going to go up-up-up in the next few years since tuition increases are now back on the table in a big way
Board: 12-16K, depending upon the "plan" that you go with
Books and Misc. Supplies: 500-2500, depending upon your major and your savvy ability to scrounge bargains.
Yes, that's right-- it's about 25K a year for
in-state attendance at this middle-of-the-road state flagship. It costs more like 26-27K to go as an Honors college student, or one in Engineering (tuition premiums).
This college is regularly named a "best bargain in higher ed" by the way-- by multiple organizations. I mention that because this seems highly relevant here. For my child to attend UW as an out-of-state student would cost (including living expenses) about 55-60K annually. NOT joking. So realistically, 200K is, if anything, a gross
underestimate of what a high-cost college costs without any financial awards. 100K for four years? That is
cheap. Okay, so assuming that parents can
legitimately (as in, without requiring a lifestyle modification that includes indigence) contribute about 15-18K a year, that STILL leaves a shortfall of around 10K annually.
DD got about 40K in scholarships-- which, given that she is living at home, will wind up covering about 75-85% of the cost of the first four years of her education there. Not including summer tuition, which is more or less necessary given the stipulations associated with that scholarship (that is, how many hours they have to accrue each academic year-- and try fitting lab courses IN and make that value... yeah-right). Less than 1% of incoming students at this institution receive such scholarships, incidentally.
A kid could
easily attend this institution and rack up debts in excess of 50K. EASILY. Given the relative difficulty of even graduating in less than 5y, since-- have I mentioned the new shell game involving not being able to actually register for the classes that you need at times that will permit one to earn the STEM credits for your major if you major in STEM? Yeah-- lab time SUCKS that way. Always has, and it's gotten worse-- WAY, WAY worse-- now that administrators want to run service coursework at something like 90-95% capacity. Why, open another section?
Heavens no-- that M 6-10 PM/Tu 8-9:30am section still isn't FULL-- there are three seats left in that one! I have no idea why these students are whining... (Uh- maybe because it means that none of them can take that section
and the calculus course that is a concurrent enrollment requirement??)
We will cover the last year or two, since she seems determined to do a triple major (and naturally, not a one of them in the SAME college... LOL). Because we
can. Now, could we cover 65K a year? Well, yes-- if I returned to work full time at something that paid what my skills are worth, and we changed our lifestyle not a bit, then-- yeah. But it wouldn't be EASY.
