Planning for College: Public University Costs Compared
If you have kids in middle school or early high school, take heed. Don’t wait to find out what college really costs. Do some quick research now, so you can steer your children in the right direction when that idyllic summer of college visits arrives. You have more options than you may realize.
We live in Northern Delaware where parents of 7th and 8th graders tend to obsess about high school. Because we are blessed with a plethora of charter, private, parochial, and magnet schools in New Castle County, few of us default to our feeder high school. Instead, we put a lot of effort into visiting the schools, meeting the faculty, submitting applications, preparing for entrance exams, and deciding which program is the best fit for our kids and our wallets. For my twins, the decision was to forgo scholarship offers and to attend the local public charter school. What a relief it was when that decision was made! They are freshman now, loving life, and the last thing I want to do is start thinking about college. But I would be a fool not to.
I’ve eavesdropped on quite a few parent-to-parent moan sessions where the figure of $50K per year was bandied about as the typical cost of one year of college. I’d rather crack open a bottle of merlot than ruminate on how we could afford that. But information is power. I decided to look into it myself. And guess what! If you are looking at a public university in your own state, you can divide that number nearly in half. Even out-of-state residents pay less than $50K per year. Here’s a quick chart I put together comparing the University of Delaware to neighboring Penn State University, Rutgers University, and University of Maryland:
Tuition, Fees, Room & Board for 2012-2013
You can see that tuition and mandatory fees range from about $9K to $16.5K for two semesters. Out-of-state residents have to fork over two to three times as much for tuition and fees with University of Maryland penalizing the out-of-state student the most. There is no upcharge on room and board for nonresidents, but it is nearly as much as tuition at $10-$11K for two semesters.
What are my insights?
1. In-state tuition is doable. If all of these universities offer similar quality programs, why go out of state if money is an issue? (As a U of D alum, I can attest that it is a suberb school.)
2. Room and board seems a bit out of this world. I looked at the details, and meals make up about 40%-50% of the average $10K cost to live on campus. That’s well over $400 per month! Housing costs at $5-6K also seem a bit too much. In Delaware, a decent 3-4 bedroom house rents for $1200-1400 per month. If four students share, you can bet the cost with utilities would be less than $400 per month. Live at home or off campus to save.
I would love to hear from parents and students who have survived these costs. Tips are welcome. Coming next, a comparison of the U of D to other Delaware options.
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Pat, another thing to look into is common marketplace. As you know, Jordan is attending the University of Maryland, college Park for Architecture. Since the University of Delaware does not offer architecture, he was able to attend Maryland for in-state tuition because of a program called Common Marketplace. There are several southern schools that participate in this program. It was wonderful for us. Having one child at Delaware and another at Maryland, it was definitely a money saver. It has actually ended up cheaper with our MD student than our Delaware student who is living at home. Good luck on your search. I guess it is time to start looking for our next college student.
Great to hear from you, Kathy! I was not aware of Common Marketplace. I will definitely look into it. Hope Jordan is putting his artistic talents to work and enjoying U of M.
Points well made Coach!
I’m a seasoned veteran, with three in college. I too am a UD alum.
I would suggest anyone new to this endeavor go onto https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search — the college board’s scholarship finder tool. Yes, that College Board, the same one you paid big bucks to when you were taking the SAT. This is eye-opening. Many scholarship requirements lend themselves well to those with time for pre-planning, but don’t work so well for those in last minute panic mode. Also, your HS guidance office will publish a local scholarship offering geared for students in the area. My kid never told me about this! During my scholarship web search I found local scholarship offerings online via a nearby HS that posted such info. Then, after cross-examination, found that my student heard about new scholarship flyers available for pick-up every day on the morning announcements, but never stopped in to get one or thought to mention it. RRRR. Get in touch early and reconnect often with your HS guidance staff. Oh and there’s this – every college bound student will need to pass mega stacks of paperwork through that guidance office for processing at exactly the same time. Baked extra cookies? Think GUIDANCE OFFICE. Make friends early and stay in touch.
Looking forward to more posts! Thanks!
Oh, last bit – easiest and most applicable DE scholarships… Surf around and become familiar with what is offered at the link below. Scroll down for scholarships. http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/students_family/dheo/how_to_apply/financial_aid/default.shtml
You’ll hear about these opportunities by mail if you file FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). More on that another day.. Suffice it to say if you hear of an evening session at your child’s school on FAFSA, GO TO IT.
Good luck!!!
Loads of great tips, Beth! Scholarships are sound way to get that tuition bill down, and as you say, there ARE local dollars out there. Your links for the college board and DE scholarships are very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share. Next batch of cookies goes to Guidance!