What's Your Bottom Line?
You know the cost of tuition. But what is college really going to cost you? Here are some tools to help you determine your bottom line.
Award Letter
Once your child has been admitted to college and you have applied for financial aid, you will receive an Award Letter from the college. The Award Letter will list all the financial support the school is able to provide.
Sample Award Letter
Cost Worksheet
The Award Letter doesn’t give you the full picture. There are a number of other costs associated with going to college that you should consider.
Use our cost worksheet to make sure you’ve thought about all those extra, or hidden, costs. (link to web-form or PDF cost worksheet)
Cost Worksheet
Textbooks
One expense that sometimes sneaks up on parents is the cost of books. College books can be expensive, sometimes topping $500 per semester. Here are some ideas for helping your child reduce textbook expenses:
1. When possible, help your child buy books through online discount sites. There are lots of them. Some work as auction sites (kind of like eBay). Others do direct sales. Others are trade sites. You can get books for half the cost at times, but buyer beware.
- Professors often require specific editions, so make sure your child is buying the right book. Use the ISBN number if available.
- Also, your child will need to order books as early as possible, since they often take awhile to ship.
2. Take advantage of e-books. Sometimes professors only require students to read one or two chapters of a book. If the book is available as an e-book, your child may be able to purchase only the chapter he needs for much less than the entire book.
3. Encourage your child to take care of her books and sell them back to the bookstore. She won't recoup all her costs, but she'll make back a little.
4. Encourage your child to take advantage of textbook exchanges through the college.