How accurate are schools Cost of Attendance sheets?

[LidocaineMane32]

The schools I’m looking at have their cost of attendance being ~$250k for the 4 years of attendance. How close is this to reality? Would you say this is a good approximation of what I’ll graduate with I’m loan debt?

cost of attendance= tuition + fees+ housing + living expenses, etc.

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[deleted1073010]

Sometimes that number comes only from tuition and fees but doesn't account for cost of living. The school should have specifics on what their cost of attendance is, including cost of living. If you're planning on borrowing for cost of living, you're probably not going to be under $250k no matter where you go

 

[SirBrotherJam]

Varies from person to person. Depends on how much you take out in loans? Some max them out and others don't. I would say the tuition is the only semi-solid number. Books(buy them on don't), cost of living(parents or expensive apartment/house), transportation(walk, bus, pay for parking), and even lab fees are all flexible and estimates at best.

 

[HatInTheCat]

I take out the whole thing and adjust my budget to that.

 

[Blueshirts]

Does this number account for the loan fees and the interest that will accrue while you are in school? If not, that number will be higher, feel free to ask more questions if you need any assistance

 

[LidocaineMane32]

Does this number account for the loan fees and the interest that will accrue while you are in school? If not, that number will be higher, feel free to ask more questions if you need any assistance

No the number just accounts for the cost of attending the school; fees, tuition, housing, etc. I hope most people realize that interest will increase this amount but My question is more geared towards principle of loans.

I view it like a car loan. The car costs $30,000 but you’ll pay back $35,000 due to interest

 

[Blueshirts]

No the number just accounts for the cost of attending the school; fees, tuition, housing, etc. I hope most people realize that interest will increase this amount but My question is more geared towards principle of loans.

I view it like a car loan. The car costs $30,000 but you’ll pay back $35,000 due to interest

Good man..as for if it is close to the actual costs, it can depend on your spending habits, but generally schools like aire on the side of overshooting on personal costs in case you need to take out more loans. You can try to reach out to current students and see what they have to say, or do a little sleuthing on apartments.com to get a quick idea; generally though most students consistently use the same housing - works out for the landlord ad students to have something consistent year after year - so like i said before about reaching out to current students, they would be able to give you the best advice. You could even reach out to the school and ask for the contact for one of the student ambassadors and just shoot them an email if you needed to.

 

[ESPN907]

Never accurate, the numbers they show are usually a few years old to sweeten the deal but take the most recent year and increase by 3% each year for a conservative value...