The Meter Is Running
Be prepared to pay for college long before Junior heads out the door
Once a student settles on a school, there's usually a deposit (typically $500) to pay, even for students eligible for financial aid.
Summer school
Many students try to get a leg up on their freshman year by attending summer school. Start, a program for incoming freshmen at the University of Mississippi, gives students the chance to come to school at the end of June, earn six credit hours, and learn about college life.
Tuition for Start participants is $513.75. Students pay for three credit hours, and the university covers the other half. Besides tuition, students are charged $810 for room and board. However, the program provides some scholarships, which cover "approximately 70 percent of the cost," says Donald Howie, director of the summer school program.
Some community colleges offer an alternative to the prefreshman programs. Michael Morrison, president of the North Iowa Area Community College, works with high school students who want an early start on college. Such students can earn nearly one year of college credit.
Cornell University offers Summer College for high school sophomores through seniors, who can earn up to eight credits and get a taste of college life. The academic credits earned at Summer College can generally be applied to an undergraduate degree at Cornell or another school. Depending on the length of the program, students pay from $1,460 to $7,250 for tuition.
The campus visit
If your child wants to visit half a dozen colleges, it could break the bank. There are hotels, meals, and airfare to consider, not to mention sky-high gasoline prices if the school is within driving range. During spring break, Alice Boyd organized a seven-day trip that cost about $3,000. Sam visited eight schools, which helped him weed out over half of them. "He's interviewed at a few schools, and he's doing more at the end of October," Alice Boyd says. Heather Banks visited schools from Pennsylvania to South Carolina with her son. "I didn't know that it would cost so much," she says. "They charged for the orientation, which was about $225 without the hotel." Even though that may seem expensive, it can prove a bargain compared with the cost of four years at a college that is ill-suited to your child's needs.
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