Back in 2005, long before my oldest was going to start University I wrote University is Going to Cost How Much? Outlining from an article from the University of Waterloo, possible University costs over the four years of my daughters’ careers, little did I know how much was missed by me. This Throwback Thursday I will reexamine the naive view I had of the costs that were going to face me (financially), and hopefully help those still wondering how much this might cost, when their children go to a post secondary school.

Surprisingly the numbers quoted by the University of Waterloo Web Page aren’t really that out of whack (at the time):

• A student in the Co-Op program living on campus would pay $10K-12K
• Living Off-campus they’d pay $7K-$8K
• If they lived at home $4K-6K

Now remember this was about 9 years ago, and the numbers quoted are for a 4 month stint (so the real annual numbers are doubled).

The interesting extra costs that I learned about (the hard way) are:

• Computing device of some kind, be it a tablet, laptop, desktop or all of them, is going to cost you and you had better make sure you have a reliable I.T. set up (all 3 of my daughters had their laptops blow up during final exams). You will more likely than not have to replace those devices after about 2 years. That is about a $400-$2000 cost (every two  years, not including any I.T. issues, like hard drive failures and the like).
• Trips home, if the kids are not living at home, they will want to come home, and depending on how far away they live this cost could add up to more than $1000 per 4 month term. Yes, we can all say, “They should just stay there for Thanksgiving!”, and other hard-line statements, but until you have lived the life, careful about your comments.
• Fees and such are an interesting add-on that most universities charge. Some you can try to get refunds on (if your Health insurance covers your kids, then don’t pay for the University’s Health insurance as well), however there are many “activity fees” that are non-refundable as well, so watch out for those they can add up.
• Living off campus can be cheaper, unless you have to furnish that apartment, and supply plates, pots, pans, etc., as well. A one time cost, but still not an expense to forget about (yes used furniture places are great for this to save money). Other incidental costs like Internet Access and heating bills add up as well, figure out a monthly budget with your kids so they learn how to live within their means.

What about Co-Op Programs ?

If your child is looking at a Co-Op program, talk with them about the importance of learning to be self-sustaining, and how proud they might feel paying for all of their education themselves, they might fall for that ploy too.