Hidden costs of going to college

Hidden costs of going to college.

College Costs: Tuition Is Just the Beginning

Before sending her daughter off to college in Virginia, Sharon Pohlmann knew she'd have to budget for flights between Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond. But the $60 taxi rides to and from the airport were an unavoidable surprise.

Her daughter would wear a University of Richmond sweatshirt on the plane in hopes of finding someone to split the cost of a taxi ride back to school, Ms. Pohlmann says. It worked sometimes.

Her annual college-related travel expenses: about $1,600, $400 of it for cab fare.

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When it comes to paying for college, tuition and room and board are just the beginning. To set a realistic budget, parents need to account for a host of miscellaneous expenses — and leave some room for the unexpected.

There's travel, transportation, supplies beyond books and lab fees, parking permits, laundry and midnight food runs, just to name a few. You can easily expect to spend an additional 5% to 10% of the college sticker price a year, experts say.

"All these extra costs as a lump sum can add up to quite a bit of extra money that parents haven't really considered," says Deborah Fox, founder of San Diego-based financial-planning firm Fox College Funding.

So how do you go about identifying, and budgeting for, miscellaneous and unexpected expenses?

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Talk to the experts — that is, parents and students who have gone through it. You can use social-media websites and sites like collegeconfidential.com to ask other students and parents specific financial questions. When sitting down to create your budget, include your college-bound kid in the conversation — he or she will undoubtedly come up with costs you haven't thought of. And re-examine the budget at the end of each semester to make adjustments based on what you've actually spent.

Shelley Lloyd's son, Gregory, majored in music in college. But when budgeting for school supplies, Ms. Lloyd and her husband didn't take into account all the trumpet sheet music — $10 to $15 each — he would need to buy. The tab for one year: $250. Then there was the formal wear for concerts.

Ms. Lloyd, who lives in New Hartford, Conn., estimates that with those items, along with the mouth pieces, mutes and instrument cases, she spent several thousand dollars during Gregory's four years in college. She says she anticipated additional equipment, but never this much. "I would cry" when adding up the costs, Ms. Lloyd says.

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Think all meals will be covered by the pricey meal plan you opted for? Think again.

Kids will oversleep and miss breakfast hours at the cafeteria. They'll eat out with friends. They'll buy lots of caffeinated beverages. And you'll likely get stuck with the tab.

"No one will say 'Let's hang out and get a water at Chili's and then get a snack at our residential hall,'[nbsp ]" says Bill Pratt, who teaches a personal-finance class at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

Some parents don't factor in clothing if the student is going to live in a climate that's very different from home. When Diane Sturges's children left Texas to attend college in Minnesota and Massachusetts, they weren't outfitted for the harsh winter weather. They needed "new coats, heavy socks, snow-worthy shoes," Ms. Sturges says.

She spent at least $1,500 on winter clothes the first year — on top of the $1,000 she coughed up for snow tires for her daughter's car.

And what will you do with the stuff crammed into your kid's dorm room at the end of the school year? If school is too far away to haul it home in a car, bus or train, you'll have to pay to store it near school, ship it home or check extra baggage on a plane.

Mackenzie Firer-Sherwood, who lived in Chicago and went to school in upstate New York a few years ago, says she spent around $200 each summer to store three boxes filled with lamps, bedding and winter clothing.

But when parents write that last college-related check, Ms. Lloyd says, "it's like winning the lottery."

Hidden costs of going to college