To me, personally, being able to pay SDSU tuition effortlessly now without screwing with our budget fills me with pride. Pride verging on euphoria. I am grateful for this possibility…
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Scaredy- from your boots on the ground perspective… what’s the annual hit for SDSU/year. I assume you’re also paying for, or helping pay for, food/lodging for your son.
I’m thinking the living costs posted on the website are higher for living costs than they really need to be.
They have the total hit for a year of undergrad at SDSU as $22802. Of that 6976 is tuition and fees. I’m guessing that with roommates and a bike – you can spend a lot less than the $15826 for living expenses/books/etc.
I’m curious what your experience is with your son….
Oh, hey Piggs, I just finished our tax returns at midnight last night and so now have the 2014 tax software installed. I DO plan on getting Joe and Suzy Sixpack’s (w/2 kids in daycare and after-school care) tax situation up here on a thread within the week. Sorry for the delay but have been very busy the past few months.
UCGal, that $15,826 quote from SDSU is likely for 19 meals per week in the dining hall, which is extremely excessive, especially if the student works off campus. The dining hall at ALL 23 CSUs is the BIGGEST profit margin for the schools. I don’t know if SDSU has them but the BEST HOUSING DEAL at the CSU campuses is the 4 bdrm SUITES where each student gets their own (locked) room and shares a small “kichenette” and living room with 3 others. There are 2 bdrms on each side of the LR/DR and balcony/patio sharing one bathroom (2 baths per suite) and one storage room for bikes and boxes opposite the kitchenette barstools as you walk in the front door (opened with student ID like a hotel to prevent break-ins). Granted, the kitchenette has a 4-burner cooktop, overhead micro, 15 cf frig and NO OVEN, NO DISHWASHER and ONE sink but I donated a large used countertop oven to my kid’s suite (to cook pizzas, etc in), which is “legal” as long as it has a timer on it.
In addition, the suites have personalized mail service, bike lockups, irons and vacuums to borrow, on site RA’s, full security and wifi in every room.
Most of these (~4 story) complexes were built between 2005 and 2011 and not all CSU campuses have them. The typical early 1960’s CSU dorm room has zero privacy, only very small frig and micro, beds seven feet from roommate’s and no wifi (hardwired). It cannot possibly compare with the suites and they cost only ~$600 more per year than a freshman “dorm” room, due to their occupants being able to obtain just a “minimum meal plan” costing $70 week in “points” to spend on campus for fast food meals, snacks and groceries. Compare this to the campus dining room, which ends up costing ~$6.61 to ~$8.31 per meal … whether the student is actually present on campus to eat it … or not.
The “suites” (where my youngest currently lives while attending CSU) cost $12,997 for one academic year and that includes the $70 week food/meal allowance. It addition, the food points do not “disappear” each Saturday night (whether the student used them or not) as they do with dining hall meal plans attached to dorm leases but all the points need to be used by the end of the academic year or they will be forfeited. The student could theoretically go to the campus markets and spend the remaining amount on non-perishable food/sundries before the end of the academic year and bring it home.
So, the total cost for a FT resident-student at my kid’s CSU campus is $20,264 and that includes a parking pass for one vehicle all year.
My kid has $12,066 in annual guaranteed financial aid in the form of a tuition fee waiver and scholarship each year, PROVIDED they consistently carry 12 units and maintain a 2.0 GPA. For academic year ’14/15, that leaves $8,196 for me to pay for room and board (dad covers vehicle, auto/health insurance and cell phone).
I’m still undecided on what we will do for housing for sophomore year and beyond. Kid is coming home for Spring Break and we will decide. I don’t know if I want to buy/rent a nearby house for the remaining years (and rent the other bdrm(s) out to other students) or just do another suite lease on campus … perhaps for one more year. Housing is a bit cheaper than South County SD (where I reside) surrounding my kid’s campus.
UCGal, your kids will be able to live at home and drive to campus for class IF SDSU accepts them (sorry, but this is actually fairly dicey in this day and age, due to their preference for OOS/OOC students paying the full freight) so all you would need to cover for them would be tuition fees, campus fees, parking and books. You live too close to SDSU to be required to pay for housing.
Hopefully the CSU’s tuition and campus fees won’t continue to skyrocket each year like they did between 2004 and 2013. Each campus also has mandatory CSU fees, parking fees and also fees to use amenities on that particular campus (whether the student uses them or not).
I still think the 23-campus CSU system is a good deal in CA but surrounding housing varies wildly in price by campus. Other western states’ public universities have higher tuition than CA but offer the WUE to CA residents and its member campuses have cheaper (in some cases MUCH CHEAPER) surrounding housing than the CSU campuses, so the WUE tuition portion for an out-of-state student combined with their cheaper housing turns out to be a wash compared to CSU. But your kid would have to be willing to attend college in those locales and you would need to figure in the cost of RT’s to/from home. Hope this helps.
