How can I find out the cost of attendance at TAMU C.S.? The online "official" page at finanical aid lists room and board as $8400 and the footnote says this is for living and paying rent in College Station. Tuition and Fees is $8419. What about dorm and meal plan? Trying to compare apples to apples to find the cost of each school.

Found it . . . I think. Tuition is $8480. Food this current school year is $4400 for 19 meals. A dorm room, 2 person, costs just under $3000, average. So I am getting a cost of just under $16,000 for tuition, room and board. This does not include books, travel, etc. Trying to build a spreadsheet to show teen how much it costs to go out of state . . .

Tuition is $8840? Is this for 1 semester or 2?

2, do you want to see the bills?

That was the cost of tuition for 2012-13. Will obviously go up for 2013-14, even more if (when) they tack the fees for the stadium onto each hour.

Don't forget about differential tuition. Some of the colleges/departments charge this. It's usually not much, but it can increase your bill to around $9500/year. You can also use the tuition calculator located here:

http://sbs.tamu.edu/accounts-billing/tuition-fees/estimator/

I believe TAMU's official resident COA is around $21,000/year (per the Office of Admissions and Scholarships & Financial Aid); however, you can tailor some of the expenses to your own needs. I think you could do it easily for $16,000/year. Does your teen like Ramen noodles?

Fortunately, my kids do like ramen, since apparently it is too late to get into a dorm. Wish they required fish to stay on campus. Now we are apartment hunting.

Hmm, all the other schools applied to actually sent out a letter spelling out how much it was going to cost to attend next year. A&M is making us dig for the numbers online and by word of mouth.

TAMU will send a billing statement, but it won't go out until the summer (usually around mid-July). I did see some preliminary numbers recently that showed tuition and fees going up to around $9,000 per year. I don't know if these are final and I'm honestly surprised to see that kind of increase.

[This message has been edited by DougMasters (edited 3/27/2013 2:03p).]

https://financialaid.tamu.edu/Cost/COA_Undergrad.aspx

$20,000 is a pretty good estimate. That's about what I spend as a Junior.

Wow, each answer I get increases tuition by $1000 or more. Plus too late to get into a dorm, so that will increase costs. Will do the spreadsheet as well as I can with the information given, but it looks like the private schools and UT are cheaper at this point. Why does A&M not tell you how much they will cost prior to decision date of May 1? All other schools (that I know of)tell you the cost when they send you an acceptance letter.

New cost of attendance up on website. Tuition and Fees is now $8506. This is just the base amount, so the estimated cost for a year, according to the website is $21081. Does not include the course fees, etc.

If you have your student check their financial aid portal in Howdy, it will give you a shopping sheet breaking down the COA. And off campus housing tends to be cheaper than living in a dorm. Also, A&M has been far more generous than every other school in the state, including UT when it comes to financial aid.

Well, not in our experience. Was offered merit scholarships from every private and public school where accepted, in state and out of state - except A&M. Pretty surprised, not in a good way.

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Well, not in our experience. Was offered merit scholarships from every private and public school where accepted, in state and out of state - except A&M. Pretty surprised, not in a good way.

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The Scholarships office received 18,000 applications for around 3,000 scholarships. The average test score for students who received one was 1450 SAT and 33 ACT. Please know I'm not trying to knock your son/daughter, but just wanted you to realize how competitive it is. TAMU can't give everyone a scholarship.

I will say that if your son/daughter does decide to attend TAMU, his/her earning potential can increase over time. Students who perform well academically are more competitive for continuing scholarships at the university level as well as the departmental level. TAMU also encourages students to submit a new FAFSA every single year because family dynamics can change (retirement, number of kids in college, etc.).

You also have to remember what you're getting at TAMU. This is from a couple of years ago, but still worth mentioning:

http://www.thebatt.com/news/a-m-tops-return-on-investment-list-1.1498013

Yes, son met or beat those numbers. No scholarship. Would be third gen. Aggie, and the 8th Aggie in the family. He is not feeling very "maroon" right now. We are still hopeful he will make the choice for College Station, but the price is not helping our case, since he is debt-adverse. Got a couple of weeks of hope left.

He has better than 1450 SAT and did not get a scholarship? I'd be pretty surprised at that - top 10% I assume?

A&M has been ranked one of the top values several times in the last few years. Did that change all of the sudden?

I don't see a UT major for less than $9,000 per year. Some of them are north of $10,000. I'd venture to say cost of living is cheaper in CS than Austin also. Especially with the explosion of apartments the last five years in CS. Why are you having such a hard time? You are just taking messag board #s and running with them? Tuition is the main one. Cost of living and food are dependent upon your kids standard of living. The university can't narrow in on that...

Yep. TAMU just sent the financial letter last week. Months later than other schools. Not the bargin we thought it would be, when other schools offer merit to lower their tuition by $20K a year which makes it about the same price as A&M, but then A&M does not have dorm space, so rent and food is a huge unknown. TAMU may be cheaper by $1-2K but hard to know until we factor in room and board. The decision will not be easy. I am leaning toward go to a school where you can live on campus and concentrate on grades, and then see if you can transfer back next year and get on a dorm waiting list. Dad says no, just go to A&M, but you will have to borrow the extra money.

If $1-2k is making you lose sleep over this, it is going to be a stressful 4 years. If your student studies hard, gets involved in leadership organizations and stays out of trouble, that $1-2k will be knocked out from an internship before graduation.

I would say the difference in education quality should be the main driver. $1-2k savings today may translate to $100k lost over the first five years if he gets a lesser quality degree from a lesser quality university. Recruiters key in on particular schools for particular industries. What are the other schools he is considering and what field of study?

Btw there are a wide variety of living options available with a wide variety of price ranges in CS. Food is no more expensive in College Station that it would be at any other school do pretty sure that is a wash.

[This message has been edited by Are you a Wizard (edited 1/22/2014 12:31p).]

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Yes, son met or beat those numbers. No scholarship. Would be third gen. Aggie, and the 8th Aggie in the family. He is not feeling very "maroon" right now. We are still hopeful he will make the choice for College Station, but the price is not helping our case, since he is debt-adverse. Got a couple of weeks of hope left.

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I had a 1400 SAT, awesome HS grades, and I was given $1500/semester from a PES scholarship. Not sure how your son missed out. Extracurriculars? HS job? Anything else?

If you are looking at UT as the most likely other option, I can pretty much guarantee that everything in College Station will be cheaper. Friends that go there pay 2x for rent and parking pass across the interstate from campus, among other things. Your son might not be staying at the luxury resort student housing units popping up, but no one really needs that.

I would also argue that there are a lot of opportunities for student employment by living in a college town. That would more than make up the difference.