College Money Traps

After Your Student Shows Up

To get more of your money in the college game, colleges and universities are like mosquitoes
at a backyard barbecue: they’ll nickel-and-dime you to distraction, especially if your child’s a
1st-year student. The following examples say it all:

1. Paper & Parking Copies from an ordinary copy machine can cost 15 cents a page
(U Connecticut) when a typical print shop charges less. My son can purchase $450 worth of
books for his next semester for $190 on the internet, but college bookstores happily charge full
price. Pay a $10 fine for the first time you’re caught without a parking sticker; $30 for the third
time; or, $50 for the fifth time (U Mass/Dartmouth). Parking violations are such a big
business that many colleges relish the thought of having hundreds of 1st-year students with
cars on campus.

2. Lost & Late Pay $25 to replace your lost student ID (Fitchburg State University). A late
book return to the library, after a grace period, can mean a fine of $25 per book per day
(Boston College). Late decisions on course selections can cost $25 (U New Hampshire).
If you’re late in dropping a class after a deadline, it can cost you $600 (Worcester State
University). Or, a private college will still charge you the full semester's tuition - with no
refund - if you drop a course whose pro-rated value is $4,200 (Boston U). Watch $35 fly
out of your wallet when you replace your room key (Clark U).

3. Picky & Petty Your student checks out a computer from the computer lab. Not noticing
that anything is missing, the computer is returned without its canvas case. Your student is
hit quickly with the meaning of a 20-dollar deficit. But there was no canvas case in the first
place. There was no record signed as to the condition of the borrowed item. You lose. Or,
each of the library computers has a small sticker that notifies the user not to use the
computer for email. If caught, you’re fined. Watch those hardly-noticeable installment fees -
could be 1.5% of your total. Or, the extra $1,000 for health insurance you don’t need. Here’s
a nightmare from one stu- dent: “I didn’t realize that if I dropped a class after the 5th
instructional day it would count toward termination of my financial aid.”

Colleges hide behind the firewall that protects them from the most stressed bill-payers -
parents - who do not have to be notified

about what the student forgets, or ignores. Instead, being of legal age, it’s the student’s
responsibility (read: because students pay little or no attention, the parents will pay). If the
student is a freshman, that's when the parent is most vulnerable. Your freshman may have
this mindset: “Rules? What rules?!” Eighteen-year-olds, away from controlling parents for the
first time, are easily tempted to ignore rules. Because this fact is life-sustaining oxygen to
the colleges, they carefully set their profit-center traps and place them all over campus. Sooner
or later, your student will step in one. Ka- ching!