$15k for just this semester?! Ouch. Still - super exciting for your DS :)and it's an excellent school for engineering. If DD had chosen that path, I would have recommended Waterloo too. How much was just the residence and meal plan portion? Something like $12k for the 8 months, right? He also won some scholarships, right? How much did he get again?
The residence with meal plan is $7200 plus 400 if he ends up getting a single room. That is billed later. We want him to have the gradual transition out of our house and this seemed like the best option for him to make friends, learn how to live independently and hopefully manage the stress and workload successfully. Living at home and commuting was not an option. Next semester it is significantly less for the room. September -December is the highest demand, so they charge the most for that semester.
The tuition itself is so much more expensive than I had imaged. $6,900. Mine at UoT was 1895 for the last semester (back in 1991). It was the same as dentristy and pharmacy. (even though my starting salary was half). There are also a lot of fees for co-op and insurance. We can't opt out of those. The ones that we could opt out of, are really only a small proportion and I believe in supporting the initiatives that they fund. If our insurance was better than the university plan, we could opt out of it as well. So it all adds up to $8,400. on the tuition bill for each semester it stays the same.
He got a one time scholarship of $2000 and then a couple of high school prizes so I think it all came to about $3000.00.
He has been working part time so I think he has saved $9,000. between his various accounts. He continues to pick up odd jobs and has been very diligent about saving money. He doesn't buy any of the usual stuff Hubs and I would spend money on. We are suggesting that he cover books and extras this semester.
We are going to buy all his clothes and supplies he needs to get moved in (shoes, rain coat, XL sheets, laundry bags etc). He has one suits for funerals and interviews, but I think he should probably get a couple more dress shirts and ties for changing it up on interviews. We will probably buy him another suit in a couple of years so that he can go to events as required.
I checked the calculator on the OSAP website. Our income is way above grant levels. Hubs got a big raise last year. Son would qualify for $4500 in loan apparently. So I think for now, we are just going to pull down from the RESP. My stepmom is going to continue to contribute to it until our DD is 18. My Dad and her have been building them for each set of grandchildren and so there is lots of money there. The plan was for it to cover tuition for six semesters. Hubs' parents also gave us money on the weekend for each of them. If a chunk of loans are required, my son has a 25K inheritance invested for him which he can draw on at 25. It is flowing from my TFSA to his as his contribution room opens up each year. As much due to fortune of birth as our own hard work, we are set. Finances I don't have to worry about.
Mental and physical health and workload and girls and job finding.....I can still worry myself silly on all those areas.....