UAH is crazy expensive!!!????? (Auburn, Troy: rent, co-op, credit)

[Nashvilleishome]

Hello everyone..this is my first post but I have been reading posts on here for a while. Recently moved here from Nashville and have been unable to find a job here for a year now (I have a bachelor's and a master's degree). I decided to go back to grad school this fall to UAH and OH MY...this school is outrageously expensive!!!! I am paying over $150 more per semester hour than I am used to paying at any other college/grad school I have ever been to!!!..and have had to jump through SO many hoops to even get into the program (and it's not even a "degree" grad program)!!! Today I went to the off campus bookstore to get my books for my one class (all that I can afford!) and the off campus bookstore is MUCH cheaper for the SAME (new) book than the on campus bookstore is for the used book??? WTF????? Is this normal??? I am from Nashville so I'm not exactly from the boonies by any means and I have been to good and accredited universities....just wondering what's up with this..My class starts next week and I'm already about ready to drop out!!!! I don't qualify for financial aid...this is crazy to me!!!

[mimpdaddy]

Tuition is high because the school is doing alot of new construction.
I feel your pain because I go there too.

[pennquaker09]

Not to mention, UAH degrees in some areas are worth more than the same from Alabama, Auburn, or UAB.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Nashvilleishome

Recently moved here from Nashville

been unable to find a job here for a year now

I'm confused. You recently moved "here" but you've been unable to find a job "here" for a year? Are there two different "here"s?

Originally Posted by Nashvilleishome

I am paying over $150 more per semester hour than I am used to paying at any other college/grad school I have ever been to!!!.
it's not even a "degree" grad program
the off campus bookstore is MUCH cheaper for the SAME (new) book than the on campus bookstore is for the used book???
I'm already about ready to drop out!!!!
I don't qualify for financial aid..

You researched all this before you made the move, right?

What are you majoring in?
What are your career ambitions?

[ionlife]

College/University prices are high everywhere. There was an article about this fact in the Hville times about a month or so ago. Basically, tuitions all over the nations have more than doubled and that is AFTER adjusting for inflation. The average Auburn costs for room and board, tuition, books, and fees are over 20,000 in-state. And the fees are going up. The primary reason cited for the outrageous increases was CONSTRUCTION OF LARGE BUILDINGS SUCH AS STADIUMS ETC., and HIGH SALARIES (tho' many profs make very little compared to their private industry peers).

Add to those costs the very real economic tumble of last year and we have even higher costs.

It will cost, if we pay for it all, out of our pocket, approximate 80-100K to send our daughter to a four year in-state college (Auburn). Out of state is not an option unless there are scholarships or, as I've heard some are doing due to financial considerations (read *they need our money*), out of state tuition fees are waived.

[Charles]

Several ways to beat high cost of education (I should get a Nobel Prize on this subject):

Community college for two years, then switch over to a four year like UAH. This has to be the cheapest way to go other than a service academy or full scholarship.

Depending on the major (engineering?), a less prestigious university (UAH) may offer nearly the same education (meaning, your starting salary won't be that much lower) as an Auburn or U of A. Live at home, work part time, co-op at the local engineering firms. Get hired by a Northrop Grumman or Raytheon or some company with a good tuition reimbursement program and they pay for a couple masters degrees.

Service academies.

I did a combo of the first two: Cal State Northridge (started in 1979), $500/semester included tuition books, parking, fees, everything. I also attended junior college coincidently because it was hard to get the basic calculus and physics classes at a decent schedule. Got a job and the boss paid for my MS in engineering and my MBA. The most for the least.

To pay for college, save using a 529 or the Coverdell College Savings ($2000/year) accounts. Both are parents' assets so aren't considered too much for financial aid calculations. $2000/year for 18 years at 10% is $99K. If junior gets into Stanford and needs more dough, then gift your taxable mutual funds to him and let him pay the long term capital gains.

But I have even a better idea: If you have daughters, have them marry rich doctors (and not witch doctors). Instead of getting good grades in a useful field, they should just go to the gym and keep it tight. Hang out at the med school library and look for Dr. Right somewhere between the physiology and bacteriology sections.

[zenjenn]

Doctors aren't rich anymore, Charles, and if doctoring becomes a public service job, even less so.

So you better tell your daughters to pay attention in class.

[Croye22]

I feel your pain, OP. UAH is pretty damn expensive. It's ridiculous how high the on campus bookstore is. For my college, I only go to our bookstore IF and only IF the book is cheap, which usually not possible. I either go to the off campus bookstore, Half.com, or recently chegg and rent mine.

I refuse to pay $600 for books anymore.

[Southlander]

UAH is higher than UA or AU, but not by much.

The big reason state college and university tuition has increased so much (at least in Alabama) is that the state has given less and less and less money to state-funded colleges - so much less that Troy University dropped the "State" from its moniker about a year or so ago.

Successful coaches such as Nick Saban earn only a small portion of their salaries from tuition. Most of their salaries come money raised from athletic department funds (which come from ticket sales, licensing fees and donations) and endorsement contracts. If you doubt this, I suggest you visit the forums on al.com to be quickly educated.

There is no excuse for the high prices of college textbooks, except that it is more expensive to print books nowadays. Often the professors who wrote the required textbook teaches the class, and only a few colleges use that textbook hence the higher cost, and guess what? The professor updates the edition every year, so you can't use a used book!

DD had one class with a textbook that came with a CD. The CD was obsolete after one year.

I did just read this week about textbook publishers who are renting books at a "slightly less" cost than a new book.

[jp646]

This is going to sound silly to most of you, but I just joined and I was wondering how to you post/start a forum? Like ask a question and have people respond like this one. Thanks.