## Why families underestimate the true cost of college [00:00] All right, we are going to get started. Uh, welcome everyone. Right, uh, my name is Coach David. I'm going to be helping you with your, uh, kind of training today, right? We're going to be talking about what college actually costs because I think a lot of people misunderstand what it actually costs. Okay? Uh, so if you can do me a favor by putting your students grade in the channel, that'd be great, right? If you're a student, put your grade in the channel. Uh, and we will kind of get started right away. Okay. It is June 18th. It's right at 5:00. Right? We're going to kind of jump straight into it. Okay. Uh, so let's go ahead. Right. So, what we're going to be covering today, we're going to talk about college, what it costs, right? What's included, right? What are some costs that families don't often think about, right? How to fully understand the cost. And then I am going to have a special offer just for those that are live today. I will be stopping the recording in the middle and I will get to kind of those uh those special offers because I always appreciate my audience that is here uh week in and week out uh that support me by being here and listening to my kind of trainings. Okay. Uh but just a little bit about me. My name's Coach David, right? I'm a former law school and college admissions reader, right? I am a former attorney turned college admissions uh kind of guru expert, right? And I've also worked on financial aid for the last decade and a half as well. So, we will be kind of going through all these things, right? Uh again, we will have a replay, right? The special offer only for those that are here today, right? Uh but the replay will be available. If you're in our coaching family, it'll be on our YouTube channel. If you're in our Facebook group, you can go ahead and ask for it. I will make a post about this later on. Okay? So, let us get straight into it. So, financial aid news. This is actually news that I told you guys about yesterday or not yesterday, last week, right? Um, but there's a lot of scammers ## Cost of attendance explained... tuition, housing, food, books, fees [03:00] that are using AI to get financial aid uh for people that are not attending school. Okay? So, basically, they find your personal information, they sign up for FAFSA, they they register you at a school, and then they get the loan money or the the financial aid that that school is going to give you, right? The problem with this is that if it affects students that are headed to college, okay, there's been a much higher kind of surge in the types of kind of scams that are out there with with financial aid involved. But if you try to use your social security number and your birthday and this and that to try to sign up for an account and it tells you you already have an account, that is a huge red flag that you should be contacting the financial kind of FAFSA to see what is going on with your account. because if you never created one, well, why is your social security and birthday not being allowed to create a new account? Okay, so I wanted to bring this up again because like literally over the past week, there have been 10 articles about how AI and scammers have been using AI to scam basically uh states and and kind of governments, colleges out of, you know, millions of dollars. Okay, so just keep that in mind. Okay, now again, stay tuned, right? There's a lot of stuff going on in the world of financial aid in kind of college, you know, news in general. So, I'm going to try to keep you guys as updated as possible. But, as far as kind of like financial aid, I always tell people, don't be scared. Get prepared. Right now, I know that a lot of you out there have heard. I even had three consultations today with families that are like, "Yeah, I signed up, but I know we're not going to get anything." Right? Uh, and I was able to tell them that that is not the case. Right? So, I've heard it all, right? My family makes a little bit too much. Right? we own, we own our home, right? We have rentals, this and that, so on and so forth. There's a lot of excuses that people have out there and they just automatically in their minds disqualify themselves from financial aid, right? But that is not the case. Again, stick around to the end to sign up for a consultation. Okay? Now, before we get into our training for today, I really, really, really, right, because I do see that there was a bunch of people that said they're class of 2026. If you're already in our coaching program, you're set. We're going to take care of you. you're going to be good to go with your applications. But if you are not right, it is very important, okay, that you listen to this message. Okay? Now, for those of you that know our company, right, our company's Eagle, right, Financial Aid Secrets is a kind of subsidiary underneath Eagle Lock, right? We're all big one one big happy family. Okay? But we do have our college app intensives available. Okay? Uh our college app intensives, uh they are a kind of three-day process. The first day is earlier in the kind of summer, right, in June. And actually, I have something sad to tell you. We only have two weekends left, right? Realistically, I think it's just one weekend. The only weekend that is available for students to sign up for our kickstart event, which is a necessary requirement to sign up for our accelerator program, right, is this weekend. So, if you're ## Case studies... UCLA, USC, and Stanford [06:00] interested in our college app intensive where we help our students get from basically their ideas to kind of drafts and then to final drafts during the accelerator, right? This is your last weekend. You need to talk to us ASAP, right? Or sign up, okay? So, uh like I said a little while ago, unfortunately, the way the program is set up, the students need to go through the whole process. They need to go to the kickstart. They need to go to the accelerator, right? So, don't lose out on this chance. If you do have questions, I'm going to have a link. so you can talk with our team later on, right? But if you are like, "Oh, you know what? I already heard enough. I've talked to someone before. I need to sign up for it right away." Please go to collegeappointensive.com. That's where you can sign up for our summer program. Okay. But let's kind of get into the training now. We're going to talk about college costs. Right now, a lot of families when they're talking about college and we have our financial aid consultation, I'm like, "Yeah, you know, going to a UC costs this much." And they always say, "Oh, no, it doesn't. It costs like, you know, 15K." And I'm like that's just tuition right you have to think about all the other things that are included but it is way more than just tuition right so what we are going to be talking about today is the cost of attendance the coa right so it's not just the tuition there are so many other pieces and other expenses that you have to think about right but when we're talking about cost of attendance it's including tuition housing food books transportation personal expenses insurance this and that other fees yada yada yada I'll kind of go into more detail a little bit later, right? But remember, college is not just about paying tuition. If you just pay the tuition, your your student is not going to be able to live and eat and do all these other things, right? So, you have to think about what the total cost is going to be for everything that you need in order to go to college for one year. Okay? Again, talking about tu just the tuition is irrelevant unless the college is literally next door or driving distance and your student is going to commute. So for families out there where it's like, oh, I live in Southern California, but my kids going to Berkeley. You can't talk about tuition. You have to talk about the full cost of attendance. Okay. So with college costs, these are some of the things that you need to be thinking about. You have to be thinking about tuition. You have to be thinking about fees, right? Campus fees. You have to think about housing, food or meal plans, books and supplies, personal miscellaneous expenses, student health insurance, and transportation. Okay. Now, I thought that the easiest way to do this would be to give you exact examples. So, I am going to give exact examples, right? We're going to look at UCLA, we're going to look at USC, we're going to look at Stanford, and we're going to look at how they break down their specific cost of attendance. Okay? Each school does it a little bit different. So, let's take a look here. Okay. So, at UCLA, the tuition is right around $15,000. There's also campus fees around $800. Food and housing is around $19,000 a year. Right? One of the things I will say is this. Wherever you go to school, right? If you're going to a public university in your home state, the largest expense is going to be food and housing. It is not the tuition, right? So, if you live in Texas and you're going to UT Austin, right? Your biggest expense is going to be housing and food, right? It's not going to be the tuition. Okay? Keep that in mind. Right? Other books, materials, and supplies, another $1,700, right? Transportation, another $900. Personal expenses 2361. I'm going to be talking about this a little bit later because realistically, let us talk about what personal expenses really look like, right? And then health insurance, right? 3,579, right? So, the total cost of attendance for a full-time student living in campus housing, right? Eating at the cafeteria is going to be $43,137. That is what UCLA says it takes in order to send a student there for one year. Okay? Or not exactly one year, right? So basically September to June. Okay? So what is that? Nine months. Okay? So keep that in mind there. Right? Let's look at USC. Okay? USC the tuition is right ## Personal spending vs. what schools report [10:00] around $70,000 a year, right? Campus fees almost two and a half times what the UC's are, right? 1743, right? Food and housing, it's kind of similar, right? Uh 19,000 versus 20,000, right? At USC, right? Books, material, supplies, 1.5. the times the price of what UCLA is, right? Transportation costs, personal expenses, right? So, the total cost of attendance for a full-time student living in campus housing is $95,225. Okay? Now, some of the parents out there might be like, "Oh my god, I didn't realize college costs so much." Right? So, that's why we're here. We want to give you the information so that you can start to prepare. Okay? College is not a situation where you can like, you know, back in the day students were working their way through college. that doesn't that doesn't necessarily exist anymore, right? If you think about it, just the tuition alone, right, is probably more than a student's average salary after they graduate. Again, depending on the major they graduate with, things like that, right? Might be a little bit different, right? But $95,225, that is the price at USC. Okay? Now, let's look at Stanford, right? Something close by to me, right? I live in the Bay Area, right? Tuition, it's a little bit cheaper, 67,731. Campus fees are a whole lot more, right? Almost three times the cost of at a UC, $2,475, right? You have food and housing, very, very high, right? Again, living in that area on the peninsula, uh, in the Bay Area is a very expensive place to live. The dorms are going to be more expensive. Food costs are more expensive. Everything's more expensive. 22167, right? Books, materials, and supplies actually lower than at USC, right? $840. And here they actually put in transportation and then they don't even add it in. They just say varies, right? And then personal expenses, $3,300, right? Onetime fees $775. The cost to go to Stanford is $97,288. That's what it costs to go to Stanford. ## The rise of travel costs and what families forget to budget [12:00] Now, I told you every school is a little bit different. Let me tell you about some of the differences that I saw just from a high level when I was looking at the different way that the schools break these things down. Okay, so first UCLA and USC differ in that UCLA has health insurance included in the total cost of attendance. USC does not, right? If we add in the cost of health insurance that was at UCLA into USC, the total cost is closer to $98,000. Okay, $99,000 almost, right? However, remember, health insurance is not mandatory, right? Uh at the school that you are going to, right? But it does make a lot of things easier, right? Uh, one of the things that I always tell families is, okay, yeah, you might have health insurance through your, you know, uh, mom or dad's work, right? But the problem is is that when you go to a college that's maybe away from home, you don't, you're not sure if you have coverage or not, right? Um, so, uh, you know, if it is a very particular kind of health plan, you might want to think about getting coverage, right, from uh, the school because the school has a clinic, right? They have a hospital, right? Whatever it is, right? uh it's easier to kind of get health treatment at the kind of school location, right? Uh if you are, you know, and if and if your student has like a chronic health issue, right? Uh you want to make sure you have adequate adequate adequate coverage if you're going to a new location. Okay. Now, another thing Stanford didn't include travel expenses or transportation costs, right? So, you need to make sure that you factor in the cost of that. Okay. So, a long time ago when I was going to college, if you booked early enough, there were flights for uh $29 and $39 one way. Okay? So, you can get a flight back and forth for like 70 bucks, right? Those days are gone. Okay? So, even if you live in Southern California, depending on the time of year you're trying to travel, it might be 2 3 4 $500 to travel, right? If you're traveling back and forth, I don't know, you know, 2, three, four, five times a year, that's another $2 $3,000 that you could be looking at, right? And again, if you live even further, like let's say you're on the east coast and you're coming to the west coast, right? During peak travel season, you might you might be paying $1,000, $1,200 for a ticket back home. Okay? So again, each school does it very very different. So you need to make sure that you are thinking about those costs. Okay? Now, you might have been thinking, okay, well, all right, now I know what the the rough costs are. But there are hidden costs and that's what we're trying to talk about today so that you guys have a better idea of what is going on. Okay. So one of the things like there are a lot of different things that can be happening here. Right. Um but one of the things that I will say is that there's a lot of things that are overlooked here. Okay. Now from the things that are overlooked right there are different things. There are lab and science fees in addition to tuition. There's also parking fees. There's study abroad fees. There's technology fees, additional fees by major. So, if you're a certain major at a certain school, ## Hidden line items... parking... tech fees... meal plan gaps [15:00] they might charge you more in tuition, right? There's also like a lot of schools that have co-ops, right? And I think co-ops are great because a lot of students are able to get work experience before they go out into the real world, right? But let's say that you're going to school, right? A school that's very famous for their co-ops is Northeastern, right? But let's say that your, you know, co-op is in New York and you need to be in office, right? Well, you need to move all your stuff to New York, find a place in New York, and then live there instead of living on campus or in an apartment in uh you know, in in the Boston area, right? So, if that happens, well, there's relocation costs, right? There's also graduation costs. Now, again, if you get if you get closer to graduation, I'm sure mom and dad, you're happy to pay the $200 for a capping down, right? But it's something that you do need to think about. There's also recreation pass fees. Okay? Again, some schools have these things, right? So, we need to think about them. Greek life, right? Greek life fees, right? So, again, think back to when you were in college, right? It might have been different when you were there, but most Greek life organizations nowadays have dues that you need to pay in order to be part of their organization, right? They can range anywhere between $500 to $2,000. Okay? So, something to think about there. And finally, personal expenses. So before we move on to other things and other colleges that do have these things, what I'm going to do is talk about personal expenses. Now I'm going to go back a couple slides here. And the reason I'm going to go back is because I want you guys to be able to look at what what the schools think is a reasonable amount of personal expenses. Okay, Stanford says $3,300 for the year, 9 months. Okay. Uh USC says $2,000 is kind of the personal expense allowance that they're putting in, right? UCLA says $2,400 roughly speaking for 9 months. Okay. Now, if we just do some simple math, right, $2,400 divided by 9, it's like $280 a month. Okay. $2,000 divided by 9, that is like 20 not a lot. $220, right? $3,300 at Stanford, that's roughly $30 and something dollars a month. That is what they're saying. that a student is going to use over the course of a month. Okay? Now, let's realistically think about that in today's market. Okay? When I go out to eat, right? And again, I'm not going anywhere super fancy, right? So, if your su if your student is a super kind of like foodie, right, and they're going to the, you know, uh, you know, the newest place and the in the hottest place, right? This number is going to balloon like crazy for you, right? But even if I just go out to a normal restaurant, right? per person, you're looking at, I don't know, $25, $30. Okay? And if that is the case, right, for a one-time outing. The question becomes, well, are they able to eat on campus every single day? Right? Being a college student in the more modern age ## Extra costs from majors like business and engineering [18:00] than our parents, right? One of the things I will say is that a lot of the times students get sick of what's at the cafeteria. They're going out a lot more. They're ordering in. Uber Eats and Door Dash have made it very easy, right? But right the personal expense costs I do not think reflect the reality of what things cost and what is actually happening on college campuses. I think it is way higher than that. Okay. Now for those of you that have a student in college, right? I know that some families do, right? You can put a quick yes if you agree with me or you can put a quick no if you disagree. Right? So if your student's living on $200 or $300 in allowance money a a month, right? Go ahead and put a no. Right? N. Right? If they are not and you're actually sending them more, uh, put a yes in in the in the chat. Okay. Um, but okay, I see people putting stuff in in the Q&A, right? So, they're saying yes. Yes. Yeah, students are spending more. Okay. So, that is another area that you do have to think about. There's going to be an additional cost. Okay. But let's also talk about some colleges, right? Well-known ones, right? That do have additional costs. Okay? So, let's talk about it here. Okay? So, these are just some examples of where's colleges are kind of adding in additional costs for students. All right, USC parking fees for the year are over $500. Okay, so that's an additional cost, right? Let's say that your students commuting back to Portland school. They need a parking pass. It's they they need it, right? Um so $500 a year there. Boston University. If you're at Boston University and you decide that you're going to study abroad somewhere, there is a sir charge, right? up to $2,000 on top of your tuition, right? So that you could go study abroad. Okay. NYU has technology fees. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but they're about $500 a year. Okay. UC Berkeley has meal plan gaps which are about $100 to $200 a year. Right? Now, what meal plan G I can't talk. Meal plan ## Study abroad surcharges and relocation for co-ops [20:00] gaps are, right? What those are are there are areas where students might not be going home for a certain area, right? but it's not covered under the meal plan, right? So, for instance, like Thanksgiving time, right? It's kind of like a quick back and forth. So, some students stay on campus, but that's not covered. So, you have to have a meal plan gap there, right? Uh other areas might be, you know, um for other breaks where the cafeteria is off and things like that and you have to eat at other other kind of locations, whatever it might be, right? University of Michigan has tiered tuition for engineering or business majors, right? So, for business majors, it's $1,000 more expensive per year for tuition, right? For for engineering students, it's $2,000 more per year for tuition, right? Versus other students that might be studying other things in other colleges like the literature, science, and arts college. Okay? Greek life dues generally range in around $500 to $1,000 range, right? And then you have co-op, right? Relocation costs. It might be $1,500 or more, right? there are additional costs to college. It is not just what's on that paper. Okay? So, those are the things that I want you to guys to remember here. Right? Now, here are the takeaways that I say, right? While many times colleges overinflate the total cost of attendance, right? Because I have talked to families and they say, "Yeah, so they said it was around 95, but we spent around 92." Right? Many times with the additional things you need to pay for, it's actually closer to a true number. Right? Again, I do have those families that say, "Oh, I went to, you know, a UC and it only cost me 37." Right? But did you really think about the spending money that you sent your student, right? Did you did you think about all the kind of extra things that were charged to your card, this and that so on and so forth, right? So, I want you to think about the little pieces, right? Those little things that kind of eat away at the kind of costs, right? Um that you're spending every single year, right? You know, uh you know, your student says, "Oh, like uh I'm going to spend, you know, this much to do this or do that, right? Um, you have to kind of factor all those things in so you have a true idea of what college actually costs. Okay? So again, I always tell families it's not knowing that becomes the problem, right? So I want you guys to be able to understand the school that you're going to, right? Help your student budget and also help your family understand the costs that are associated with going to that particular school. Right? Again, a lot of people that are watching might be scared. Right? I do see a lot of younger families here too. I see 28, 29, 30, even 31, right? I'm not here to scare you. And realistically, by the time your student, right, younger grade student is heading off to college, the numbers are going to be even higher, right? Private schools, they're going to be over $100,000 a year, right? The UC's are going to be well over $50,000 a year, right? But again, there are ways to help you. And we've helped thousands of other families save as well. Okay? So again, I always take like to take a little time at the end to brag about some of our results, right? But for this family, right, they made $350,000 a year, right? Owned their ## Graduation costs... Greek life dues... recreation fees [23:00] own home. They had rental properties. They had $1.4 million in assets. But we were able to get them around 30 35 37K from different schools in uh you know that were on the students list like Chapman, Forom, and University of San Diego. Okay. I was able to help this family that had over a $400,000 income, over 2 million assets, and a business, right? Get over $40,000 a year from BEu. Okay. So again, another situation where we are able to help, right? And then this family, right, just over just over $200,000, right? $800,000 in assets. They own their own home. We were able to get them $32,000 at AU. Okay? So the chances for your family are out there, right? It just depends on if you take the opportunity to talk to us or not. Okay? So if you do have questions for us, right? Uh I I can also answer them today. Put them in the Q&A, right? Uh, but if you want to have a more like kind of private conversation, go ahead and text money to 949-775865 or you can use the QR code on the left to book a consultation with me. Okay. If you're interested in our college application intensives or if your student is younger in our coaching programs, text college to 949-7750865. Okay. now, right? Again, I told you guys just for those people that are here today, I'm going to have a special offer. So, I'm going to stop the recording, right? So that I can provide it for them, right? For those that are watching our replay, I'm sorry you weren't here today, right? Uh but please show up for our future kind of training so that you can take advantage of these special kind of flash sales that we do have. Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and stop the recording. Everyone else, have a great night watching the recording, right? Uh, and for those that are here, just give me one second so that I can get you guys that special offer. Okay? All right, everyone. Have a great night.