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Education Costs

saltymoob

I have applied to the University of Waterloo for Architecture (2011-12) and am fairly confident of being accepted. My main concern now is money. I don't know if tuition needs to be paid during co-op terms or any other coincidental costs. But if all the costs are every semester I'm looking at $250, 000 for only five years. This seems obscene to live in a small town, in a basement with five other people and go to school for only five years. Have I done my math wrong or is this normal? 

 
Apr 27, 11 5:08 pm
Rusty!

Your math seems waaaaay off. But first, it's not technically a 5 year degree. It's a 4 year undergrad with grad taking about 4 to 6 terms on average after that.

 

So, undergrad:

 

8 terms x $6,600= $52,800

7 co-op terms x $610=$4,270

 

your undergrad will cost just under $60k.

 

Grad:

 

$2,327 per term x (let's say 5 terms) = about $12k

 

So be prepared to pay about $75k for the whole thing (not including the rental of said basement dungeon).

 

I paid about 1/3 of that at the same school 15 years ago.  If the prices were this high when I went, I would have skipped architecture all-together.  

 

Also, don't be so sure you got in :)

Apr 27, 11 5:33 pm  · 
 · 
saltymoob

Thanks for the input, I was really stressing out about both the price and the portfolio (I had to mail-in) now I can just keep myself awake at night stressing about acceptance.

Apr 27, 11 6:29 pm  · 
 · 
Bench

Also, remember that you will (most likely) be making money on your co-op terms. The set-up is nice enough that you can usually make enough money from one co-op term to cover the entire next term of academia (my roommate is in 3B Civil and that has been the case for him, although if you do not live at home for the co-op you may not make quite enough). Good luck on the application; its a tough school to get into.

 

Apr 27, 11 6:54 pm  · 
 · 
tricks

Note that: First-year tuition – 2 academic terms/8 months = $6,600

so that's more like 4 (years) x $6,600 = $26,400

 

Plus you go to Rome one semester and add in a few other trips, you'll average around $30,000 for your entire academic 5-year life at Waterloo. Not too bad. And you'll probably won't live in a basement with 5 other kids.. rent in Cambridge is cheap. gl.

 

 

Apr 27, 11 7:07 pm  · 
 · 
Bench

Architecture tuition at Waterloo is WAY more than $3,300/term. Waterloo's tuition in general isn't cheap; prices go up for professional programs and also go up again for co-op programs.

 

Apr 27, 11 7:26 pm  · 
 · 
Rusty!

oops, tricks, you appear to be correct. my bad.

 

So the total will be about $40-$50k for the whole thing. Not bad, especially compared to what poor yankees have to pay.

Apr 27, 11 7:31 pm  · 
 · 
tricks

Yeah, I did forget to add the $600 co-op fee for the next 3 years.. but it should still be in around $30,000 in total for 5 years (8 academic terms) of school. I'm not sure what you're going on about really, Waterloo (like most public universities) is relatively cheap.

 

For full disclosure, check here: http://www.findoutmore.uwaterloo.ca/financing/expenses.php

 

And that $4200 per 'extra fees' is pretty generous, the only terms where you might require spending that much on top of tuition are first year and fourth year.

Apr 27, 11 7:33 pm  · 
 · 
Tectonic

At SCI-Arc 5 year BARCH = $258,340 (does not include misc. expenses) per their website:

http://www.sciarc.edu/portal/admissions/tuition/index.html

Apr 27, 11 7:34 pm  · 
 · 
tricks

Also.. saltymoob are you an international student? If so, keep in mind your tuition will be jacked up 4x to around $14,000 a term.

Apr 27, 11 7:42 pm  · 
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saltymoob

Your numbers for tuition seem solid, the living expenses seem daunting as per the university's mail-outs. At $400/month  plus food and "field trips" the total cost seems to be a lot more than $75 000.

Apr 27, 11 9:46 pm  · 
 · 
blah

Tectonic,

 

There are people that can afford that. They can probably self-generate clients afterwards because they are wealthy.

 

The whole profession is RAPIDLY mutating and we'll see where we end up.

 

 

Apr 27, 11 10:07 pm  · 
 · 
Bench

Sorry, I was accounting for additional fees on top of tuition in above post. Remember that you will pay in the neighbourhood of $600/term of extra fees, and $600/term for co-op fees, putting you in the $4500/term neighbourhood.


 

 

Apr 27, 11 11:32 pm  · 
 · 

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