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HABITAT FOR POST SECONDARY STUDENTS-CHOICES
Congratulation folks after all of your hard work (12 years) your son or daughter has been accepted into their choice for College or University for next year. Now the hard decision making is at hand to budget
the costs of the schooling.
If they have decided to think global and look local Western or the affiliates, King’s, Brescia or Huron College who have excellent programs/ reputations. If the Dorchester grads plan on going far afield to
Mc Gill, UBC, Dalhousie they have to realize that week-ends at home for quick visits to mom and dad
are expensive and not very not feasible.
Ok, the plan is to attend a post secondary school in London. Tuition/books for first year students is approximately $5,000. Staying in a residence with a comfortable meal plan can set the parents back another $15,000. There is always the opportunity to rent an apartment on the trendy expensive Richmond Row.
You do not need a car when you attend college or university in London. Your extra curricular fees you have paid to the Bursar covers a magic City of London bus pass for the school year that covers seven days a week from early morning until after the bars and restaurants close.
If your son or daughter is planning on commuting on a daily basis there are no London Transit Busses
to drive them to school from Dorchester. My two children stayed at the farm for the duration of their undergraduate studies and the commuting cost me the price of two car/ insurance/ gas/maintenance. Student parking at the campuses is hard to find and expensive.
There is a third viable choice for the family to consider. The parents can buy a condo/ small three- four bedroom house in London for the duration of their children’s education saving the cost of the rent payments. Mortgage interest rates today for the most part are extremely affordable. Rent out a room or two to students from out of town looking for a place to stay. Their rent monies then can go towards
paying off the mortgage. Two girls from Dorchester followed the wise advice; stayed a total of six years and then the astute parents sold the property that had increased in value 20%.
Nice return on investments for the parents, having two university educated young professional women along with the return on equity on the property.
So, folks the best is yet to come with your children spreading their wings and be the best that they can
be; making you very proud to call them your children.
There is a melody that I enjoy with the lyrics: from George & Ira Gershwin: "Nice work if you can get it and you can get it if you try." "Who could have asked for anything more?"
Len Lesser is an education/career counselor in Dorchester, Ont.
Len Lesser