A wizarding hopeful checks off an item on her shopping list as she tours the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal Studio Resort in Orlando, FL.
If you thought NewsFeed was done talking about the Boy Who Lived now that the final film has premiered, then you must be the unfortunate victim of a Confundus charm.
Eleven-year-olds (okay, and adult NewsFeed writers) around the world are disappointed every year when they do not receive an invitation to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, of Harry Potter fame. Their parents should be relieved, though, according to some economists.
A recent post on Centives, a blog from the Economics Society at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, found that plenty of wizarding families were breaking Gringotts bank to have their students go to at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Between tuition, books and academic supplies, the total to £26,816 ($42,752). And that’s just for the first year.
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Tuition was calculated by looking at the average cost of the best boarding schools in the United Kingdom, which turned out to be £25,800 ($41,420).
The study also calculated the costs of other supplies, using Amazon as a guideline, for wands, cauldrons, robes and the like. Textbooks were the most expensive, numbering at about £322 ($516) for one year (every college intern at NewsFeed just groaned in sympathy for the young sorcerers).
But as every student knows, the costs do not end there.
“This of course is the bare minimum and doesn’t consider the cost of pets, Quidditch robes and other incidentals that every student invariably faces,” Centives admitted. In other words, the total doesn’t cover the weekly enjoyment of butterbeer.
Newsfeed hopes a comparative study of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons will be conducted shortly. See the full report at Centives. (For us Muggles/Americans, be sure to use a currency converter. NewsFeed couldn’t find one for Galleons. Oh wait. Here’s one.)
Zachary Cohen is a contributor for TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Zachary_Cohen. You can also continue the discussion on TIME‘s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.