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Comment by joezydeco | Hacker News Reader

When college costs six figures, you hope to break even. And that's a whole different ball of wax in America.

Most state universities cost nothing near this, especially if you discount room and board.

You need to live somewhere and eat, so it’s not sensible to include those costs with the cost of college.

While students need somewhere to sleep and eat, the cost of doing so on campus are much higher than anywhere else (in my limited experience). For example, the cost of on-campus room and board my junior year was 4x the cost of my off-campus room and board the following year. Some schools don't allow for off-campus housing for some or all students, or still require commuters to purchase a meal plan. So perhaps while it's not sensible to include all room and board costs with the cost of college, it's definitely fair to include some or even most.

Non big city schools aren’t a 4x multiple or even 2x. And most schools aren’t in New England.

And most schools don’t require dorming, especially for all 3/4 years. The average student loan debt for a graduating undergrad is 23k. If college costs were truly 100k that just wouldn’t be the case.

Edit: median

Obviously I didn't go to most schools. But none I attended were in a big city, and none were in New England, so it's not just a "big city" or "New England" problem. Regardless, I have never personally seen an example of on-campus room and board being <= off-campus room and board.

> The [median] student loan debt for a graduating undergrad is 23k. If college costs were truly 100k that just wouldn’t be the case.

I fail to see how that necessarily follows because:

- many students and families save for college, so there's a cash downpayment

- many students work to cover part of college costs

- many families work to cover part of college costs

But this seems an unproductive rabbit trail from the issue of letting kids get their sleep.

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