<p>I'm researching colleges and looking for what my options are and cost is a really big issue for me. When I see the cost of colleges anywhere it shows me "tuition and fees" and "room and board" as two sepatate costs. I'm confident that I will get some form of financial aid wherever I choose to go because my grades are pretty solid, so this isn't about that. My question is this: are tuition and fees and room and board two separate costs that are to be added together in your total college expense, or is room and board included in tuition and fees when they show you both? This is kind of a big deal, because if I have to add those two numbers together, I will most likely not be attending college.
Please Help!!!</p>
<p>sorry to say that you add up the four costs: tuition, fees, room, board. At elite privates, that totals to about $54,000. At in-state Publics, it tends to add up to between $20,000 and $26,000. These figures do <em>not</em> include the cost of books (figure $1,200 per year), or transportation/parking to and from the university.</p>
<p>Room and board varies a lot depending on the part of the country, between $10,000 and $14,000 for standard double room and medium quality meal plan for 8.5 months.</p>
<p>You can’t know how much the University will actually charge YOU until you fill out the FAFSA, submit to them, and then allow them to offer you both merit scholarship, and need-based grants, and need-based loans. If your family makes under $50,000 per year, you should get a lot of aid so that the final cost to your family is under $10,000 - $15,000 per year.</p>
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This ONLY applies if the school meets full need. A school that does not meet full need (most publics except for UVA and UNC-CH) will gap the student leaving a portion of the need that must be funded by the family. </p>
<p>OP, do you have any stats yet? From another post it seems like you might be a sophomore.</p>
<p>* I’m confident that I will get some form of financial aid wherever I choose to go because my grades are pretty solid, so this isn’t about that.*</p>
<p>This is not how you determine what aid you might get.</p>
<p>Most schools do NOT have a lot of aid to give. </p>
<p>You also have to find out what your FAFSA EFC will likely be. however, that number is NOT all a person has to pay. </p>
<p>Merit scholarships are based on test scores AND grades.</p>
<p>I think I saw on another post that you are from Canada? For many schools that will change things significantly. If you are a Canadian citizen: for some schools you would be considered like a US citizen for admission, for others you would be in the international pool. And in any case you would not be eligible for US FA (for some schools you might be eligible for school FA). And merit would also be up in the air.</p>