My point wasn’t that UMD was expensive, it’s that LA isn’t that bad if you take TOPS into account that most students pay a fraction of the tuition rate. I’ve lived in MD and LA. That’s why I picked it for comparison.
Cars, gas, etc. are not the same everywhere. Not even close. In this case, MD and LA aren’t drastically far apart but CA and some NE states are much higher on utilities. Gas in CA is $0.75 to $1/gallon more than LA. Electricity is double in CA what it is in other states. Substantial enough to be a factor in a household budget.