<p>@Chotiemom, I agree but I thought I had set a pretty high bar before you. 
@GMTplus7: This thread is not about “hidden costs” though. You see, “hidden costs” are costs you don’t see from tuitions and mandatory fees, but supposedly you will get some or all of them wherever you go to school. On the other hand, many of them are really discretionary spending, or at least you might be able to find “bargains” somehow to reduce the cost… The tuitions and mandatory fees however are non-negotiable and the difference of tuition fees from different schools can be thousands of dollars apart. For families that are “cost aware” and have more than one comparable schools to choose from, this is what they should look into: by paying more, do you get more? Or by paying less, are you actually NOT paying less because what you pay doesn’t cover all you NEED?..</p>
<p>It is also a reference point for FA receiver. By substracting the amount of award from tuition + mandatory fees, they get to know how much they pay. Sometimes one school can offer a lot more FA in dollar amount than another school but because it’s more expensive you actually end up paying more out of pocket…</p>