<p>RE: Travel expenses…who in the heck calculates those and then who the heck prints them on those pretty glossy fliers. CA kid receives COA info for East Coast Hyper U. Estimated annual travel expenses - $800.00. Hmmm… is that supposed to cover the tips and hamburgers for the people he hitch hikes with, or maybe the annual bribe budget so he can hop a cargo train hobo style.</p>
<p>So…why do they need to go to Harvard? What’s wrong with the State Flagships or local LAC’s???</p>
<p>There was an article in the paper yesterday about a faculty member at our local CC winning a Fulbright grant to study/research…somewhere…anyway, the job market is such that there are extremely talented faculty up and down the college ranks.</p>
<p>I should clarify my remarks that the official cost of attendance of a college does typically include some travel costs, but not enough to cover the costs of someone traveling longer distances and/or who needs to use airports where discount flights are not available. I just confirmed that 529 accounts and the federal Opportunity Tax Credits cannot be used for travel expenses.</p>
<p>Re hidden costs of attendance: Those costs (travel, clothing, dorm stuff, etc) really add up, and for some kids, those costs are insurmountable, or very difficult. I had a good friend at Northwestern (back in the day) who are from a rural Appalachian background. She was very self motivated (had GED, not high school diploma) and even though she had full ride from NU - other costs were always an issue. She had to work many long hours and depended on the kindness of others (me included) for many expenses. </p>
<p>A couple years ago a low income (dad in prison, mom unemployed) boy from our school got into Harvard and the PTA raised money for him to furnish his dorm room, buy him a laptop, pay for travel from Texas, and give him spending money until his work-study job started. He still struggles especially during breaks - can’t afford to come home and has to find a job to pay for apt, etc. or crash with friends. </p>
<p>I know these are anecdotes - but I think hidden costs are a huge reason why low income kids stick close to home.</p>
<p>Some schools (such as UVa) will offer financial aid to cover the cost of a laptop for a low income student. </p>
<p>Socially, I imagine it can be difficult for a low income student to fit in at a college that has a huge percentage of high income students. They would always be going out spending money, and he’d be eating at the cafeteria. A study about money and happiness found that the persons you hang out greatly impacts your feelings about money. A person who is low income can be happy if they spend much of their time with other lower income people. You can have a Ramen noodle buffet together in your apartment. </p>
<p>However, if that lower income student is surrounded by high income people, they will typically feel much worse about their situation. It works the same way - a middle middle income person could really feel distressed if all of their friends are richer.</p>
<p>Distance and other non-academic/cost limitations can be significantly limiting. There was a thread a while back where a high stats potential English major was considering two small local colleges within a distance constraint. One had a relatively large English department with a relatively large number of course offerings in English for a small college, but was too expensive (after aid). The other was affordable, but its English department appeared to be mainly focused on offering remedial writing courses with relatively few advanced offerings. Unfortunately, the OP initially thought that prestige of the more expensive school was the main difference, titled the thread as such, and ignited a typical prestige war.</p>