<p>simplystated, if this isn’t a personal argument, what is it? What is your aim here? </p>
<p>There is no scheme whatsoever where things are going to be “fair”. It’s a big country. There are huge variations in how people live–and, for that matter, in what’s important to them. Cost of living calculators have their own unfairnesses and assumptions baked in. It’s similarly “unfair” that those tippy-top schools you mention can afford to be far more generous to their students than public schools may be to their own residents.</p>