Huge differences in total cost of attendance? Forum

[NomNom]

Anyone else running into the issue of schools that are all in the same state (both private), but that have huge cost of living differences? I have one school that has a transportation expense at 1K and cost of living overall is about 6K less for an entire year...and both schools are in major cities. It is literally going to make the difference of if I can attend or not this year considering I am still waiting on one of the schools with a much larger estimate. With the price of gas, I don't understand the 1K for transportation that is estimated.

From what I know, you can't borrow past the total cost of attendance, but it seems strange that the discrepancy is so huge. I also have scholarships and grants to throw in, but still can't borrow past that.

Maybe some work study is in the cards.

[rinkrat19]

"Major cities" in the same state can have very different COLs.

A $1k transportation allowance sounds like they expect you to not have a car. Northwestern's transportation allowance is $1584, and that wouldn't even cover parking in the neighborhoods near the school, let alone insurance and gas. I figure it's intended to pay for a couple of plane tickets home and a few taxi rides, since the school includes a mandatory CTA transit pass in your fees.

Aside from those two guesses, we can't really tell you anything without knowing which schools/cities.

[NomNom]

I've lived in this state for most of my life and I can tell you the school that has the higher amount is in a city with a LOWER cost of living. You are probably right about the car part, though.

[rinkrat19]

I've lived in this state for most of my life and I can tell you the school that has the higher amount is in a city with a LOWER cost of living. You are probably right about the car part, though.

What are the public transit systems like in the two cities? NYC has a huge COL, but no one has a car because they all ride the subway. So NYC schools probably don't allot thousands of dollars for transportation.

[NomNom]

I've lived in this state for most of my life and I can tell you the school that has the higher amount is in a city with a LOWER cost of living. You are probably right about the car part, though.

What are the public transit systems like in the two cities? NYC has a huge COL, but no one has a car because they all ride the subway. So NYC schools probably don't allot thousands of dollars for transportation.

There are buses, but not really any major transport. Definitely no subway and the train is fairly close into the city and doesn't travel outside of it.