College, including living expenses, costs more in California than elsewhere, study finds
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 9, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
In-state fees at California's public universities may be lower than tuition at similar campuses in other states, but when living expenses are factored in, the total cost of going to college here is more, new research by the California Postsecondary Education Commission shows.
Undergraduate fees at UC Davis were $9,940 for the 2009-10 year – but the cost nearly tripled to $27,000 when meals, books and a dorm room were added in. At UC Berkeley, the report shows, the total cost for a student living on campus was even greater: $28,900.
Residents of Illinois and Michigan, by contrast, pay higher tuition at their top-flight schools, but less overall because their cost of living is lower. Undergraduate tuition, books, room and board at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, totaled $25,500 this year; it was $23,700 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Each year the California Postsecondary Education Commission compares public university fees and tuition across states. Even as University of California and California State University officials approved 32 percent fee hikes in 2009, the commission found that, on average, fees at California colleges were lower than at comparable schools in other states.
The new report, presented at a meeting Tuesday, is unusual because it analyzed the full cost of college attendance, including living expenses. It tries to address questions left unanswered in prior reports, said assistant director Adrian Griffin.
"The first thing people say is, 'I know our fees are lower in California but our living costs are
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