Generally a full ride is understood as not having to pay tuition and fees. If you live on campus, some people consider room and board part of that, but I never

Generally a full ride is understood as not having to pay tuition and fees. If you live on campus, some people consider room and board part of that, but I never did, so when I think full ride I think just tuition and fees. KU gave me about double what I needed for tuition and fees for four years, so the rest got spent on rent and books and such. I still worked full time in the summer to get by, but thankfully I could find work programming, so I never had to spend a cent of my parents money.