I don't think it's unfair at all. Not everyone needs a place to live: some college students just live at home for free. I had some friends like that when I we

I don't think it's unfair at all. Not everyone needs a place to live: some college students just live at home for free. I had some friends like that when I went to a major state university; they just commuted from home. They certainly didn't need to pay for a dorm or a meal plan because they lived off-campus, and luckily that school had no requirement to do so. Personally, I think they missed out on some of the "college experience" doing so, but still, I can't deny it was a lot cheaper for them. On top of that, if living in a dorm and eating crappy cafeteria food is much more expensive than living off-campus in an apartment and getting your own food from a grocery store, I think it's fair to include those mandatory costs into the "cost of a university".