I looked at Western Michigan University, a public university in "middle of nowhere college town" Kalamazoo, Michigan that I'm somewhat familiar with. Here's an

I looked at Western Michigan University, a public university in "middle of nowhere college town" Kalamazoo, Michigan that I'm somewhat familiar with. Here's an itemization of what I got from their cost of attendance calculator for an incoming, in-state freshman, major undeclared, in-person degree program: In state tuition for Fall 2022 or Spring 2023 (12 credit hours): $6925 Residence hall: $2834 14 meal plan: $2438 Textbook, travel, and personal expenses estimate: $1832 Total: $14029. For one semester. So, round that off and double it, and you've got $28k per year, for an in-state student. (Okay, technically, the calculator also spit out $500/semester in misc. fees, and doesn't count certain individual class and lab fees, but I'll stick with $28k per year.) Now, you show me a family that can fork out that kind of dough every year for 4 years, and I'll show you someone who's extremely privileged. Amortized monthly, that's comparable to a mortgage on a $350k house at current rates. https://wmich.edu/registrar/calculator https://wmich.edu/registrar/calculator if you'd like to play with the numbers yourself.