<p>I was mistaken that the amounts provided by the government were individual. They are based on a family size of 4. </p>
<p>But the government numbers are high to somebody on a budget. I added up the thrifty plan for my family and those numbers slightly exceed our entire grocery bill which includes non food items like shampoo, tin foil, cleaning supplies, and even socks and underwear, since I do most of my grocery shopping at BJ’s and Walmart… I break out our food and non-food spending in Quicken each month so I know exactly how much we spend. We don’t eat too much processed crap either - my husband has high blood pressure and I have a tendency to gain weight quickly if I don’t eat naturally. Our teenage son does eat a lot of peanut butter, apples, bread, oatmeal, and other cereal in addition to the regular meals the rest of the family eats. </p>
<p>I really don’t think there can be any question that commuting can be much, much cheaper than living in the dorm if you’re needing to watch your pennies. Maybe I’m clouded by where I live. I’m from an urban area, so perhaps I’m not thinking about how much gas costs for those who are extremely rural. I’d be curious to know the average distance a commuter lives from his college, and how difficult it would be for the student to hitch a ride with family, neighbors, and friends. There are probably a dozen or more schools that my kids could hitch rides to for little or no cost. Colleges are some of the biggest employers in the area, so in addition to fellow students, many workers from our area travel to and from the colleges each day (I live in the Philadelphia area). I would think an ultra rural area would increase the odds that folks in the area were employed by the college, but I actually have no idea.</p>
<p>For sure, most commuting students would want their own cars (and I want a Mercedes!) and they’ll want to buy their own food and to take half hour showers and to hang out and order pizza with a late night study group, but if you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. The savings of commuting versus rooming at the school can be HUGE. And I continue to cry bologna to the room and board numbers in that chart being any sort of realistic average for a typical commuter student.</p>