That’s right, the total amount you can contribute to help pay all college costs combined, which includes all of tuition and fees, housing and dining (on or off campus unless living at home), books and supplies, mandatory health insurance, travel, and incidentals.
Knowing this is useful for us because then we can generate different ideas for meeting that budget. Some colleges are less expensive to begin with. Some have need aid. Some have merit aid. But colleges can also be ruled out if they could not possibly meet that budget–too much cost, and either no aid or not enough.