Since the 1970s, many colleges and universities have become predatory financial giants, while mountains of student debt pile up and academic work becomes ever more precarious. An ascendant academic labor movement may be key to reversing these trends.
But using student aid doesn’t change that cost. Now, UC Davis and Lewis and Clark State college are both on the expensive side, but they publicly list the cost of attendance. All the FAFSA and their financial aid system does is take that cost, and match it with available aid.
It really sounds like you were offered similar aid packages at multiple universities that included tuition, fees, housing, and meal plans, were sticker shocked, and went to a fourth university and just paid tuition and found cheaper living arrangements. Which is a great way to do it, but not a fair apples to apples comparison.
The reason the distinction is important is because you could have opted to pay just the tuition like you did, but using grants (which aren’t paid back) and student loans. Some people can’t afford to pay for school out of pocket and they shouldn’t come away from this thread thinking that applying for student loans increases their costs, which they don’t.