re: Forbes America's Best Colleges

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If only there were other factors like regional differences in per capita income and cost of living that played into these numbers, these statistics wouldn't be so conclusive.

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Yes, you are correct that there are major regional differences in cost of living. But to list just the SEC, only the Southern region is listed.

Outside of a few expensive cities like Austin and Miami, there isn't that big of a difference in the cost of living within the SEC footprint. Sure, Mississippi is probably going to have the lowest cost of living.... but once you get a few miles outside the Atlanta perimeter, there's probably not much of a difference in cost of living between Georgia and Mississippi.

Every major southern metro has expensive areas as well as affordable suburbs. The only real difference is Austin and Miami which have a much higher cost of living even further out, away from the ritziest neighborhoods.