For some Brophy students, family finances determine not only which college they attend, but whether they can attend at all.

Tuition is only part of the cost. Housing, transportation, and textbooks can add thousands of dollars to the cost of attending college. According to the Education Data Initiative, room and board at four-year institutions nationally averaged $15,068 per year in 2025–26, adding to the financial pressure many Brophy students already face.

Brophy senior Gael Gonzalez Perez ’27, a low-income, first-generation student, is weighing schools like USC, Stanford, and MIT alongside universities that offer strong need-based aid.

“I’ve worked so hard in my life to get to this point,” Gonzalez Perez said. “And if I get accepted into one of these schools and I don’t have the funds to leave for it … it brings this smudge onto the reflection of my journey.”

But beyond tuition and housing costs, the uncertainty around financial aid turns an already stressful decision into a shot in the dark. Students won’t know the final cost of attending a school until they receive their financial aid offer. A generous financial aid package can sometimes make an out-of-state school cheaper than an in-state one, even with the higher sticker price.

“Getting into the school is the first step. But then getting to go to the school is the next step,” said Ms. Megan Erdely, one of the seven college counselors at Brophy.

Counselors like Erdely guide students and parents through financial aid issues and help them identify universities and scholarships that fit their budget. Brophy also offers informational sessions about financial aid in both English and Spanish.

However, for some students, getting accepted and enrolled is just the beginning, and the costs that follow are not always easy to see upfront. The official tuition and fees listed by a college do not always cover every real cost of student life, like textbooks, housing, or transportation. Expenses on food, campus events, and other social activities can add up fast, especially for a student already on a tight budget.

Those costs, small as they might seem, create a divide where some students can go to events, eat out, and join clubs without a second thought, while others have to weigh whether they can afford to. Even such regular activities as eating out and attending events may cause financial concerns for some.

“Not having money can be very isolating because it doesn’t allow you the same community,” Erdely said, and for many students, that isolation shows up in the campus events they skip and the groups they never join.

That isolation quietly strips students of friendships, connections, and any real sense of belonging, and no financial aid form accounts for that. When students repeatedly have to decline invitations or avoid experiences because of their financial circumstances, they can miss opportunities to form friendships and become part of the campus community. The cost of college is not measured by tuition alone, but by what students can afford to share.