Boston Globe Online / Magazine

A week of college costs roughly $1,100 at a $35,000-a-year school, factoring in 32 weeks of education, a half-dozen holidays, and 19 weeks of summer, winter, and spring break. Rob Bellinger's room is about $20 per day, and includes a thin lumpy mattress and wood frame; a desk, bureau, high-speed Internet connection, and 3-by-4-foot closet; and a daily scrubbing of the hall's bathroom.