Building the real annual figure

Tuition is one line. The others are accommodation, food, transport, phone and internet, books and equipment, insurance, and the ordinary social cost of living somewhere for a year. Together those frequently equal or exceed the fee — and they are the part nobody quotes.

Build the whole figure before comparing anything. Institutions publish estimated living costs, and students already in that city will tell you what the estimate misses. Do it per year and then across the whole course, because a difference of a few hundred a month is a large number over three years.