The high price of college is the subject of media headlines, policy debates, and dinner table conversations because of its implications for educational opportunities, student and family pocketbooks, and the economy. Financial challenges are a consistent predictor of noncompletion in higher education, and they are becoming more severe over time. In this report, the authors describe research conducted by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab that explains why the sticker price is often understated, while the availability of financial aid to create a lower net price is often overstated. The authors point out that many institutions underestimate the costs of living while in college, the ancillary costs of academic programs (books, supplies), and the expenses that students face related to health care and family emergencies. They describe how these costs arise and how students experience them, drawing on three studies that utilize administrative, survey, and qualitative data. The data suggest that these are but some of the costs unaccounted for in institutions’ statistics—in this exploratory work. They also discuss evidence from several studies indicating that financial aid tends to diminish during college.