Everyone's got jokes.
All I know is that room and board will cost about $9,000 at each institution and renting my own place will cost at least $8,000 a year.
I'd rather live in a rundown piece of crap for two years and take a loss recouping some of my money than to feed somebody rent for 2 years and see none of the money back. Bonus points if I can find a roommate to rent a room for what the mortgage is likely to cost me.
In St Petersburg, I can get a clunker near campus for about $30K. In Fort Myers, $30K will be lucky to get me a condo. I could grab something 30 minutes away from campus in Fort Myers at a decent price.
I have to figure out what the play is though. Fort Myers is transferring me in at a GPA that is about .4 than St Petersburg. St Petersburg is going to offer much cheaper real estate prices though.