Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Buying a home for a college student at 23 of 121 universities it surveyed was cheaper than paying for room and board, according to the Mortgage Research Network. The results don't align perfectly with geography or population. Colleges in Chicago, Milwaukee and Cincinnati show modest gains for homeowners, along with southern colleges in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Columbia, South Carol ...