Answers

Commuter students will always have a lower total cost of attendance because they won't be paying for room and board. This means that financial aid packages in general will be smaller. The main consequence of this is that there might be less loan money for the student to pay back after graduation.

There are two things that could happen with your financial aid if you're a commuter student rather than a student who lives on campus in a dorm. First, your total cost for school will be lowered because you won't be charged for room and board, unless you purchase a meal plan or something. This means that the total cost the financial aid department is accounting for. Second, the financial aid department may add some addition to the "personal costs" part of your total cost for attendance to account for the extra travel cost. Either way, it will probably not affect your financial aid package much because your expected contributions from the FAFSA and Profile will still be the same.