If you didn't go to college for those 4-ish years, you'd still have to pay for lodging, food, and other necessities, so it depends on what you're trying to analyze which number is better to use.

Okay, but if you didn't go to college those 4 years, you'd have a full-time job to pay for those things. For most people, 4 years of college implies 4 years of not working, or 4 years of low paying part time jobs.

A lot of people cover those costs with student loan money, so they're relevant to a conversation about student loans.

Agreed, but IMO they're not relevant to a more general "cost of college is less than 2 Teslas" conversation, which is why there are two different treatments that are reasonable.