The 100 colleges that had the greatest overall cost for tuition, fees, and room and board, were scattered among 23 states. Many of the most-expensive colleges were in the more-populous states that also rank in the top half in the country for per capita income. New York had 21 colleges on the list, Massachusetts had 18, Pennsylvania had 13, and California had 12. But Texas, the second-most populous state in the nation, has only one: Southern Methodist University. Texas ranks 31st in the country for per capita income. Louisiana, which ranks 47th for per capita income, had one college on the list, and so did New Mexico, which ranks 48th on that income measure. Louisiana is home to Tulane University, and New Mexico to St. John’s College.
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| 1. | Harvey Mudd College | $54,886 | $17,592 | $72,478 |
| 2. | Columbia U. | $57,208 | $13,618 | $70,826 |
| 3. | U. of Chicago | $54,825 | $15,726 | $70,551 |
| 4. | Bard College | $54,496 | $15,066 | $69,562 |
| 5. | Columbia U. School of General Studies | $55,478 | $13,950 | $69,428 |
| 6. | Southern Methodist U. | $52,498 | $16,910 | $69,408 |
| 7. | Oberlin College | $53,460 | $15,862 | $69,322 |
| 8. | Scripps College | $52,966 | $16,294 | $69,260 |
| 9. | U. of Southern California | $54,323 | $14,885 | $69,208 |
| 10. | Claremont McKenna College | $52,825 | $16,220 | $69,045 |
| 11. | Trinity College | $54,770 | $14,200 | $68,970 |
| 12. | Dartmouth College | $53,786 | $15,159 | $68,945 |
| 13. | Sarah Lawrence College | $54,010 | $14,846 | $68,856 |
| 14. | Barnard College | $52,662 | $16,100 | $68,762 |
| 15. | Northwestern U. | $52,678 | $16,047 | $68,725 |
| 16. | Haverford College | $52,754 | $15,958 | $68,712 |
| 17. | U. of Pennsylvania | $53,534 | $15,066 | $68,600 |
| 18. | Amherst College | $54,310 | $14,190 | $68,500 |
| 18. | Pitzer College | $52,236 | $16,264 | $68,500 |
| 20. | Brandeis U. | $53,537 | $14,906 | $68,443 |
| 21. | Fordham U. | $50,986 | $17,445 | $68,431 |
| 22. | Tufts U. | $54,318 | $14,054 | $68,372 |
| 23. | Georgetown U. | $52,300 | $16,068 | $68,368 |
| 24. | Duke U. | $53,500 | $14,798 | $68,298 |
| 25. | Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering | $51,936 | $16,300 | $68,236 |
| 26. | Franklin & Marshall College | $54,580 | $13,580 | $68,160 |
| 27. | New York U. | $50,464 | $17,664 | $68,128 |
| 28. | Vassar College | $55,210 | $12,900 | $68,110 |
| 29. | Johns Hopkins U. | $52,670 | $15,410 | $68,080 |
| 30. | Eastman School of Music of the U. of Rochester | $52,736 | $15,324 | $68,060 |
| 31. | Bard College at Simon’s Rock | $53,668 | $14,226 | $67,894 |
| 32. | Reed College | $54,200 | $13,670 | $67,870 |
| 33. | Occidental College | $52,838 | $14,968 | $67,806 |
| 34. | Williams College | $53,550 | $14,150 | $67,700 |
| 35. | Carnegie Mellon U. | $53,910 | $13,784 | $67,694 |
| 36. | Washington U. in St. Louis | $51,533 | $16,006 | $67,539 |
| 37. | Colgate U. | $53,980 | $13,520 | $67,500 |
| 38. | Tulane U. | $52,960 | $14,536 | $67,496 |
| 39. | Boston College | $53,346 | $14,142 | $67,488 |
| 40. | Middlebury College | $52,496 | $14,968 | $67,464 |
| 41. | Bennington College | $52,420 | $15,040 | $67,460 |
| 42. | Connecticut College | $52,850 | $14,590 | $67,440 |
| 43. | Brown U. | $53,419 | $14,020 | $67,439 |
| 44. | U. of Rochester | $52,020 | $15,398 | $67,418 |
| 45. | Boston U. | $52,082 | $15,270 | $67,352 |
| 46. | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | $52,305 | $14,960 | $67,265 |
| 47. | Wesleyan U. | $52,774 | $14,466 | $67,240 |
| 48. | Cornell U. | $52,853 | $14,380 | $67,233 |
| 49. | Pomona College | $51,075 | $16,150 | $67,225 |
| 50. | Bucknell U. | $53,986 | $13,150 | $67,136 |
| 51. | Hobart and William Smith Colleges | $53,525 | $13,525 | $67,050 |
| 52. | Wellesley College | $51,148 | $15,836 | $66,984 |
| 53. | Yale U. | $51,400 | $15,500 | $66,900 |
| 54. | Pepperdine U. | $51,992 | $14,870 | $66,862 |
| 55. | Colby College | $53,120 | $13,660 | $66,780 |
| 56. | Smith College | $50,044 | $16,730 | $66,774 |
| 57. | Wake Forest U. | $51,400 | $15,354 | $66,754 |
| 58. | Bates College | $52,042 | $14,678 | $66,720 |
| 59. | St. Lawrence U. | $52,990 | $13,656 | $66,646 |
| 60. | Union College (N.Y.) | $53,490 | $13,119 | $66,609 |
| 61. | Skidmore College | $52,596 | $14,004 | $66,600 |
| 62. | George Washington U. | $53,518 | $13,000 | $66,518 |
| 63. | Carleton College | $52,782 | $13,632 | $66,414 |
| 64. | Bryn Mawr College | $50,500 | $15,910 | $66,410 |
| 65. | U. of Notre Dame | $51,505 | $14,890 | $66,395 |
| 66. | Dickinson College | $52,955 | $13,236 | $66,191 |
| 67. | Hamilton College | $52,770 | $13,400 | $66,170 |
| 68. | Landmark College | $54,750 | $11,410 | $66,160 |
| 69. | Parsons School of Design at the New School | $47,720 | $18,420 | $66,140 |
| 70. | Bowdoin College | $51,848 | $14,132 | $65,980 |
| 71. | Drexel U. | $52,002 | $13,890 | $65,892 |
| 72. | Lafayette College | $50,850 | $15,040 | $65,890 |
| 73. | Kenyon College | $53,560 | $12,280 | $65,840 |
| 74. | Swarthmore College | $50,822 | $14,952 | $65,774 |
| 75. | Northeastern U. | $49,497 | $16,240 | $65,737 |
| 76. | Harvard College | $48,859 | $16,660 | $65,519 |
| 77. | Chapman U. | $50,594 | $14,910 | $65,504 |
| 78. | Babson College | $49,664 | $15,838 | $65,502 |
| 79. | Stevens Institute of Technology | $50,554 | $14,780 | $65,334 |
| 80. | Hampshire College | $51,608 | $13,606 | $65,214 |
| 81. | Gettysburg College | $52,640 | $12,570 | $65,210 |
| 82. | New School College of Performing Arts | $46,340 | $18,600 | $64,940 |
| 83. | Colorado College | $52,818 | $12,076 | $64,894 |
| 84. | Villanova U. | $51,284 | $13,548 | $64,832 |
| 85. | Stanford U. | $49,617 | $15,112 | $64,729 |
| 86. | California Institute of Technology | $49,908 | $14,796 | $64,704 |
| 87. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | $49,892 | $14,720 | $64,612 |
| 88. | St. John’s College (N.M.) | $52,320 | $12,233 | $64,553 |
| 89. | Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School | $45,928 | $18,600 | $64,528 |
| 90. | Santa Clara U. | $49,858 | $14,487 | $64,345 |
| 91. | College of the Holy Cross | $50,630 | $13,690 | $64,320 |
| 92. | Macalester College | $52,464 | $11,672 | $64,136 |
| 93. | Cleveland Institute of Music | $49,106 | $14,870 | $63,976 |
| 94. | Davidson College | $49,949 | $13,954 | $63,903 |
| 94. | St. John’s College (Md.) | $51,670 | $12,233 | $63,903 |
| 96. | Lehigh U. | $50,740 | $13,120 | $63,860 |
| 97. | Wheaton College | $50,850 | $12,968 | $63,818 |
| 98. | Bentley U. | $48,000 | $15,720 | $63,720 |
| 99. | Webb Institute | $48,775 | $14,750 | $63,525 |
| 100. | Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins U. | $47,863 | $15,576 | $63,439 |
Note: The figures represent charges to first-time, full-time undergraduates based, typically, on a nine-month academic year of 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours. The data do not reflect the lowered cost of attendance at an institution for some students after grants and other student aid are considered. Room-and-board fees charged by colleges may represent differing numbers of meals per week and so may not be comparable among institutions. Data are drawn from a College Board survey of more than 3,000 colleges. Tied institutions are listed alphabetically. More data can be found here. Questions or comments on the Almanac should be sent to the Almanac editor.
Source: “Annual Survey of Colleges 2017,” © 2017, the College Board. This material may not be copied, published, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.</small></p>
