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Most-Expensive 4-Year Private Nonprofit Institutions, 2017-18

Almanac 2018
August 19, 2018

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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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.


Return to the Almanac home page, or go to the Profession, Students, Finance, or States section. To purchase a copy of the Almanac in print or as a downloadable interactive PDF, visit the Chronicle Store. Help guide us to give you the data you need by taking our 10-minute online Almanac survey.


RankInstitutionTuition and feesRoom and boardTotal
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>

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A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2018, issue.
Read other items in this Finance: Almanac 2018 package.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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