The cost of a college education can be prohibitively expensive for many students. As of 2019, a student would have to pay an average net price of $9,915 to attend a four-year public college, and $19,220 to attend a non-profit private school, after financial aid is factored in.
While the cost of college has increased virtually everywhere, certain schools stand out as being especially expensive. Whether it is because of their selective admissions standards, unique programs offered, or notable faculty, there are hundreds of schools that charge tens of thousands of dollars per year.
Each state is home to at least one school with an average net price of more than $12,000 per year. Smaller states tend to have fewer universities, and those they do have tend to have lower fees and tuition.
The vast majority of schools that rank as the most expensive in their state are private schools. While many of these are liberal arts colleges, a number of institutions on this list are art schools or music conservatories. Though these schools cost tens of thousands of dollars per year, those with fine arts degrees tend to earn much less than those with other types of college education. These are the college majors that pay off the least.
In addition to being the most expensive college in Minnesota, Carleton College is also the most difficult to get into by a significant margin. Carleton only accepts 19.1% of applicants. The next closest school has an acceptance rate of over 30%. Carleton College students performed better on standardized tests than students of any other Minnesota college, with the typical student scoring a combined 1440 on the math and reading SAT tests and a composite 33 on the ACT.
To identify the most expensive college in every state, 24/7 Wall St. used data from the National Center for Education Statistics to rank all bachelor’s degree-granting schools based on net price — the annual cost of tuition, books, room and board, minus any financial aid — for full-time, first-time degree-seeking undergraduates students who received grant or scholarship aid for the 2018-19 school year. This is the most expensive college in every state.
| State | College | Avg. net price ($) | City | Undergraduate enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Tuskegee University | 33,420 | Tuskegee | 2,394 |
| Alaska | Alaska Pacific University | 20,426 | Anchorage | 337 |
| Arizona | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott | 36,962 | Prescott | 2,894 |
| Arkansas | John Brown University | 21,912 | Siloam Springs | 1,777 |
| California | California Institute of the Arts | 54,594 | Valencia | 1,021 |
| Colorado | University of Denver | 37,263 | Denver | 5,774 |
| Connecticut | Quinnipiac University | 41,636 | Hamden | 6,845 |
| Delaware | Wesley College | 24,705 | Dover | 1,035 |
| Florida | Ringling College of Art and Design | 52,384 | Sarasota | 1,658 |
| Georgia | Savannah College of Art and Design | 44,460 | Savannah | 12,167 |
| Hawaii | Hawaii Pacific University | 27,281 | Honolulu | 3,695 |
| Idaho | Boise Bible College | 21,315 | Boise | 95 |
| Illinois | School of the Art Institute of Chicago | 50,167 | Chicago | 2,983 |
| Indiana | Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | 45,356 | Terre Haute | 2,000 |
| Iowa | Clarke University | 34,424 | Dubuque | 685 |
| Kansas | Cleveland University-Kansas City | 35,246 | Overland Park | 74 |
| Kentucky | The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary | 26,976 | Louisville | 894 |
| Louisiana | Tulane University of Louisiana | 40,783 | New Orleans | 7,980 |
| Maine | University of New England | 34,198 | Biddeford | 4,275 |
| Maryland | Maryland Institute College of Art | 42,750 | Baltimore | 1,749 |
| Massachusetts | The New England Conservatory of Music | 46,620 | Boston | 497 |
| Michigan | Kettering University | 39,255 | Flint | 1,799 |
| Minnesota | Carleton College | 31,547 | Northfield | 2,115 |
| Mississippi | Millsaps College | 24,457 | Jackson | 779 |
| Missouri | Conception Seminary College | 35,288 | Conception | 47 |
| Montana | Carroll College | 25,187 | Helena | 1,216 |
| Nebraska | Creighton University | 32,145 | Omaha | 4,472 |
| Nevada | Chamberlain University-Nevada | 34,928 | Las Vegas | 384 |
| New Hampshire | Southern New Hampshire University | 39,743 | Manchester | 92,902 |
| New Jersey | Stevens Institute of Technology | 40,770 | Hoboken | 3,659 |
| New Mexico | St. John’s College | 24,787 | Santa Fe | 317 |
| New York | The New School | 50,377 | New York | 7,409 |
| North Carolina | High Point University | 38,745 | High Point | 4,591 |
| North Dakota | University of Jamestown | 19,695 | Jamestown | 908 |
| Ohio | Oberlin College | 43,612 | Oberlin | 2,846 |
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma Wesleyan University | 24,501 | Bartlesville | 864 |
| Oregon | Pacific Northwest College of Art | 37,252 | Portland | 514 |
| Pennsylvania | The University of the Arts | 41,658 | Philadelphia | 1,699 |
| Puerto Rico | Universidad Politecnica de Puerto Rico | 16,304 | Hato Rey | 3,690 |
| Rhode Island | Bryant University | 40,038 | Smithfield | 3,259 |
| South Carolina | Furman University | 35,621 | Greenville | 2,688 |
| South Dakota | Augustana University | 24,481 | Sioux Falls | 1,818 |
| Tennessee | Belmont University | 36,976 | Nashville | 6,820 |
| Texas | Southern Methodist University | 40,404 | Dallas | 6,710 |
| Utah | Neumont College of Computer Science | 27,881 | Salt Lake City | 474 |
| Vermont | Bennington College | 38,386 | Bennington | 729 |
| Virginia | Hampden-Sydney College | 34,853 | Hampden-Sydney | 993 |
| Washington | Whitman College | 41,822 | Walla Walla | 1,579 |
| West Virginia | University of Charleston | 21,941 | Charleston | 1,907 |
| Wisconsin | Marquette University | 34,120 | Milwaukee | 8,515 |
| Wyoming | University of Wyoming | 12,880 | Laramie | 9,807 |
