University of Chicago – Campus
America’s Most expensive college costs $58,334 per year.
- Total cost for 4 years = $240,000 (approximate)
And, there are 1,670 students (1,3287 undergraduate) paying so much money to attend America’s Most Expensive College.
Forbes recently published America’s Most Expensive colleges.
Sarah Lawrence College tops the list of Most Expensive Colleges for 2 years in row,
Rankings Methodology
- Basic data for college cost was calculate based on National Center for Education Statistics.
- Plus other fees like books, transportation were added to compute the list.
Why Books Matters?
Students from India and other countries have access to low-cost edition of the books. But, same book in USA would be cost more, much more. That adds up to total college cost.
Now you may wonder, how students are able to pay $240,000.
Most colleges operate a very efficient system of price discrimination, offering “grants” and “scholarships” to better match tuition to what parents can actually afford to pay. At Sarah Lawrence, 64% of students get some sort of grant, with the average amount $29,500.
Lets looks at America’s Most Expensive colleges for 2011/2012.
See the pages below for total tuition cost, financial aid derails with rankings list.
Sarah Lawrence College
- No. 1: Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, N.Y.
- Tuition: $45,212
- Total cost: $58,334
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: Bachelor’s degree
- Master’s degree
- Post-master’s certificate
- Campus setting: Suburb: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 1,670 (1,328 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 9 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 62%
- Average Grant or Scholarship : $30,000
University of Chicago
- No. 2: University of Chicago
- Tuition: $42,041
- Total cost: $57,590
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: Bachelor’s degree
- Master’s degree
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Doctor’s degree – professional practice
- Campus setting: City: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 15,152 (5,270 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 6 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 72%
- Average Grant or Scholarship : $30,874
The New School
- No. 3: The New School, N.Y., N.Y.
- Tuition: $37,610
- Total cost: $57,199
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: Associate’s degree
- Two but less than 4 years certificate
- Bachelor’s degree
- Postbaccalaureate certificate
- Master’s degree
- Post-master’s certificate
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Campus setting: City: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 10,678 (6,970 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 9 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 88%
- Average Grant or Scholarship : $16,000
Washington University in St. Louis
- No. 4: Washington University in St. Louis
- Tuition: $41,992
- Total cost: $56,930
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: One but less than two years certificate
- Associate’s degree
- Bachelor’s degree
- Postbaccalaureate certificate
- Master’s degree
- Post-master’s certificate
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Doctor’s degree – professional practice
- Campus setting: Suburb: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 13,820 (7,138 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 7 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 64%
Columbia University
- No. 5: Columbia University, N.Y., N.Y.
- Tuition: $45,290
- Total cost: $56,681
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: Bachelor’s degree
- Postbaccalaureate certificate
- Master’s degree
- Post-master’s certificate
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Doctor’s degree – professional practice
- Campus setting: City: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 25,208 (7,950 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 6 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 60%
Vanderbilt University
- No. 6: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn
- Tuition: $38,952
- Total cost: $56,634
- Financial Aid Received : 64%
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: Bachelor’s degree
- Master’s degree
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Doctor’s degree – professional practice
- Campus setting: City: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 12,714 (6,879 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 8 to 1
Georgetown University
- No. 7: Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
- Tuition: $40,203
- Total cost: $56,485
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: One but less than two years certificate
- Bachelor’s degree
- Postbaccalaureate certificate
- Master’s degree
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Doctor’s degree – professional practice
- Campus setting: City: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 16,937 (7,579 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 11 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 59%
Fordham University
- No. 8: Fordham University, Bronx, N.Y.
- Tuition: $39,967
- Total cost: $56,454
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: Bachelor’s degree
- Postbaccalaureate certificate
- Master’s degree
- Post-master’s certificate
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Doctor’s degree – professional practice
- Campus setting: City: Large
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 15,158 (8,220 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 14 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 93%
Northwestern University, Evanston IL
- No. 9: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
- Tuition: $40,223
- Total cost: $56,406
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: One but less than two years certificate
- Bachelor’s degree
- Master’s degree
- Post-master’s certificate
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Doctor’s degree – professional practice
- Campus setting: City: Small
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 20,481 (9,535 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 7 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 58%
Wesleyan University
- No. 10: Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.
- Tuition: $42,084
- Total cost: $56,341
- Type: 4-year, Private not-for-profit
- Awards offered: Bachelor’s degree
- Master’s degree
- Post-master’s certificate
- Doctor’s degree – research/scholarship
- Campus setting: City: Small
- Campus housing: Yes
- Student population: 3,215 (2,854 undergraduate)
- Student-to-faculty ratio: 9 to 1
- Financial Aid Received : 52%
Key Observations
- All the colleges are Private not-for-profit
- Over 50% of the students get financial aid, grants or scholarships
- Most of them are located in Major cities.
- Students are willing to pay high price (remaining % without financial aid)
For international students, $240,000 for 4 years is LOT of MONEY.
But, we know for certain foreign students are willing to pay $120,000 to get MBA from top Schools (by using student loan).
When the Return on Investment is high, why not spend money to get high-priced education?
About Raghuram Sukumar
I fully agree with comment. In job market it matter little where form you have done your phD or MBA but your actual role as strategic manager to run the company in a profitable scale from your costly education.
as i have found that Sarah Lawrence College is not taking into account the SAT scores for variety of reasons it is likely that this college is not taken into consideration for ranking purpose
though this college provides public accountability.
overall i found this college structure quite integring for its ono to one method of teaching.
one more fact i would like to table that MIT,USA doesn’t consider GRE scores for its computer science post graduate courses.
Is thre any benefit in paying much???
I don’t understand, why are they so costly? I mean even their academic rankings are not good or are they good in focused research areas?
i only saw 3-4 good universities in the list. Are they for rich and spoiled kids?
You know, that is marketing. People usually think if they pay more – they get better education and better job after graduating. But all what they actually get is higher self esteem… That’s all…