Guide

Which colleges cost least?

It depends on what your family earns, because grants cut the sticker price. In the school year that ended in June 2025, a year at the typical public four-year university cost $25,632 before grants, and at the typical private nonprofit college $51,000. After grants, students from families earning up to $30,000 paid a median of $10,536 at public and $18,524 at private colleges. For them, the lowest average net price of 1,713 colleges was $0, at Ner Israel Rabbinical College, MD; below zero means grants more than covered the full cost.

Figures update themselves from 6 charts; newest data as of September 30, 2025.

Typical public university, family income up to $30,000

$10,536

A year after grants; full cost $25,632

Typical private college, family income up to $30,000

$18,524

A year after grants; full cost $51,000

Lowest average net price, all students

$336

Texas A & M International University, TX, of 1,769 colleges

The price after grants

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The net price is what a year costs after grants and scholarships, which don't have to be repaid. At the typical public university, families earning up to $30,000 paid $10,536, those earning $75,001 to $110,000 paid $16,314 and those earning over $110,000 paid $21,688, against a full cost of $25,632.

At the typical private nonprofit college the same families paid $18,524, $22,978 and $29,820, against a full cost of $51,000.

Cheapest for families earning under $30,000

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For students from families earning $30,000 or less, the lowest average net prices were at Ner Israel Rabbinical College, MD ($0), Washington and Lee University, VA ($28), Brown University, RI ($39), CUNY York College, NY ($364) and University of Chicago, IL ($394). Where grants more than cover the full cost, the figure is below zero. Some of the most famous colleges are among the cheapest for low-income students, because they give the most aid.

Lowest average net price for everyone

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Averaged over all students who received federal aid, whatever their family's income, the lowest net prices were at Texas A & M International University, TX ($336), CUNY Lehman College, NY ($541) and CUNY Bernard M Baruch College, NY ($657); the highest was at University of Dallas, TX ($68,064). Search the chart for any of the 1,769 colleges.

Debt and earnings

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The price is only part of the answer. Graduates who took out federal loans owed a median of $5,000 at Inter American University of Puerto Rico-Barranquitas, PR, the lowest, and $50,350 at Beulah Heights University, GA, the highest. Ten years after starting, former students of California Institute of Technology, CA earned the most, a median of $166,642 a year.

What these numbers can and can't tell you

These figures come from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard and cover colleges that mainly award bachelor's degrees. Net prices count first-time, full-time undergraduates who received federal aid; at public colleges, only those paying in-state tuition. Loans are not subtracted, because they have to be repaid.

Debt counts only federal loans to students, and earnings cover only students who received federal aid. When the Scorecard is updated, the charts update themselves, and so does every number on this page.

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Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard (Public domain (U.S. government work)), data as of September 30, 2025, in these charts: