While some private colleges charge $50,000 a year in tuition and fees, not all institutions come with such sticker shock.
In fact, there’s a private college in almost every state that charges less than the average sticker price of $34, 817 , according to 2017-2018 tuition and fees data reported to U.S. News by 72 4 ranked , nonprofit private schools in an annual survey.
Sticker price is the amount a school charges for tuition and fees before financial aid and scholarships are applied. But keep in mind that many institutions with so-called “sticker shock” prices, such as Harvard University or Brown University, are generous when it comes to financial aid for needy students.
For families interested in schools that charge the least before figuring in financial aid packages, there are 50 ranked private institutions scattered throughout the U.S. that charged less than $20,000 in tuition and fees in 2017-2018, U.S. News data show.
[Read: 10 Colleges Where Graduates Have the Least Debt.]
The least expensive private school is Kentucky’s Berea College. The institution gives each student a tuition scholarship valued at around $100,000 over four years. While the school applies a no-tuition policy, it charged a small amount in fees — $560 — for the 2017-2018 school year. As part of the enrollment requirements, students at Berea enter into a work program that integrates work, learning and service.
Berea graduates complete their degrees with smaller debt burdens compared with the average among those who graduated in 2016 at $29,611, according to the data submitted to U.S. News by 1,018 ranked colleges in an annual survey. Among Berea alumni who graduated in 2016 and borrowed student loans, the average student debt amount was slightly more than $7,000.
[See: 12 Tuition-Free Colleges.]
Alice Lloyd College, also in Kentucky, waives tuition for students who are from a Central Appalachian state — Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. Students outside that region paid $12,050 in 2017-2018 for tuition and fees, which is more than 6 5 percent less than the average tuition and fees charged among all private schools. Students at the Appalachian work-study school also complete their degrees with lower debt burdens, U.S. News data show. Among Alice Lloyd College students who graduated in 2016 and borrowed student loans, the average debt was slightly more than $10,000.
Another school with inexpensive tuition and fees is Brigham Young University–Provo in Utah. Led by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, BYU charged $5,460 in tuition and fees for church members in 2017-2018 and double that amount for non-Mormons, $10,920, according to U.S. News data.
[Read: Why Enrollment Is Rising at Large Christian Colleges.]
Some of the schools that charge the least in terms of sticker price have a religious affiliation. Arkansas Baptist College, which is also a historically black college, charged the least in tuition and fees among private institutions in the state: $8,760 per year. Another example is Grove City College, a Christian conservative liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, which charged $17,254 in advertised tuition and fees.
Tuition and fee prices also vary regionally among private institutions. For instance, the average sticker price for a private institution in several Northeastern states — Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts — tops more than $40,000 annually for the 2017-2018 year, according to data submitted to U.S. News by ranked private schools. But there are states where the average sticker price among private institutions is much cheaper. Utah, North Dakota, Mississippi, Hawaii and Arkansas are a few states where the average price among private institutions is less than $25,000 annually.
Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.
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The Least Expensive Private College in Each State originally appeared on usnews.com
