The 10 Most Expensive Colleges

How much is too much to pay for college?

US News and World Report recently named the 10 most expensive private colleges. Columbia University topped the list with New York's Vassar College coming in second.

Getting vicariously depressed for the student body of Columbia? Hold your horses! It is not all financial doom and gloom for the students of these schools.

The Report has more:

Although that average cost is more than seven times the average cost of the 10 least expensive private schools, overall, students from these 10 pricier schools seemed to fare reasonably well, financially. Eight of the 10 most expensive private schools provided student indebtedness data to U.S. News, and of those schools, an average of 46 percent of 2010 graduates borrowed money from either the college itself, the government, or financial institutions. This percentage is notably lower than the overall average of 68 percent, which accounts for the 1,028 public and private schools that submitted indebtedness data to U.S. News.

Check out our slide show of the 10 most expensive private colleges. Then tell us, are these schools too expensive Weigh in below!

• Columbia University, $45,290

• Vassar College $44,705

• Trinity College $44,070

• St. John's College $44,056

• Connecticut College $43,990

• Bucknell University $43,866

• Bard College at Simon's Rock $43,840

• Wesleyan University (CT) $43,674

• Tulane University $43,434

• Carnegie Mellon University $43,396

Comments

[CampusGrotto]

07:55 AM on 02/14/2012

The slideshow shown here lists the top 10 by Tuition and Fees. See the top 100 by Tuition, Tuition and Fees, and Total Cost at:
http://www.campusgrotto.com/most-expensive-colleges-for-2011-2012.html

[carmenalex]

11:22 PM on 02/03/2012

Funny how one of the colleges listed for being a hippie college is also one of the most expensive..Bard.

[Awkward]

02:42 PM on 02/01/2012

I'm amazed by the volume of negative postings about private college tuitions. There is a shocking amount of misinformation out there. The most selective colleges exercise a "need blind" policy, this is clearly stipulated on numerous college websites. I can attest to this being the case for Vassar in particular. My student worked very hard in high school, had his eye on the ball. We skew middle to lower middle class. Vassar awarded him enough scholarship money such that his Vassar award is less than half of what our state school's tuition would have been. Furthermore, we just came from an info session at Northwestern U - should also have made this list - where the admissions director stated that Northwestern's pledge is to fully guarantee that NO student will graduate with more than $20k in debt!
So study hard in high school, it pays off!

[percyweasly]

12:36 AM on 02/07/2012

Vassar also recently revealed that someone had been embezzling millions of dollars from them for several years before anyone noticed, so perhaps there is some argument to be made that these schools could be managing their finances better, therefore reducing the cost of attendance.

[aLAN Cruiser]

06:30 AM on 01/31/2012

It seems that study has become just like a business and nothing more than this. But,what will happen to the poor students who have talent,but can't take admission due to poverty?

[NCVoterCharlotte]

10:11 AM on 01/30/2012

I would like to post kudos to St. Johns in Annapolis. I am a parent of a student there, not an alum; we could not be happier with a truly classical education. It is very hard to measure whether a college is "worth it" - it depends on what you value. Is a St. Johns diploma a ticket to a specific job or title? No - but we knew that from the beginning. Our view is that with the background that a St. Johns student has when they graduate, the decisions they make about career and life will be better more considered decisions. It will affect their quality of life the rest of their life. Just my opinion...

[Latinam doceo]

04:45 PM on 02/06/2012

My dad went to St. Johns, and my younger son, following in his grandfather's and brother's footsteps, is currently pursuing a Master of Arts/Liberal Arts there. "But what will he do with that?" My reponse, "With a little luck, and a lot of work, he will be an educated man."

[New England gal]

08:08 AM on 01/30/2012

In all my reading I didn't see Duke listed at all? Humm, did you miss that school?

[foodpics]

04:57 PM on 01/28/2012

They are worth every penny .... If your good enough to get in! Most are not able so they think it's too expensive, the grads from those schools are the rock stars of the future!!!

[montanbud]

10:26 AM on 01/29/2012

100% agree!!! It's funny to hear the "not worth it" talk....Being a graduate of Purdue a top engineering school I would have much preferred an education from M.I.T or C.I.T. or one of the big guns in my field. The major difference is what happens after undergrad work. The acceptance rate for Med/Law/Science etc. is much higher and into better grad schools. Which over the course of a lifetime adds up to much greater earnings and potential earnings. Sorry all you haters, facts are facts.

[Chicago 75]

09:25 AM on 01/30/2012

Rock stars of the future? I don't think so. Steve Jobs never went to one of these rip off institutions and look at what he did. A lot of these expensive colleges no longer teach practical education and skills. All the want is to take your money and do research or channel it to the coaches of their sports teams.

[green95gt]

11:54 AM on 01/28/2012

hey HP...go to vassar's website...$52,270. better try next time. by the way...may alma mater is at $57k these days as are many other schools not on the list. you guys need to go back to the drawing board and think about these lists for a while before you release them.

[speckitis]

11:51 PM on 01/26/2012

Just think how "expensive" life would be if the fundamentalists had their way with education.

[NCVoterCharlotte]

10:05 AM on 01/30/2012

amen brother!

[helgathewitch]

11:17 PM on 01/26/2012

This list is a farce.

Union College in NY is $54,273! And it isn't on the list?

[ricchh]

12:43 PM on 01/27/2012

This list, like many HP posts, is several years old.

[green95gt]

11:51 AM on 01/28/2012

i think they must be talking about just tuition not including room and board.

[movementlesson]

05:39 AM on 01/26/2012

I think that the impact of an education and into student loan debt is the true reason for our economy. You can walk away from a house or any other financial obligation but not a student loan. These kids feel that the name of the college/university guarantees a good job from their hard work. Unfortunately those days are over for most.

[sharpbob]

04:45 AM on 01/26/2012

George Washington University tuition is $44,103. How did they miss the list? it's usually ranked at or near the top on lists of the most expensive colleges.

[wwhatever747]

04:30 AM on 01/26/2012

Oregon State University football coach makes $455,000.00 a year. Ok with the CEO and board members it all adds up. Time to close the Colleges and University and start on the job training programs that guarantees jobs. Colleges and Universitys promises no job but getting into deep debt causing the students' parents to lose their homes through re-financing.

[Bruce Morrison]

12:57 AM on 01/26/2012

I guess you didn't take into account that the arts institute cost $90K a year, you should've done a bit more research :P

[hopein2012]

02:05 AM on 01/26/2012

wow. is that the barnum one in florida? i didn't realize art schools were that expensive.

[Bruce Morrison]

02:33 AM on 01/26/2012

The Arts Institute is all over the place, Boston, Several cities in Florida, San Fran, LA, Houston, but they're all that expensive yes, its pretty much top of the line for whatever major they offer, I almost went into the audio/visual program until I found out how much it was

[adika3z]

12:26 AM on 01/26/2012

oh nooo,
colleges and universitys are too much RIPOFF costy

[jimlatp]

12:52 AM on 01/26/2012

Well let's see, "universitys", "costy"? I'm going out on a limb here and guess you don't have any higher education. It certainly shows.

[cafebeege]

02:03 AM on 01/26/2012

Doesn't it EVER occur to people like you who make rude and insulting comments to others who have not insulted you or anyone, that just maybe they are foreign and writing in a language that is not their first ? How many other languages could you do that in, even as well as this person you just insulted ? I give them credit for trying to make a friendly comment in a foreign language.

[hopein2012]

02:06 AM on 01/26/2012

lol be nice i am highly educated and i make typos from time to time.