The 10 Cheapest Public Colleges In The Country

Everyone seems to be talking about the exorbitant cost of higher education lately.

Over the past few years, states have made higher education a target for budget cuts. The 2011-12 year saw a 7.6 percent slump in state support for public higher ed, the largest decline in a half century. Tuition hikes have inevitably followed. Total student debt now tops $1 trillion.

However, there is some good news to report.

According to data from the Department of Education, a number of public colleges still retail for a reasonable average net price.

The average net price refers to the amount in-state students pay after taking grant aid from all sources and federal education tax credits. So while some of these schools may have a higher sticker price, students usually pay a lot less.

Have a look at the 10 cheapest public colleges:

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Comments

[dlknepp2]

08:53 AM on 05/02/2012

I put myself through school on student loans and graduated at the height of a recession. It took me 15 years (and working an extra job at night in additional to my professional job during the day) to pay back my loans and ... guess what? It was the best investment I've ever made. Anything worth having is worth working for. Of course, that was 25 years ago and a different generation...

[thinkabtit39]

10:22 AM on 05/03/2012

You are spot on! I graduated 13 years ago, am still paying the loans back, but it was the best investment in myself!

[Jerry Bourbon]

02:21 PM on 05/01/2012

With the exception of CSU Dominguez Hills, EVERY one of these colleges is in a Red State.

Just goes to show that Blue Staters hate students.

[syds180turn]

01:11 AM on 05/01/2012

People go to colleges they can afford and I'm sure if kids and adults could attend Yale, Harvard, Vasser or some other ivy league university they probably would. Scholarships and grants aren't handed out like candy anymore...there's tons of competition and the money has dried up. Loans are some kids only way out and guess what...that's getting harder to access too. It's easy for people to sit in judgement on how one attains an education but the problem is everyone's circumstances are different and if it were that darn easy to get a college degree everyone who wanted one would have one. Gone are the days of "show me the money" and bam...you've got loans, grants and scholarships coming out of your ears. It is not that easy anymore and not that simple. You have people in competition to get the money that's out there because our government has opened the flood gates on those who are here illegally to get money they really shouldn't be receiving. That's not the only factor but it's tough, we're in a different climate and education is becoming more and more out of reach for the masses.

[Quis Custodiet]

04:16 PM on 04/26/2012

Here's another idea. Spend your high school time on actual studying versus memorizing, write some intellectually unique work and get a near-free cruise through a top 20 university.

Worked for me.

[Kelly S]

10:50 AM on 04/25/2012

They're cheap, but it looks like you get what you pay for.

4 Year Graduation rates, according to College Results Online:
Macon State: 2.9%
Texas A&M International: 15.8%
Elizabeth City: 19.3%
UT Pan American: 13.3%
Cal State Dominguez Hills: 5.2%
UT El Paso: 7.6%

They also have a high number of Pell recipients, a good indicator that there are a lot of low-income students there. Why can't low-income students also be able to get a good education?

[Quis Custodiet]

04:20 PM on 04/26/2012

"Why can't low-income students also be able to get a good education?"
Well, judging by your ability to wield what I assume to be your first language; perhaps you should spend less time on critiquing low-income kids.

Secondly, graduation rates are relative only if the majority of the students do not transfer following the reaching of minimum credits required by their *actual* institutions of choice.

Not that it makes this article less worthless, but it is something for you to consider.

[Fang1944]

10:01 AM on 04/25/2012

UT El Paso and Palm Beach State should be cheap. I've worked at both, and they suck.

[Quis Custodiet]

05:08 AM on 04/25/2012

Nice article. I lolled.

[Scurvydog74]

10:16 PM on 04/24/2012

Mitt needs to include this list on his website. It could pass for his idea of an education policy. Call it "Shop Around."

[Kacy Howland]

09:40 PM on 04/24/2012

I refuse to allow my kid to enter adulthood buried in debt. Kids need to learn how to work for what they want. With 50 percent un/underemployment recent graduates have right now, there are tons of kids, who were sold an idea, and now facing the debts they can not repay. All loans have done, is help raise the costs of college, while lowering the quality of the education they get.

[Scurvydog74]

10:17 PM on 04/24/2012

And make universities into profit centers...

[JazzNtexas]

03:54 AM on 04/25/2012

So while your kids are trapped in dead in jobs because they never went to college don't get mad when they ask you to bum light money. Unless they have trust funds to fall back on they are going to have a very hard time getting by in the world that we live in today. So here's to your kids learning to work for what they want and never being able to afford getting it because they did not get a education.

[Heather Baines]

05:21 PM on 04/24/2012

Mansfield University in Pennsylvania is also very cheap

[GreatGrand mama]

05:20 PM on 04/24/2012

go to first 2 yrs community college.. figure out your major.. major.. and then minor..and find the rest of college years where the heavy money is needed..

[randallalbin]

04:56 PM on 04/24/2012

with an economy such as this, the real question here regards when they graduate and then what? it's hard to sell any kind of education when the current world situation is what it is

[car4068043]

04:44 PM on 04/24/2012

Not bad provided you want to reside half the year in Texas or Florida!

[Fang1944]

10:03 AM on 04/25/2012

The residing part is great in both.

[gkonig2]

04:44 PM on 04/24/2012

Education, education, education is all the same right? It's like a meal, a meal, a meal, it is the same to eat a meal at Taco Bell than to eat at a good restaurant, right? Well, no, not really:-)

[Fumeja]

01:28 AM on 05/01/2012

The problem is some people want that good meal on a taco bell budget or better yet on someone elses budget. Sorry folks, eat the meal you can afford.

[catwomencjk]

04:40 PM on 04/24/2012

Excuse me professor, but I can't contain myself. As the national debt goes to the moon.
and student loans are freeking "forgiven", you continue to whine for more more more. That's all.