Out of curiosity, I just reviewed to 2016-17 cost for all the NESCAC and (since Gladwell singled it out as the better alternative) Vassar. I have them listed below, sorted from least to most expensive. I break out tuition, R&B and any other mandatory fees. I do not include any optional fees (like supplemental insurance) or estimates fees (books, supplies, etc.). So this is a straight comparison of required costs. In a few cases the schools didn’t provide a readily-accessible category breakdown, so I just listed the total.
Here’s the highlights:
- They are all crazy expensive
- They are all pretty close to each other in total cost overall
- Bowdoin is actually the LEAST EXPENSIVE of the entire group, NESCAC’s + Vassar included. It’s R&B is right in the average (despite the food’s reputation) but the tuition sets the low end of the range.
- There is absolutely no correlation between reputation/prestige/admission-difficulty and where they rank on this list.
- I’ve been the the student cafeteria’s of most of these and the quality varies widely and there is no discernible correlation between that and the R&B cost.
Bowdoin
$49,416 Tuition
$13,600 R&B
$484 Fees
$63,500 Total
Colby
$64,060 Total
Hamilton
$50,730 Tuition
$13,010 R&B
$510 Fees
$64,250 Total
Bates
$64,500 Total
Wesleyan
$50,312 Tuition
$13,950 R&B (underclassmen)
$15,858 R&B (upperclassmen)
$630 Fees
$64,892-66,799 Total
Connecticut
$65,000 Total
Amherst
$65,330 Total
Williams
$51,490 Tuition
$13,690 R&B
$300 Fee
$65,480 Total
Vassar
$52,320 Tuition
$12,400 R&B
$770 Fees
$65,490 Total
Tufts
$51,304 Tuition
$13,566 R&B
$1,126 Fees
$65,996 Total
Trinity
$50,530 Tuition
$13,680 R&B
$2,460 Fees
$66,490 Total