List of the 30 most expensive colleges & universities based on 2025-2026 tuition & fees:
https://thecollegeinvestor.com/41773/most-expensive-colleges/
Seven (7) of the top ten (10) most expensive colleges are LACs. Of course, this is for tuition & fees only; does not include room & board.
Tuition an fees are just one part. Housing and meal also varies a lot (a few thousands) between schools.
It’s also relevant to note that most students do not pay sticker price at typical max sticker price colleges, and the minority that do pay the high sticker price usually come from very high income households. For example, in latest IPEDS 70% of USC students received grant based FA.
I think that’s moreso for lesser known names on the list like Kenyon and F&M - likely why F&M went back to merit aid from need only.
But at Vassar, 53% got need aid - so 47% or so paid full.
Colgate - only 31% got need aid.
Wesleyan, 46% got need aid.
Tufts 35% get aid so 65% are full pay.
Need aware - which some of these are (not all)- has its privilege.
Even cheaper schools - especially cheaper schools - are discounting heavily.
But at some schools, more than not are paying full freight. The rich get richer.
The post said “typical max sticker price colleges”, and the statement is true for most recent IPEDS year. Most students do not pay sticker price at typical colleges on the list, and the minority that do pay sticker price are usually from especially high income families. Typical middle class families are rarely paying the listed $70k tuition at the listed college.
In the most recent IPEDS year, the max sticker price colleges with the largest percentage receiving grant based FA were as follows:
Connecticut – 98%
Oberlin – 97%
Dennison – 95%
Gettysburg – 95%
Dickinson – 93%
Union – 92%
Olin – 92%
Pepperdine – 90%
Grinnell – 89%
And the max sticker price colleges with lowest % receiving grant based FA were as follows:
Barnard – 33%
Tufts – 41%
Wesleyan – 42%
Colby – 44%
Boston U – 45%
Haverford – 46%
Colgate – 47%
Brown – 49%
Chicago – 49%
There does appear to be a correlation with selectivity and a lower % receiving FA, but it’s not just “lesser known” colleges for which the majority receiving grant based FA. Examples of not “lesser known” colleges with both high sticker price and high % receiving grant based FA include:
RPI – 92%
Case Western – 84%
Smith – 71%
USC – 69%
Johns Hopkins – 69%
Vanderbilt – 68%
SMU – 68%
Stanford – 66%
There are a variety of different forces that influence portion receiving FA, so there are different types of colleges on lists above for different reasons. The colleges that reach >80% receiving FA have a good portion of high income students to receiving FA, as well as low income. This might include merit aid or giving a discount to nearly all students as a means of making it seem like students are getting a good deal. These are generally not HYPSM… type highly selective colleges, fitting with the correlation with selectivity or “lesser known” noted above. The most selective and best known colleges are less likely to need to offer merit aid to attract top students.
There are also high endowment per student colleges that offer little merit aid, but stellar need based FA. This FA could be the equivalent of no tuition for typical families with <$150k income and frequently offering quality FA for families with incomes as high as $300k. These include Princeton, Stanford, Amherst, and similar; which are all in the 60-70% range. Across the full US, only a minuscule portion of families would be full pay, but the students who attend these colleges skew towards top 1% income type families, so you still get a notable minority that are full pay.
Other colleges on the list have mix of these forces and others, as well as different proportions of students from different incomes. There are both need aware colleges and need blind colleges, which also influences result.
Um, this.
Interesting that the IPED data and CDS don’t match. I wonder which is correct.
Colgate, as one example, if you look at the last CDS for the entire school, it’s sub 34% got any need based aid. Tufts is under 34%.
Now at Tufts, 43% applied for aid - but many did not get.
So either the IPEDs or the schools are wrong. Or how its being sourced is different.
In fact our S24’s college (WashU) tends to be on the most expensive lists for total COA, but that is in part thanks to relatively high room and board. And he is moving off campus this upcoming year, so . . . woohoo?
Just noting that this is not a comprehensive list. I work at a school whose tuition is in the top half of this list, and we’re not on there. Williams was 72K this year, and it’s not on there. Etc.
A few other observations:
It does not surprise me that Brown is the on this list, as it’s the Ivy with by far the lowest endowment. The lower your endowment, the more you depend on tuition revenue to keep the lights on. But why is Yale on here? And why is it charging 10K/year more than Harvard (“only” 59K this year)?
Similarly, Amherst has one of the highest endowments per student and is near the top of this list. That’s interesting.
If you want to believe you are the top of the top, you might see being on this list as a good thing. The wealthy often want their kids to have what they consider the bougiest. They’ve gone to sleep away camps and boarding schools or high end local privates.
It’s the same reason people drive a Lamborghini or BMW vs a Chevy or have a Louis Vuitton bag vs one 1/10 the price.
These schools might see their higher price tags as a brand boost - but some like F&M and Kenyon can’t pull it off bcuz the perception and notoriety aren’t there.
Many brands like to be seen as super premium.
I have a family member at wash U, full pay, I thought it would be on this list.
I know a family choose Harvard due the cost is lower than Yale (full pay anywhere), at least one of the main reason.
Our ds received enough merit aid from Gettysburg that it was less expensive than what we would have paid for our in-state flagship school.
The CDS is lower because it is only including need based aid. You can confirm this by looking at CDS totals for colleges that give merit aid to ~100% of all students, such as the >95% FA colleges in my earlier list.
Colgate had the largest difference among the colleges you listed, you can view the NCES/IPEDS/federal stats at College Navigator - Colgate University . It lists 42% of first time freshmen receiving grant based aid and 47% of all students… much higher than the (need based) FA you noted.
I have to say that BOTH of my daughter’s top 2 choices are listed in the top 20 here. But we have financial need and both of those schools will cost her less than our state flagship. So sticker price doesn’t always indicate real cost.
ETA: And yes my daughter is supplemented by the full-pay students. I’m not sure how to feel about that - but perhaps grateful.
Yes, but I used schools that have no merit aid, for that reason.
Ahh - but Colgate has 0 merit aid except for 91 athletic scholarships at $48K.
But yeah, for most kids, they are full pay and Colgate is a rich kid school - and I’m sure they like it that way.
WashU’s tuition alone in 2025-26 was “only” $68,240, but again it does have relatively high room and board
In the Chetty sample, Colgate parents had the 3rd highest median income among all 2000+ reviewed colleges. 23% of Colgate parents had top 1% income, and 58% were in top 5%. It’s not surprising to me that they’d be the college with lowest % receiving need based FA (among listed). As you note, wealthy families can still get the $48k athletic scholarships, even if they aren’t eligible for need based FA, and a significant portion do so.
It’s eye-opening that Harvard is a good $10,000 less per year in tuition than Yale. Must be nice to have that huge endowment to float all boats.
For 2026-27, Harvard lists a net price of $92k, and Yale lists a net price of $94k. Harvard adds on a bunch of fees, like a $5k student service fee, while Yale groups these as tuition; so if you just look at tuition there is a greater difference.
Both schools claims to offer “free tuition” for families with under $200k income – Yale to offer free tuition to families with incomes below $200,000 | Yale News . However, Harvard recently worsened their FA, with a much smaller exemption for assets, perhaps due to recent issues with fighting against government for funding. I would not be surprised if average cost (most students do not pay sticker) is lower at Yale than Harvard, for incoming class.
