10 Colleges That Charge the Most for Room and Board

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search.

When it comes to paying for college, students and their parents should look beyond tuition and fees as room and board in itself can be costly.

College students were charged an average of $10,389 for room and board during the 2015-2016 school year, according to data reported by 987 ranked colleges in an annual survey by U.S. News. In this case, room and board refers to a shared room and either 19 meals per week or the maximum meal plan.

[Learn why room and board charges are rising faster than inflation.]

The New School in New York City's Greenwich Village charged the most for room and board accommodations -- $17,235 -- in 2015-2016.

Most of the colleges with the costliest room and board were based in New York or Boston. Three of them -- University of California--Berkeley, San Diego State University and American Jewish University -- were in California.

In-state students at two schools on the list -- San Diego State University and CUNY--College of Staten Island -- actually paid more for room and board than they did for tuition. At San Diego State, which charged $15,826 for room and board, in-state tuition was $6,976. Room and board also cost more at CUNY--College of Staten Island, which charged $16,832, compared with in-state tuition priced at $6,809.

[Discover tips to furnish your college dorm on a budget.]

Many schools that charged the least for room and board in 2015-2016 were located mainly in states with a lower cost of living than major cities such as Mississippi, Alabama, North Dakota and Tennessee.

Below is a list of the 10 schools with the most expensive room and board for 2015-2016. The five military academies, which charge no room and board fees, were excluded from this list. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find room and board data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The room and board cost data above are correct as of May 17, 2016.

Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com.