10 Colleges With Low Fees for Room and Board

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When it comes to food and living quarters on campus, quality spans the gamut.

Students can have fresh omelets made in front of them, or find themselves munching on a hamburger of questionable meat. Dorms can be lavish -- with dishwashers and private baths -- or austere, with barely enough room for two people's furniture.

Explore this infographic about [paying for college.]

Regardless of what students get for room and board, they'll likely have to pay for it. And the price varies as widely as the offerings.

Average room and board fees are about $10,000 during the 2014-2015 school year among the 1,109 ranked schools that reported the data to U.S. News in an annual survey. In this case, room and board is used to mean a shared room and either 19 meals per week or the maximum meal plan.

Students at Mississippi's Rust College pay the least for room and board, spending $4,000 for the year. The New School in New York is at the other end of the spectrum. Students there pay $18,190 for both -- the highest of any school that reported the data.

Learn how to deal with [ a bad college roommate.]

At the 10 schools with the cheapest room and board, students pay an average of $4,987 during 2014-2015. Many of those schools are in the South, in places like Mississippi and Alabama -- perhaps a good thing if you're a lover of sweet tea, grits and fried green tomatoes.

Two of the schools, Rust College and Blue Mountain College, are also among the private schools with the cheapest tuition.

Below is a list of the 10 schools with the least expensive room and board for 2014-2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Military academies were not included on this list, as they waive room and board fees in exchange for military service.

School name (state)

Room and board (2014-2015)

U.S. News rank and category

Rust College (MS)

$4,000

RNP, National Liberal Arts Colleges

Oklahoma Panhandle State University

$4,200

RNP, Regional Colleges (West)

Cameron University (OK)

$4,664

RNP, Regional Universities (West)

Blue Mountain College (MS)

$4,800

23 (tie), Regional Colleges (South)

Thomas University (GA)

$5,050

RNP, Regional Colleges (South)

Auburn University--Montgomery (AL)

$5,390

76 (tie), Regional Universities (South)

Alabama State University

$5,422

RNP, Regional Universities (South)

Mayville State University (ND)

$5,430

RNP, Regional Colleges (Midwest)

Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University

$5,440

RNP, Regional Universities (South)

University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

$5,470

RNP, National Liberal Arts Colleges

* 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 fees, 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 2014 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 or Best Graduate Schools. The undergraduate room and board data above are correct as of Nov. 25, 2014.

Devon Haynie is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering online education. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dhaynie@usnews.com.