What You Need to Know About College Tuition Costs

Paying for college is expensive, and many families have felt the pinch of rising tuition costs over time.

College tuition prices are a lot higher today compared with two decades ago. For instance, the average cost for tuition and fees among public and private National Universities -- schools that are often research-oriented and offer bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees -- has risen significantly since 2000, according to U.S. News data. Those increases aren't limited to these universities; costs at other four-year institutions and community colleges have also grown.

Higher education policy analysts say most of the hikes in tuition among private and public four-year institutions coincided with the Great Recession, though the economic downturn resulting from the coronavirus pandemic may affect tuition costs in the years to come.

In fact, in-state tuition prices among public National Universities grew by 72% over the period from 2008 to 2021, U.S. News data shows. That increase was more than the published tuition hikes among private National Universities during that period.

Experts say state schools have typically had more room to increase tuition levels compared with their private counterparts, and finding a bargain price at the state level is becoming harder.

Given these higher tuition costs, students are giving nearly equal weight to price and academics when making their college selection. Thirty-eight percent of families say financial considerations, such as the total cost of attending or the financial aid package, were the deciding factor in their final choice, according to the 2020 Sallie Mae survey How America Pays for College.

Many higher education experts recommend that prospective students look beyond published prices since the tuition listed may not be the actual amount they'll pay after financial aid and institutional grants. For families and prospective college-bound students, here are a few questions and answers on tuition costs.

How Much Is College Tuition?

Tuition and fees vary from college to college.

In looking just at schools ranked in the National Universities category, for example, the average cost of tuition and fees for the 2020--2021 school year was $41,411 at private colleges, $11,171 for state residents at public colleges and $26,809 for out-of-state students at state schools, according to data reported to U.S. News in an annual survey. When it comes to costs, the average tuition and fees to attend an in-state public National University is 73% less than the average sticker price charged at a private institution.

[Read: See the Average College Tuition in 2020-2021.]

At public two-year institutions, tuition and fees cost $3,730 on average for in-state, in-district students in 2019-2020, according to data collected in the College Board's annual survey.

What Are the Differences Between Tuition and Fees?

The biggest chunk of college costs is usually tuition -- the amount of money required for instruction. Especially at the undergraduate level, students are often required to pay fees; these costs usually need to be paid to enroll in and attend class.

"It really all should be called tuition, but some play a little shell game when they don't want to advertise tuition increases. So they increase a fee over here, and you end up with something complicated like that. Others include it all as one straight fee," says Nate Johnson, founder and principal of Postsecondary Analytics, a Florida-based higher education research firm.

Johnson says students and parents should look to college guides that standardize these amounts for apples-to-apples comparisons. For instance, U.S. News Best Colleges standardizes sticker prices, listing the combined published prices of tuition and fees for each school.

How Do I Use a Tuition Calculator?

The cost of attendance isn't always clear, since many families don't pay the sticker price once financial aid and institutional grants are factored into the bill.

"I would advise all families to fill out the net price calculator on the website for each school under consideration to have the best possible understanding of the costs involved at the various options," says Colleen Ganjian, founder of DC College Counseling.

[Read: What to Know About a College's Net Price Calculator.]

Net price is the amount students pay to attend an institution for an academic year after subtracting scholarships and grants. In essence, net price is the final price a family can expect to pay, and it's often lower than the published price.

The Department of Education's College Scorecard includes links to schools' net price calculators. Federal guidelines require colleges and universities to provide an online net price calculator. These calculators -- intended for first-time, full-time undergraduate students -- produce estimated values based on the information the student or parent provides.

Which Colleges Are the Least Expensive?

When it comes to published prices, attending a state school as an in-state student might be the least expensive option. Johnson says that's because "everyone who goes to those schools in effect is getting a scholarship -- a discount in the cost of education paid by taxpayers."

He says students who choose to go out of state for college forfeit that subsidy. However, there are a few states with tuition reciprocity programs. Minnesota, for example, holds an agreement with several neighboring places -- Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, an institution in Iowa and the Canadian province of Manitoba -- that reduces nonresident tuition for Minnesotans to attend their public institutions.

[See: 10 Ways to Get a Tuition Discount.]

Prices among state schools across the country vary. State schools in Wyoming, followed by Florida, charged in-state students the least on average in 2019-2020 among four-year public colleges, according to the College Board. New Hampshire and Vermont were the states with the most expensive published tuition and fees, on average, for in-state students.

Tuition and fees at flagship universities for in-state students often cost more compared with other colleges and universities in the state. For example, the University of California--Los Angeles' in-state published price for the 2020-2021 year -- $13,226 -- is nearly double the in-state sticker price at California State University--Los Angeles -- $6,768.

"If you're thinking about schools within the state where tuition can vary, then it's a question of whether the college that you're looking at that's more expensive can offer more value because it offers programs that make it worth paying a bit more," Johnson says.

Higher education experts say students shouldn't rule out private schools, since these institutions often offer tuition discounts that may make them competitive with state school prices.

"A student can sometimes get a better financial deal to attend a private school than if they were to attend a public school. A big factor in this is the institutional scholarship. The scholarship at a private school may be larger than a public school to make their overall cost out-of-pocket more competitive to a public school," says Andy Stiles, director of admissions at Ottawa University, a private college in Kansas.

This practice among private institutions of offering grants, scholarships and fellowships to offset the sticker price is known as tuition discounting. This practice began in the 1970s and became more common in the 1990s as an enrollment tool.

Private institutions discounted their freshman tuition at an estimated record high in 2019-2020 at more than 52%, according to a report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers, and many colleges are offering tuition discounts and reductions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Which Colleges Are the Most Expensive?

The colleges with the highest published prices are Columbia University in New York and Kenyon College in Ohio. These institutions charge $64,380 and $61,100, respectively, for their 2020-2021 sticker price, but many students pay less than this amount to attend.

[Read: 10 Most, Least Expensive Private Colleges.]

"Typically, private liberal arts colleges have the highest sticker price, but that doesn't mean they won't be competitive with other universities given their large endowments -- especially if you qualify for financial aid and scholarship opportunities," says Amy Goodman, master college admissions counselor at IvyWise, a New York-based admissions consulting company.

Some schools with expensive published prices offer generous financial aid packages.

In fact, Brown University in Rhode Island, Harvard University in Massachusetts and Stanford University in California, to name a few, meet students' full demonstrated need with no loans added to any financial aid package. While these schools charged tuition and fees ranging from $60,696 at Brown to $54,002 at Harvard for the 2020-2021 year, they rank highly among U.S. News' Best Value Schools. This ranking takes into account academic quality and the total net cost of attendance -- including room and board, transportation, books and other expenses -- for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid.

Harvard, for example, provided need-based grants to 52.4% of full-time undergraduates in the 2019-2020 year. The average cost of attendance that year after receiving need-based grants was $14,898.

For that reason, experts say, students shouldn't just pay attention to sticker price, but to net price as well. While some schools may look more costly, they actually may charge less on average.

"The pricing game isn't very transparent. It's important to understand that the sticker price, which can look very high, is probably not what most students will actually pay," Johnson says.

Colleges with the highest net prices are largely art schools -- Southern California Institute of Architecture and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, says Sabrina Manville, co-founder and chief operating officer of Edmit, a college financial aid advice website.

Small liberal arts colleges, she adds, also tend to cost more when it comes to average net price. Manville cites Oberlin College in Ohio and Sarah Lawrence College in New York as examples. "These are colleges that certainly offer respectable financial aid packages to many students with need but charge the average student more than they would have had to pay at comparable colleges," she says.

Which Schools Offer Free Tuition?

A handful of colleges and universities are tuition-free, but these institutions usually require work or service in exchange.

Students at the United States Naval Academy in Maryland or United States Military Academy in New York, for example, are required to serve after graduation. In return, tuition, room and board are free at these institutions. There are three other service academies with similar arrangements: the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado, the United States Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut and the United States Merchant Marine Academy in New York.

Other institutions that offer tuition-free education stipulate certain requirements, such as in-school employment. Berea College in Kentucky and College of the Ozarks in Missouri require full-time undergraduates to work a set number of hours with on-campus jobs.

[Read: What Free College Could Mean for You]

Are There States With Tuition-Free College Programs?

Twenty-nine states have at least one statewide promise program for eligible students, according to a fall 2020 report from College Promise, an advocacy group. Most of these are at the two-year institution level, but New York, for example, offers its program -- the Excelsior Scholarship -- at the two- and four-year level s. State-level programs typically have certain guidelines for students to qualify.

"The tuition-free opportunity is based on residency and may take into consideration other factors like household income or program of study," Goodman says.

Other requirements include holding a high school diploma and other guidelines, such as a minimum GPA. The Oregon Promise program, as an example, typically requires a 2.5 cumulative high school GPA or higher, or a GED score of at least 145 on each test.

In Kentucky, the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship program provides tuition assistance to in-state students who are U.S. citizens. Students must also enroll in a certain field of study to qualify. Program fields include health care and construction/trades.

Promise programs also exist at the city level. Kalamazoo, Michigan, was the first city to inspire the college promise movement more than 13 years ago. Other cities now offer promise programs for local high school graduates, including Detroit, Seattle and Baltimore.

Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.