Is that for one year? Full Sail University is like $75,000 for two years.

@Tvhargon: "Here are the top 100 most expensive colleges by total cost for the 2009-2010 school year."

Sarah Lawrence! What, what???

Shush our only claim to fame is Rahm Emanuel and JJ Abrams. We'll take what we can get!

@Tvhargon: Yes, that's for one year - tuition, room, and board.

What is Full Sail University? I've worked in higher ed for 15 years and never heard of them.

I wonder what happens to this kind of list when fees are added in.

At some schools, the mandatory fees are higher than tuition itself, precisely so that the school can claim to have "not raised tuition," or "kept tuition stable," etc..

Plus, is this for in-state or out-of-state..? Hurrrmmm...

I dig the University of Phoenix ad right there on the left (for me at least). Excellent placement.

Why is Dickinson College listed at #12 and #39.

I knew someone who wanted to go to Notre Dame to become a school teacher. O.o Being #70 on the list she would have been in debt for a very long time.

Although some of these colleges are expensive, one has to wonder... Since the fees are so high are the students going to these colleges going because they really want to go and are actually graduating on time.

Some of the cheaper universities tend to draw the students who go to party. Not to say this is always true, there are plenty of students who do very well at the cheaper institutions... but perhaps the 4 year graduation rate isn't as high.

Aaaaand now I'm glad I live in a country where I don't have to fork out this much money for my degree AND get a great education....

That being said, I'm dreaming of going to the University of Chicago or Yale for my grad...

@veg-o-matic: Private colleges don't do "in-state" vs. "out-of-state".

@TWinter: It is a college for audio / video / web designers who work closely with the music biz. It is pretty much the premier audio / video school in the world.
Unlike Belmont and Berkley College of music, it is not for musicians, but for future producers. Amazing school. Wish I would have gone. Decided to be a pastor instead.

@TinkishDelight: And just like Rahm, we'll shame you into giving us obscene amounts of donations.

@TWinter: They are a private for profit art school's that pretend to teach young adults functional art like video games (which according to my best friend who's a Developer of a video game is probably the worst way to want to get into gaming). these are much like the Art Institutes, Gibbs, Lincoln tech that sorta crap.

(Art institute graduate). and now current student at a real university.

Nobody pays rack rate at College (Unless you are a C student and rich). It would be interesting to see what the overall discount rates are for the colleges reflecting the 'real' cost of an average tuition for the year.
The average 4 year public discount rate is 15.7% in 2006. For privates it is 32.8%, but the more expensive the institution, the higher the discount rate usually.
Anyway.. the figures there are like MSRP pricing for cars. There are many factors why hardly anyone pays that price for a car and why few people pay the prices listed for college.

@BabyFirefly: No joke. My 4-year degree at one of the most prestigious universities in the world cost about the same as one year at a comparable school in the USA.

@TWinter:
They are a for profit university that charges by the program not by course or semester (they don't have semesters). Books and supplies are built into the cost of tuition. Like many for profit schools, they don't have regional accrediation. They are accredited by ACCSCT, (career/vocational school accrediation body).

@VidaBlueBalls: because Mr. Dickinson wouldn't have it any other way that prick!

Remember: No one pays sticker price at college except people who are both rich and have weak academic backgrounds.

sweet my wife's school is there except she got an almost free ride. Go BU and your lack of a football team!

sadly all of her school debt is from law school, no matter where you go for that you're coming out with debt.

@TWinter: Full Sail is a private, for-profit school. I don't think it's counted because it's not a normal four year university.

Also, probably because it seems a little shady, even though it may very well be legitimate. I read the Wikipedia page and it seems to be focused exclusively on media arts.

It doesn't offer any on campus housing, so that $72k figure is only for tuition.

@veg-o-matic:

I think all of those schools are private, so there is no instate/out of state difference.

Most private schools DON'T have mandatory "fees". Tuition, room and board (if used) and maybe a student activity fee or tech fee (if on campus).

Another downside to schools having required "fees" is that they aren't considered tuition for tax benefit purposes.

Gawd US! Healthcare and education, could you screw us even more? I'm sending my kids to Europe.

@TWinter: Agreed. Sounds like a for-profit, which may not be included in this list.

@idip:
I completely agree - I went to a public high school, and a $35,000 a year private college. The mindset difference between the students was amazing, especially after freshman year weeds out the few remaining students who don't want to try. I actually graduated in 3.5 years and saved a semester of tuition. (took a few summer courses but those are cheaper).

Not to say that cheaper school kids DON'T try.

@wrjohnston91283:

Forgot to finish the last part - not to say that cheaper school student's DON'T try, but if you are paying close to $40,000 a year, my experience is that you have less of those who try to glide through with simply a passing grade.

US is slowly becoming a aristocracy.

@idip: It's amazing how some of these schools cost, but it obviously also doesn't count scholarships and grants that a lot of people can apply for and have a good chance of getting.

If Notre Dame has a phenomenal teaching program and you think you can afford it, by all means, do it. You'll spend more money in the long run if you go to a cheaper school for less valuable education and find out later that you really could have used a better one.

Expensive doesn't always mean good, obviously, but universities like Sarah Lawrence, Yale, Notre Dame, NYU, etc. have a pedigree.

@donnie5: From my experience with 4 people that went there and in speaking with sound guys (at least music studio guys), you would still be a pastor. A very broke pastor, with lots of debt.

@wrjohnston91283: I'm a graduate student at Southern Methodist. The (undergrad) tuition is $15,600 for a semester, with $1980 worth of fees. Room is $4,230.00 and board is $2,215.00 (these are all one-semester numbers)--this puts us above $48K for a year's schooling. Wowzers, I'm glad I don't pay that much. We're not on the list. If you included our almost $4k per year in fees, we would be.

@Topcat: Yup, I think the only advantage I would get going to a prestigious US school is the reputation of the school. At least where I live, if you have "Harvard" on your CV, people just about kiss your toes.

@idip: I go to a school that should be on this list. No one* graduates in four years because their mommies and daddies have lots of money** and even though it is hella expensive, they like to go and drink and not study a whole lot

*yes, of course, some people graduate in four years. But entirely too many don't for a $48k school
**there must be, like, six people here who aren't trust fund babies, so they are excused. But I have seen kids driving Lambos, so something is awry in the land of the Southern Methodists.

@BinaryTB: your kids could go to state school and learn just as much, if not more, well aside from MIT I guess.

wooooo I'm not on the list

Almost no one pays sicker price for school. My school just barely didn't make the list, but I'm paying less than a third of sticker (and slightly less than if I went to a state school). A more valid list would be one that shows the average financial aid package (scholarships + grants) subtracted from the cost of attendance.

@adent1066: This means nothing. The US has always had a privileged class. In the 1800s and early to mid 1900s it was mostly company owners, developers, and entrepreneurs. The Carnigie family, the Knights, the Vanderbilts, etc. Now we've just expanded it to include political families such as the Clintons, Bushes, etc. The children benefit from being part of the privileged family, and from having access to that heritage.

It's like that in other countries as well. The British Royal Family has significant advantages when it comes to luxuries, preferential treatment, etc.

And cue the "everyone should go to state school you get just as good an education for cheaper" comments in 3, 2, 1...

@donnie5: If you're a pastor who wishes he wasn't a pastor, and had gone to do something else instead, please stop being a pastor and invest your time elsewhere. If you're not fully dedicated to being a pastor, don't do it.

@The Porkchop Express: Yes, but from my understanding, state schools are considered mediocre and not respected...?

@BinaryTB: Careful with that. A lot of European unis are into that game now and have "international student" fees which are insane. I wanted to study in the University of Sydney, and it would've cost me about 26k as an international student.

Also, at #50, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering everyone gets a scholarship equal to the cost of tuition (and some get more, depending on need). Sticker price =/ price paid.

@unpolloloco: And what of the middle class who has too much money to get Pell Grants and other aid, but too little to shell out 50k a year?

Oh right. 30 years worth of debt in private student loans.

@adent1066: My family growing up was solidly middle class, and I went to one of the schools in the top third of this list.

Remember, most of these schools have a lot of financial need based grants available, and then add to that all the federally subsidized loans available.

I see 3 schools from the Washington DC area in the top 10... go figure.

@adent1066: a few folks stopped by to voice their dissention:

(bonus points if you can name all 4)

@BabyFirefly: The University of Virginia is a state school and is one of the top 14 law schools. It's extremely respected in a variety of fields.

State school really means that it receives government assistance in funding. Private schools don't take government funds, which is usually why they charge more.

@idip: Honestly, a lot of teachers get tuition reimbursement or loan forgiveness after 5 years of teaching, particularly if it's in a high demand area such as math, science, and Special Education. History and English teachers are a dime-a-dozen (perhaps because that's something a lot of Am. Lit or Poli-sci majors turn to if other jobs don't come up, I don't know) so school systems have their pick of those teachers. Good math teachers, or special ed teachers other than reading specialists are much harder to find.

@The Porkchop Express: From living 15 minutes from Full Sail for most of my life, I'd have to agree. You either become wildly successful, or a barista.

Oh yeah! That's my alma mater baby! Comin' in at #6. Yay Hop!

Christ I thought that place was pricey when I graduated from there in 2001. $50K!!! Hey kids, screw education take your $200K from 4 years of college and buy a friggin' Ferrari!

When I was there R&B was about $8K. I've been in Baltimore all my life and I still drive by campus every now and again. They have all these new fancy student dorms so I'd imagine that 8 years later R&B is probably closer to $12K, making tuition $40K. Gaht dayum!

@BabyFirefly: Try UC Berkeley (for in-state residents). Oh wait, they're hiking fees!

@BabyFirefly: One of my friends couldn't get any financial aid from the government for college because her parents made too much money - but oh yeah, she also has four siblings, so guess where the majority of the money went? It was a sad, sad thing. She struggled a lot of times, but things are better for her now. She's in a master's program.