Ranked

888 uS universities with the lowest tuition

Published in-state tuition, lowest first. The sticker price is not what most families pay — the net price by income sits on each university page.

#UniversityIn-stateCost of attendance BorrowPaying downSATAcceptance
761 Emerson College Boston, Massachusetts $57,056 $80,399 43% 78% 1358 51%
762 Rhodes College Memphis, Tennessee $57,110 $71,136 51% 84% 1362 50%
763 Babson College Wellesley, Massachusetts $57,152 $80,192 27% 91% 1457 17%
764 Hult International Business School Cambridge, Massachusetts $57,160 $79,075 9% — — 60%
765 Stetson University DeLand, Florida $57,410 $72,533 46% 62% 1176 72%
766 Hofstra University Hempstead, New York $57,660 $70,624 44% 71% 1319 68%
767 Illinois Wesleyan University Bloomington, Illinois $57,704 $70,700 63% 84% 1275 39%
768 Saint Mary's College of California Moraga, California $57,803 $77,659 42% 76% — 87%
769 Knox College Galesburg, Illinois $57,903 $68,134 67% 76% 1326 71%
770 Baylor University Waco, Texas $58,100 $74,226 31% 72% 1329 51%
771 University of Portland Portland, Oregon $58,100 $73,224 39% 87% 1277 89%
772 Catholic University of America Washington, District of Columbia $58,378 $75,481 48% 76% — 83%
773 Juniata College Huntingdon, Pennsylvania $58,580 $71,850 67% 81% 1227 79%
774 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Terre Haute, Indiana $58,649 $77,890 41% 93% 1427 77%
775 American University Washington, District of Columbia $58,771 $76,058 38% 79% 1381 62%
776 Clark University Worcester, Massachusetts $58,867 $68,432 58% 80% 1370 40%
777 Hampshire College Amherst, Massachusetts $58,896 $74,195 62% 73% — 75%
778 California Institute of the Arts Valencia, California $58,996 $77,560 36% 67% — 32%
779 DePauw University Greencastle, Indiana $59,070 $74,320 32% 82% 1340 57%
780 Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, New York $59,274 $74,626 53% 77% 1383 67%
781 Clarkson University Potsdam, New York $59,398 $79,022 62% 86% 1304 77%
782 University of San Diego San Diego, California $59,486 $78,720 32% 80% — 52%
783 Furman University Greenville, South Carolina $59,770 $76,798 28% 83% 1371 43%
784 Susquehanna University Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania $59,850 $75,410 66% 82% 1232 81%
785 University of San Francisco San Francisco, California $60,492 $80,141 47% 73% 1295 62%
786 Rollins College Winter Park, Florida $60,580 $76,108 39% 56% 1271 48%
787 University of Redlands Redlands, California $60,878 $76,630 55% 68% 1241 83%
788 Beloit College Beloit, Wisconsin $60,886 $71,365 54% 78% 1287 63%
789 Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, Massachusetts $60,965 $78,679 52% 92% — 60%
790 Bentley University Waltham, Massachusetts $61,000 $79,548 43% 91% 1352 45%
791 Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo, Michigan $61,050 $74,208 45% 83% 1280 75%
792 Ursinus College Collegeville, Pennsylvania $61,210 $76,815 65% 83% 1310 92%
793 Santa Clara University Santa Clara, California $61,293 $82,026 37% 88% 1426 48%
794 University of Denver Denver, Colorado $61,398 $78,476 28% 73% 1355 78%
795 The College of Wooster Wooster, Ohio $61,640 $75,656 45% 74% 1353 60%
796 Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts $61,676 $85,540 4% 71% 1553 4%
797 Texas Christian University Fort Worth, Texas $61,740 $76,604 25% 77% 1298 44%
798 Pratt Institute Brooklyn, New York $61,845 $80,049 35% 75% 1290 73%
799 Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, California $62,357 $83,943 29% 78% 1359 45%
800 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts $62,396 $82,730 7% 92% 1560 5%

Questions

Cheapest tuition in the US: which university leads?
Emerson College — $57,056 in-state tuition.
Where does this data come from?
The US Department of Education College Scorecard, which publishes what institutions charge, what students borrow and repay, and the test scores of admitted students. Nothing here is estimated — universities without a published figure are left out of the ranking.
Is the cheapest university the best value?
Not necessarily. Price is one half of value; the other is what graduates earn and whether they clear the debt. Each university page links to its earnings and repayment record.
All university data Most expensive Best loan repayment Fewest borrowers Highest SAT Highest acceptance

Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard. Universities without a published figure for the ranked measure are not listed.