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
801 Drexel University Philadelphia, Pennsylvania $62,412 $76,835 49% 77% 1345 79%
802 University of Miami Coral Gables, Florida $62,616 $86,078 27% 73% 1415 19%
803 Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey $62,688 $84,040 2% 86% 1553 5%
804 New York University New York, New York $62,796 $84,374 19% 76% 1520 9%
805 University of Puget Sound Tacoma, Washington $62,898 $78,378 43% 82% 1296 72%
806 Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, New Jersey $63,462 $79,790 53% 91% 1446 48%
807 Providence College Providence, Rhode Island $63,550 $80,466 57% 79% 1346 51%
808 Whitman College Walla Walla, Washington $64,050 $78,092 54% 93% 1410 38%
809 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, New York $64,081 $82,404 51% 92% 1456 63%
810 Rice University Houston, Texas $64,144 $79,788 6% 87% 1553 8%
811 Emory University Atlanta, Georgia $64,280 $83,622 11% 80% 1520 11%
812 Davidson College Davidson, North Carolina $64,410 $79,475 9% 84% 1469 13%
813 College of the Holy Cross Worcester, Massachusetts $64,500 $80,334 38% 87% 1353 18%
814 Lewis & Clark College Portland, Oregon $64,828 $79,987 66% 82% — 78%
815 Fordham University Bronx, New York $64,915 $82,762 47% 77% 1418 59%
816 Lehigh University Bethlehem, Pennsylvania $64,980 $80,856 37% 88% 1440 26%
817 Chapman University Orange, California $64,984 $83,146 60% 68% 1357 65%
818 University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana $65,025 $83,271 25% 93% 1520 11%
819 Hobart and William Smith Colleges Geneva, New York $65,117 $82,602 74% 80% 1319 64%
820 Smith College Northampton, Massachusetts $65,178 $86,030 14% 82% 1500 21%
821 Pitzer College Claremont, California $65,192 $86,466 20% 84% — 25%
822 Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland $65,230 $85,947 9% 82% 1553 6%
823 University of Richmond University of Richmond, Virginia $65,230 $80,961 32% 76% 1497 22%
824 Lafayette College Easton, Pennsylvania $65,398 $83,133 20% 91% 1424 31%
825 Pomona College Claremont, California $65,420 $85,300 9% 85% 1534 7%
826 Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Pennsylvania $65,494 $84,103 11% 86% 1534 7%
827 Syracuse University Syracuse, New York $65,528 $84,517 32% 79% 1375 46%
828 Dickinson College Carlisle, Pennsylvania $65,650 $82,902 39% 88% 1391 42%
829 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California $65,898 $86,886 4% — — 3%
830 St. Lawrence University Canton, New York $65,900 $82,000 54% 85% 1371 54%
831 Stanford University Stanford, California $65,910 $87,833 6% 90% 1553 4%
832 Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania $65,920 $83,250 49% 79% 1396 29%
833 Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts $66,162 $84,641 27% 79% 1497 5%
834 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania $66,246 $83,654 34% 91% 1546 12%
835 Bennington College Bennington, Vermont $66,262 $87,284 50% 74% 1364 45%
836 Occidental College Los Angeles, California $66,274 $84,800 37% 88% 1452 44%
837 Bard College Annandale-On-Hudson, New York $66,436 $84,553 32% 79% 1380 52%
838 Bates College Lewiston, Maine $66,590 $83,532 14% 88% 1468 13%
839 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio $66,608 $85,851 47% 85% 1513 37%
840 Gettysburg College Gettysburg, Pennsylvania $66,640 $81,960 48% 90% 1379 39%

Questions

Cheapest tuition in the US: which university leads?
Drexel University — $62,412 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.