What’s the Most Expensive College in America?

First on the list of most expensive colleges is Colby College located in Waterville, Maine. The private liberal arts college has 46 majors and 26 minors with about 2,300 students annually.

Some of the most popular majors there include political science and government, computer science, and quantitative economics. The school only accepts around 6% of its applicants, making it a prestigious and difficult university to get into, with a high tuition of around $66,600.

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Yale is one of the most well-known universities, as well as one of the most expensive colleges. The private Ivy League research university is located in New Haven, Connecticut, and is organized into fourteen consistent schools including the undergraduate college, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Yale Law School.

Yale’s acceptance rate for the 2024-25 year was 6.5%, with only 2,200 students out of 35,000 preparing for their schooling.

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Located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Macalester College is one of the most expensive colleges with its tuition being $67,874 for the 2024-25 school year.

The college is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution with 39 majors, 40 minors, and 11 concentrations, averaging around 2,100 students annually. Some of the most popular majors are STEM-based in biology sciences and research and experimental psychology.

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With tuition at $67,980 for the 2024 school year, Claremont McKenna College is one of the most expensive colleges in America.

The private liberal arts college is located in Claremont, California, and has a curriculum that focuses on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and international relations. It started as an undergraduate program, but in 2007 it established its master’s program in finance with the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance.

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Franklin and Marshall College is one of the most expensive colleges with a tuition of $68,180 and is another private liberal arts college. Located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the college offers 58 fields of study, including humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, languages, and many other disciplines. For more advanced studies, the college operations programs in Bath, England.

Along with its program in England, Franklin and Marshall have a rich history with Germany as well, as it was a bilingual college in its early years. Because of this, it’s consistently ranked among the top producers of Fulbright scholars, which involve cultural exchange programs, and was the 7th highest baccalaureate producer of Fulbright Scholars.

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Harvey Mudd College is another college located in Claremont, California, and is a private liberal arts college focused on science and engineering.

It’s part of the Claremont Colleges and shares grounds and resources but has its own tuition at a whopping $68,262. The college enrolls around 900 undergraduates and focuses on Bachelor of Science degrees mainly. Admission is highly competitive with a competitive culture.

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Cornell is another big name when thinking of the most expensive colleges in America. The private Ivy League land-grant research university is located in Ithaca, New York, and averages around 16,000 undergraduates and 10,000 graduates a year.

The university has around eight undergraduate and seven graduate divisions including agriculture and life sciences, ecology, labor relationships, and veterinary medicine. With a tuition of over $68,300, it’s not only hard to get into, but an expensive college to study at.

The private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, Carleton College, offers 33 majors and 38 minors and is the perfect option for students to design their own education program.

Some of the most popular majors in the 2023 school year were computer sciences, chemistry, and international affairs. As one of the most expensive colleges in America, Carleton College’s fees reach as high as $68,457, but has an acceptance rate of 21%, a bit easier to get into compared to the rest on the list.

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Tulane is a private research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, with its law school being the 12th oldest, and its medical school being the 15th oldest in the United States.

With tuition reaching over $68,600, Tulane is one of the most expensive colleges in America and is also ranked as one of the top research institutions. With an 8.4% acceptance rate, however, it’s a hard college to get into.

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One of the most expensive colleges in America is Haverford College located in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

The college offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 31 majors across humanities, social sciences, and natural science disciplines. With approximately 1,300 undergraduates, the acceptance rate is around 14.2%.

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Reed College, located in Portland, Oregon, is an interesting entry as it has a mandatory first-year humanities program for all undergraduates and even requires a senior thesis. The college features progressive politics, a de-emphasis on grades, and a lack of grade inflation.

It also sees a high number of graduates who go on to earn doctorates and postgraduate degrees. It also has no fraternities or sororities and very few NCAA sports teams, although they do have physical education classes such as kayaking.

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With a tuition rate of just over $69,000, Pepperdine University is one of the most expensive colleges in America. Located in Los Angeles County, California, the private Christian research university is affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus.

It’s organized with an undergraduate liberal arts school and four graduate schools including law, business, education and psychology, and public policy.

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Tufts University is one of the most expensive colleges located in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, with additional facilities in Talloires, France.

The college offers 90 undergraduate and 160 graduate programs across 10 schools including law and diplomacy, fine arts, medical, dental, nutrition, engineering, and the country’s oldest graduate school of international relations.

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Amherst College located in Amherst, Massachusetts, is a private liberal arts college and the third oldest institution of higher education in the state. It’s an exclusive undergrad four-year institution averaging around 1,971 students a year.

Students have the option of designing their own curriculum with the option of choosing from 42 major programs. Favored programs include mathematics econometrics and quantitative economics.

One of the most expensive colleges in America is Colgate University located in Hamilton, New York. The college has around 3,000 students enrolled each year with 56 undergraduate majors that culminate in a Bachelors of Arts degrees.

While the university focuses mostly on undergraduate programs, they do have a small graduate program in Masters of Arts in Teaching. Other popular majors include political science and English language and literature.

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The University of Southern California, as the name suggests, is located in Los Angeles, California, and is the oldest private research university in the state with an enrollment of over 49,000 students.

The university has 22 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, and even homes the oldest and largest film school in the country, The School of Cinematic Arts. With tuition almost reaching $70,000, it’s a pricey college.

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Breaking the $70,000 mark on tuition is Vassar College. Located in Poughkeepsie, New York, Vassar College was founded in 1861 and was actually the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States.

The college offers more than 50 majors with around 2,400 students a year. Some of the popular majors include neuroscience, biochemistry, and biological sciences.

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As its name suggests, Colorado College resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The college has 40 majors and 30 minors with around 2,000 undergraduates a year.

In addition to the majors, with some of the most popular being in economics and political science, the college offers two master’s degree programs in teaching.

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Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college of Columbia University, an Ivy League research university in New York City. It’s also one of the most selective colleges, with an admission rate of only 3.85% in 2024.

The college is known for its rigorous Core Curriculum with a series of mandatory classes and distribution requirements. Students are even required to pass a swimming test before receiving their diploma.

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The number one most expensive college in America goes to Kenyon College with a staggering $71,196 tuition rate. While you might think that an Ivy League would be at the top, it’s just a private liberal arts college located in Gambier, Ohio. The college enrolls around 1,800 students and offers over 50 majors, minors, and concentrations, including self-designed majors.

Its acceptance is quite good as well, with an average of around 34% of acceptance. The most popular majors include English language and literature, economics, and psychology. But while it’s only rated top #39 out of all liberal arts colleges, the reviews emphasize just how amazing of a school it truly is.