HOUSTON – College tuition costs are known for being high -- in some cases, astronomical.
Take, for example, the state of Rhode Island.
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“Despite being the smallest state in the U.S., there’s nothing tiny about Rhode Island’s college tuition,” says a report on the website move.org. “With an average in-state tuition of $30,879, it costs — drumroll please — $27,494 more per year to attend school in the Ocean State than in Wyoming, the cheapest U.S. state for college.”
Here are those Rhode Island numbers, again, provided by move.org:
- In-state tuition: $30,879
- Out-of-state tuition: $33,908
- Net cost: $28,197
It’s natural to skim these figures and wonder, “How does Texas stack up?”
In the survey, titled “The Average Cost of College Tuition by State,” Texas didn’t make the list as one of the 10 most expensive states for college or the 10 most affordable states.
In fact, Texas ranked more on the affordable side, coming in at No. 37 overall -- with No. 1 being the most expensive and No. 51 being the most costly.
In case you’re curious, for the purposes of this list, it appears Washington, D.C., was counted as a state, despite its actual status as a federal district.
Back to those Texas numbers. Let's take a peek.
- In-state tuition: $11,724
- Out-of-state tuition: $15,211
- Net cost: $13,997
Wondering how the people at move.org came up with those costs?
"To get our rankings, we looked at all public and private colleges in each state that offer bachelor’s degrees and higher,” the website said. “We compared each state’s average in-state tuition with its average out-of-state tuition. We found that, in general, the states with high in-state costs also have high out-of-state costs—so we based the final ranking solely on the average in-state tuition.
"For more context, we also looked at net cost by state, which includes in-state tuition for first-time students plus living expenses, books, and supplies (and minus scholarships and aid). In some states, students receive enough financial aid to actually nudge that net cost lower than the annual cost of tuition. Basically, the net cost is the total cost to attend college for a year after all is said and done."
If you’d like to learn more about the methodology, you can do so by clicking or tapping here.
And because you’re likely curious, here are those 10 most expensive states for tuition:
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
- Massachusetts
- Washington, D.C.
- Pennsylvania
- Indiana
- New Hampshire
- Connecticut
- Iowa
- New York
On the flip side, here are the 10 most affordable.
- Wyoming
- New Mexico
- North Dakota
- Montana
- Mississippi
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Hawaii
- Arizona
- Alabama
Did Alaska and Hawaii come as a surprise to anyone else?
So for anyone who’s considering college options nationally, the data is clear: New England has some of the highest college costs, but the Southwest and the mountain states look better, offering some of the lower tuition prices in the country.
How much was college cost a factor in your decision-making, when it came to picking your school?