The cost of higher education in the U.S. is climbing upward, and attending one of the top schools comes with a price tag to match: For one year's tuition and fees, 19 of the top 20 U.S. universities cost $55,000 or more.
The ranking comes from U.S. News & World Report, which published its list of the top colleges for the 2022-23 school year on Monday. Princeton University earned the top spot in the national rankings, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Harvard University, Stanford University and Yale University tied for third place. Of those, Yale is the most expensive with a year’s tuition costing $62,250, not counting room and board. Once those are factored in, students could be on the hook for a bill as high as $80,000.
Some elite schools with large endowments reduce costs for low and middle-income students. Princeton said Sept. 8 it will cover all expenses for families making as much as $100,000 a year, while Dartmouth said in June it will remove loans from its undergraduate financial-aid packages. For its part, Yale came in third on U.S. News’s list of "best value schools,” suggesting that, after grants, the total cost of tuition could drop to $17,600 for the year.