USNEWS
The United States has always been known for private education, and most of the famous universities in the world university rankings are private universities, so it is also the wish of many Chinese parents to let their children enroll in famous private universities in the United States. But attending top private schools is expensive, so let's take a look at how much it costs to study at some of the best private universities in the United States each year.
American universities are divided into private and public sources. Private universities in the United States do not have government funding, and their financial resources are tuition fees, investment income (for example, Harvard has a $32 billion endowment), research contract income, and donations. Public universities in the United States will have government land donations and grants.
The history of private universities is far older than that of public universities, and the 8 institutions of traditional American universities such as the Eastern Ivy League are private. It wasn't until the second half of the 19th century that first-rate public institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, rose to prominence.
According to U.S. News & World Report, annual undergraduate tuition at private universities in the 2021-22 academic year averaged $38,185. In contrast, in-state students in public schools have much lower undergraduate tuition per year, at $10,338.
To identify the best private universities with the lowest costs, the 24/7 Wall St. website reviewed the annual undergraduate tuition fees of 20 highest-rated private universities in the United States, as reported by digital marketing agency Higher Visibility, with school rankings provided by the school's data platform Niche. Higher Visibility extracts tuition data from College Calc, a university cost data website that infers data from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics website. Please note that tuition does not include other required costs, books and materials or room and board, so in all cases the actual cost of attending these private schools will be higher.
However, as with any investment, parents and students weigh costs against long-term benefits – in which case having a prestigious private university degree means better job prospects. As a result, the cost of attendance at the universities on this list — including several Ivy League schools — is likely to justify the money being spent.
If the average tuition fee at a private university is $38,185, then Harvard's $47,730 tuition fee can be considered relatively cheap. Columbia University, which is popular with Chinese students, has the highest tuition fee, with nearly $60,000 per year.
Here's how much it costs to attend one of the best private universities in the United States.
1. Columbia University
Undergraduate annual tuition: $58,920
Best University Ranking: #11
Location: New York City
Columbia University campus
2. University of Chicago
Annual undergraduate tuition: $57,642
Best University Ranking: #15
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Campus of the University of Chicago, Chicago, E.L
3. University of Southern California
Undergraduate annual tuition: $57,256
Best University Ranking: #16
Location: Los Angeles, California
March 11, 2020, University of Southern California.
4. Brown University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $57,112
Best University Ranking: #8
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
5. Cornell University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $56,550
Best University Ranking: #17
Location: Ithaca, NY
Corner of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
6. Northwestern University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $56,232
Best University Ranking: #14
Location: Evanston, Illinois
7. Duke University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $55,880
Best University Ranking: #6
Location: Durham, North Carolina
8. Dartmouth College
Annual undergraduate tuition: $55,605
Best University Ranking: #10
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire
Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, New Hambshire, USA
9. Yale University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $55,500
Best University Ranking: #4
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Yale University campus. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
10. University of Notre Dame
Annual undergraduate tuition: $55,046
Best University Ranking: #19
Location: Notre Dame, Indiana
University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
11. Pomona College
Annual undergraduate tuition: $54,380
Best University Ranking: #18
Location: Claremont, California
12. Washington University in St Louis
Annual undergraduate tuition: $54,250
Best University Ranking: #12
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
One of the ten most generous schools: Washington University in St. Louis
13. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Annual undergraduate tuition: $53,450
Best University Ranking: #1
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mit
14. Stanford University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $52,857
Best University Ranking: #3
Location: Stanford, California
15. California Institute of Technology
Annual undergraduate tuition: $52,506
Best University Ranking: #20
Location: Pasadena, California
California Institute of Technology
16. Princeton University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $51,870
Best University Ranking: #5
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
17. University of Pennsylvania
Annual undergraduate tuition: $51,156
Best University Ranking: #9
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a world-renowned Ivy League university
18. Vanderbilt University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $50,800
Best University Ranking: #13
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
One of the ten most generous schools: Vanderbilt University
19. Rice University
Annual undergraduate tuition: $48,330
Best University Ranking: #7
Location: Houston, Texas
20. Harvard University
Undergraduate annual tuition: $47,730
Best University Ranking: #2
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