College Affordability – Public vs. Private

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by Garth Robertson

College Affordability – Public vs. Private

A few weeks back I wrote a post about colleges that are truly affordable, highlighting the schools that are committed to meeting 100% of need for 100% of students each and every year. I had a couple acquaintances ask me how the cost of attendance at these schools would compare to that of attending a public school where a student would pay in-state tuition.

This is a complex question with a complex answer, but the short answer is this:

If a student comes from a low-income family, the private school will most likely be less expensive. If a student comes from a high-income family, the public school will most likely be less expensive.

In a future post I’ll break down how “need” and the EFC (estimated family contribution) are calculated, giving a better idea of just what constitutes a “low-income family” and a “high-income family.” But for now, in both public and private schools, there are winners and losers – schools that do better and worse in terms of making themselves affordable and keeping their graduates out of debt.

I recently created a new ranking of schools for my other website; the ranking assumes that a student is always paying in-state tuition for a public school, and is a 50/50 split between average debt at graduation and average cost of attendance after need-based aid. I’ll share the top 50 here (asterisks indicate private schools), but keep in mind that this is a ranking based on statistical averages, and definitely does not mean that a higher ranked school will be more affordable than a lower ranked school. Also keep in mind that the majority of universities and colleges in the US are not included. My ranking covers statistical data for 311 schools, including the flagship public school in every state and usually a secondary or more public schools with national reputations in each state.

And before the top 50, I need to highlight six incredible institutions that cover all tuition for attending students:

Berea College, Franklin Olin School of Engineering, Cooper Union, U.S. Air Force Academy, U. S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy

1. New College of Florida
2. California State University, Long Beach
3. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
4. University of California, Merced
5. San Jose St. University
6. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
7. *Barnard College
8. University of California, San Diego
9. University of California, Santa Barbara
10. University of California, Berkeley
11. University of California, Davis
12. *Brigham Young University
13. University of Florida, Gainesville
14. University of Washington, Seattle
15. University of Virginia, Charlottesville
16. University of California, Irvine
17. *Harvard University
18. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
19. University of Utah, Salt Lake City
20. University of California, Riverside
21. Texas A&M University
22. University of California, Los Angeles
23. Arizona St. University
24. Colorado St. University
25. University of Buffalo (SUNY)
26. Oklahoma St. University
27. University of California, Santa Cruz
28. University of Montana, Missoula
29. University of Illinois, Chicago
30. University of Wyoming, Laramie
31. *Vassar College
32. University of Georgia, Athens
33. University of Louisville
34. University of Nebraska, Lincoln
35. *Swarthmore College
36. North Carolina St. University
37. *Pomona College
38. Missouri University of Science and Technology
39. California Polytechnic Institute, Pomona
40. University of Nevada, Reno
41. *Grinnell College
42. *Princeton University
43. *Vanderbilt University
44. University of Tennessee, Knoxville
45. San Diego St. University
46. University of Hawaii, Manoa
47. University of Missouri, Columbia
48. *Earlham College
49. *Williams College
50. University of Mississippi, Oxford

(See the complete ranking here.)

There are two main points to highlight from this ranking. First, public schools do much better than private schools as a whole. Only 11 of the top 50 are private schools.

Second, however, is that for most states, there are private schools that are ranked higher than the main public schools in-state. I grew up in Wisconsin, with reciprocity to attend public schools in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan at in-state costs. Of the main options in these states, only UIC made the top 50. For the flagship public schools in those states, 16 private schools ranked as more affordable than the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; 23 private schools ranked as more affordable than the University of Wisconsin, Madison; 29 private schools ranked as more affordable than the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; 37 private schools ranked as more affordable than the University of Iowa, Iowa City; and 64 private schools ranked as more affordable than the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

What should a prospective student take away from this? In short, keep an open mind. Again, if you’re from the lowest income brackets, top private schools will almost always be more affordable, and if you’re from the higher income brackets, public schools will almost always be more affordable. For everyone else, though, it’s difficult to tell until you receive your financial aid package along with your admission letter. With that in mind, alongside an acute awareness of things like average debt at graduation, college selection should highlight fit – how does a college meet your needs for vocational preparation, a social environment, and an intellectual environment? The simple public/private distinction isn’t enough to be a guideline, even for cost.