15 colleges now cost $100K+ per year — and almost none of them are worth it

NY Post ^ | 9/03/26 | Alex Oliveira

[Libloather]

Caveat emptor!

The number of colleges that cost more than $100,000 per year to attend has sky-rocketed this year — but few of these pricey schools offer a strong return on investment, according to rankings.

Fifteen higher ed institutions cracked the six-figure pricetag this year, up from a just two the previous year, according to an analysis from the the Washington Post.

That means students at those schools will be shelling out nearly a half-million dollars over four years of schooling.

Another another nine colleges were also mere dollars away from breaking the six-figure mark, data from the Princeton Review showed.

The most expensive schools in the US are:

Harvey Mudd College, Calif. — $104,512
Duke University, NC — $103,975
University of Chicago, Ill. — $103,821
University of Southern California, Ill. — $103,162
Barnard College, NY — $103,000
Washington University, Mo. — $102,260
Smith College, Mass. — $102,226
Fordham University, NY — $102,188
Claremont McKenna College, Calif. — $101,990
Vassar College, NY — $101,051
Wesleyan University, Conn. — $101,030
New York University, NY — $100,998
Georgetown University, DC — $100,864
Colgate University, NY — $100,224
Haverford College, Penn. — $100,026

Ivy League schools Brown, Columbia and Cornell were close behind, each charging just under $100,000 per year.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Education; Local News
KEYWORDS: colleges; commies; indoctrination

[Resolute Conservative]

Me too.

[dfwgator]

That’s basically what college always has been, a networking opportunity.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Vassar? My God. It used to be the college for people with more money than sense. Now it really is. Spend a fortune at Vassar to get a useless degree and it still doesn’t matter because you have a multi-million dollar trust fund to live off of when you get out. The last respectable Vassar graduate was Ms. Hathaway.

[Leaning Right]

> If I had to do my career over again, I would be a tradesman. <

And if you are determined to go to college, start at a community college and take a few courses that have some weight to them. Math and chemistry, for example.

A community college class is of course much cheaper. And I hold that a freshman CC class is just as good as one at a fancy, expensive university.

[muir_redwoods]

I’ll listen to any cogent arguement as to why any of these schools are any better than the majority of state universities. I don’t expect to get one beyond the following

Connections and contacts.

[neverevergiveup]

I get your point, but just like college isn’t for everyone the trades aren’t for everyone. I’m not just talking about what people like to do or don’t like to do. I’m talking about different aptitudes for different things. Just because you go to a trade school doesn’t guarantee you are going to be good at the trade you studied.

[packagingguy]

When I lived in North Carolina I saw a bumper sticker that said “Dook is expensive, Carolina is priceless”.

[Dr. Sivana]

this point in time, I would be concerned about hiring someone who paid that kind of money for college.

My school is #3. These days they are providing free rides for anyone from a family making 80k a year or less. When I went in the early ‘80s, it was $16k+ and I transferred after running out of money. They were NOT generous with the financial aid back then.

[mewzilla]

https://www.ivyscholars.com/harvards-most-and-least-popular-majors/

Check out the second most popular on the above list.

Government.

Deep State U.

[Leaning Right]

The most popular major: Economics

And now it’s time for an economist joke:

Stalin is viewing a May Day parade. The parade consists of hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers. In front of them all marches a group of men in civilian clothes and carrying briefcases.

Stalin: Who are those men?
Aide: Comrade Stalin, they are economists.

Stalin: Why are they at the front of the parade?
Aide: It’s because economists are the most dangerous people of all.

[vpintheak]

NONE of them are worth it. NONE.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Or you can attend Colorado School of Mines for $22,667. Which is not hay but quite possible.

You will need to be able to read, write and do math though.

[Verginius Rufus]

I think the figures quoted are not just tuition but include housing and other expenses like food and books.

[ClearCase_guy]

Just because you go to a trade school doesn’t guarantee you are going to be good at the trade you studied.

Very true.

It is equally true that not everyone who goes to Medical School is good at medicine. Someone in that group is going to graduate last in his class. But he still gets to be a doctor. He still treats people. Even though he's not good at it.

But that doctor may be half a million in debt.
The guy who went out and became a very bad electrician probably has no debt, and may have a better cash flow.

[dfwgator]

I like to flip the letters of my alma mater, so when people ask me where I went to college, I answer “It’s a little place called ‘F.U.’”

[posterchild]

Between him and Paul Lynde, who was the more gay?

I wouldn't want to get between them to find out.

[PGR88]

People will pay it

Every oligarch in China and India, for example, wants to send their kids to these schools and get the “certificate.”

Money is no object.

Even at our local state university, which obviously doesn’t have as high entry requirements, these foreign kids have a tuition rate that is double the out-of-state rate.

[Robert A Cook PE]

University of Chicago, Ill. — $103,821
University of Southern California, Ill. — $103,162

Isn’t that a contradiction? University of Southern California, I grant, is very likely a “failure” at graduating useful, productive graduates, but “in Illinois”? Seems like neither state school (California and Illinois) “should be” in this list of private over-priced elite schools.

[Scrambler Bob]

Maybe the Ill. means sick, not illinois.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Several private (Christian/conservative-based) schools are “mining” the home-school and after-graduate on-line class market. Hillsdale probably is the one best know across the AM-radio talk shows.