First things first: Let's define what IPEDS calls Net Price: You can read all the details here , or just realize it's the cost that students and parents are expected to pay after all grant aid is awarded. The average is only calculated for those who receive aid. If you have questions beyond what is found on the link above, you'll have to ask someone else to explain it. Some limitations: This data is for Fall, 2018, and it's by income bands that have been around a long time: Under $30,000, and then in increments up to anyone over $110,000. That top threshold is clearly too low, with some college budgets exceeding $70,000 annually. There are four views here that go from very high-level overviews to more granular, and ends with 45 private, selective colleges who have a unique quirk in their pricing, or so it might seem. View 1: All Values Arrayed shows the entire landscape in a box and whiskers plot. The gray boxes show were the middle 50% of the (unweighted) distribut