Average Net Price at America's Public Colleges and Universities

Good news: We have new IPEDS data on average net cost. Bad news: Because IPEDS is IPEDS, it's data from the 2021-22 Academic Year.

This is pretty straightforward: Each dot represents a public institution, colored by region, showing the average net price for first-year students entering in that year. IPEDS breaks out average net price by income bands, so you can see what a family with income of $30,000 to $48,000 pays, for instance, by using the filters at right.

You can also limit the institutions displayed by using the top three filters: Doctoral institutions in the Far West, or in Illinois, for instance. If you want to see a specific institution highlighted, use that control. Just type part of the name of the institution, like this example, and make your selection:

Average net price shows The Total Cost of Attendance (COA), which includes tuition, room, board, books, transportation, and personal expenses, minus all grant aid. It does not include loans, but of course, loans can be used to cover part of the net price, along with other family resources.

This display is a box and whisker chart, and if you're not familiar with the format, here is a quick primer:

For the sticklers, the median shown is unweighted.

As always, let me know what you see here that you find interesting or surprising.

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