The current and historical cost of tuition in the United Sates is tracked and sorted for us to learn from. The United States Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics keeps data on this kind of information, and much more! (Psssttt, it’s one of my favorite sites to browse)
The costs below reflect averaged “rack rate” tuition for 1 year, which is to say the price stated by the college as their tuition rate. Individual student’s scholarships or other grants are not reflected here, this is simply the price of tuition. Note that public colleges generally have “in-state” and “out of state” tuition rates- this is because of the economics of a state-funded educational system, and out-of-state students will typically pay a significantly higher rate than in-state students.
Now, because this is the Homeschooling for College Credit page, of course, I’m also including the breakdown for several popular college credit exams that your teen can take – you’ll be able to see the TREMENDOUS cost savings as you get down to the bottom of the page.
“Cost of attendance” is also collected, and includes OTHER expenses besides tuition. Books, meals, dorms, etc. may all be estimated on your college’s website. As you dig deeper, you’ll want to sort out the costs that are variable and those that are fixed. For instance, if a student lives at home, there aren’t many living expenses to add in, but a student living in a dorm will spend about $13,000 more per year. For the purposes of this post, we’re only talking about TUITION.
Official Calculation as per-year
(Data Source: National Center for Education Statistics: November 2016)
| Less than 2-year (Diploma/Certificate) | ||||
| Public | Non-Profit | 248 schools | $6,505 in-state | $7,288 out-state |
| Private | Non-Profit | 86 schools | $13,433 | N/A |
| Private | For-Profit | 1,616 schools | $15,269 | N/A |
| 2-year (Associate Degree) | ||||
| Public | Non-Profit | 1,016 schools | $3,941 in-state | $7,780 out-state |
| Private | Non-Profit | 178 schools | $13,899 | N/A |
| Private | For-Profit | 891 schools | $14,864 | N/A |
| 4-year (Bachelor’s Degree) | ||||
| Public | Non-Profit | 710 schools | $8,141 in-state | $18,341 out-sta. |
| Private | Non-Profit | 1,602 schools | $26,355 | N/A |
| Private | For-Profit | 700 schools | $16,066 | N/A |
Unofficial* Calculation as per-credit
| Less than 2-year (Diploma/Certificate) | ||||
| Public | Non-Profit | $217 in-state | $243 out-state | |
| Private | Non-Profit | $448 | N/A | |
| Private | For-Profit | $509 | N/A | |
| 2-year (Associate Degree) | ||||
| Public | Non-Profit | $131 in-state | $259 out-state | |
| Private | Non-Profit | $463 | N/A | |
| Private | For-Profit | $495 | N/A | |
| 4-year (Bachelor’s Degree) | ||||
| Public | Non-Profit | $271 | $611 out-state | |
| Private | Non-Profit | $879 | N/A | |
| Private | For-Profit | $536 | N/A | |
Credit by Exam Calculation as per-credit
| Credit By Exam | ||||
| AP Exam | $93 | 3 credit exam=
$31 per credit |
6 credit exam=
$16 per credit |
9 credit exam=
$10 per credit |
| CLEP Exam | $80 | 3 credit exam=
$27 per credit |
6 credit exam=
$13 per credit |
9 credit exam=
$9 per credit |
| DSST Exam | $80 | 3 credit exam=
$27 per credit |
N/A | N/A |
| ACTFL foreign language | $70 (written) | 12 cr. exam=
$7 per credit |
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| Saylor Exam | $25 | 3 credit exam=
$8 per credit |
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Unofficial* = calculated by dividing the yearly tuition by 30, the standard full-time load.
