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As Harvard & Other Schools Battle Trump Administration, Here’s the Cost of America’s Top Universities

June 10, 2025

6 min Read

Written by Heather Taylor

Edited by Chris Cluff

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The Trump administration has pulled funding from Columbia, Harvard and other top American universities in a battle over educational philosophies. As that dispute plays out in the courts, GOBankingRates decided to take a look at how much it costs to attend America’s top universities.

These institutions are not only some of the toughest universities to get accepted into — they also cost the most money. According to new research from GOBankingRates, a four-year degree from the nation’s top 30 colleges comes with an estimated six-figure price tag.

For this analysis, researchers at GOBankingRates examined U.S. News & World Report’s Best National University rankings to identify the top schools in America. From there, we calculated each university’s individual expenses, including tuition, housing, fees and miscellaneous/personal expenses, to find the total yearly costs to attend as a first-year student.

Key Findings

The University of Southern California is the most expensive university. Estimated attendance for one year is nearly $100,000, while a four-year estimate is $394,900.
The four-year estimated attendance cost at the five most expensive colleges amounts to more than $385,000. With USC at No. 1, the remaining schools include Duke University (#2), Vanderbilt University (#3), Washington University in St. Louis (#4) and Brown University (#5).
America’s Ivy League is actually not the most expensive. Brown (#5) was the only Ivy League school to rank among the top five, followed by Cornell (#6), Dartmouth College (#8) and Yale (#10). The remaining Ivy League institutions that ranked outside the top 10 include the University of Pennsylvania (#11), Columbia (#14), Princeton (#19) and Harvard (#23).

Ranked from most to least expensive, here’s the real cost of attending the top universities in the United States.

Today’s Top Offers

1. University of Southern California

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $98,725
4-year estimate to attend: $394,900
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 27

2. Duke University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $97,967
4-year estimate to attend: $391,868
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 6

3. Vanderbilt University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $97,374
4-year estimate to attend: $389,496
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 18

4. Washington University in St. Louis

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $96,984
4-year estimate to attend: $387,936
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 21

5. Brown University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $96,284
4-year estimate to attend: $385,136
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 13

6. Cornell University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $96,268
4-year estimate to attend: $385,072
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 11

7. Northwestern University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $96,182
4-year estimate to attend: $384,728
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 6

8. Dartmouth College

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $95,490
4-year estimate to attend: $381,960
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 15

9. New York University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $94,622
4-year estimate to attend: $378,488
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 30

10. Yale University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $94,425
4-year estimate to attend: $377,700
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 5

11. University of Pennsylvania

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $94,278
4-year estimate to attend: $377,112
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 10

Today’s Top Offers

12. California Institute of Technology

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $93,912
4-year estimate to attend: $375,648
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 6

13. Stanford University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $93,805
4-year estimate to attend: $375,220
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 4

14. Columbia University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $93,417
4-year estimate to attend: $373,668
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 13

15. University of Chicago

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $93,183
4-year estimate to attend: $372,732
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 11

16. Emory University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $92,176
4-year estimate to attend: $368,704
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 24

17. Rice University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $91,562
4-year estimate to attend: $366,248
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 18

18. Johns Hopkins University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $91,098
4-year estimate to attend: $364,392
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 6

19. Princeton University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $90,718
4-year estimate to attend: $362,872
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 1

20. Carnegie Mellon University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $89,688
4-year estimate to attend: $358,752
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 21

21. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $89,340
4-year estimate to attend: $357,360
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 2

Today’s Top Offers

22. University of Notre Dame

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $89,002
4-year estimate to attend: $356,008
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 18

23. Harvard University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $86,926
4-year estimate to attend: $347,704
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 3

24. Georgetown University

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $83,673
4-year estimate to attend: $334,692
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 24

25. University of California, Berkeley

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $81,658
4-year estimate to attend: $326,632
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 17

26. University of Michigan

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $79,742
4-year estimate to attend: $318,968
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 21

27. University of Virginia

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $79,726
4-year estimate to attend: $318,904
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 24

28. University of California, San Diego

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $78,486
4-year estimate to attend: $313,944
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 29

29. University of California, Los Angeles

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $71,590
4-year estimate to attend: $286,360
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 15

30. University of North Carolina

Yearly estimate of total cost to attend: $62,788
4-year estimate to attend: $251,152
U.S. News & World Report ranking: 27

Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates found the top 30 national universities from the U.S. News & World Report’s Best National University rankings. With these 30 universities isolated, GOBankingRates found the total yearly costs to attend as a first-year, out-of-state student living off campus. Tuition, housing, food, fees and miscellaneous/personal expenses were collected and totaled. All data was collected on and is up to date as of May 27, 2025.

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